Getting Energy Right

Northern Affairs and its pull towards renewable energies including solar has become a focus in recent years. The communities of the northern Hudson Bay villages have implemented technologies including "solar walls" and solar panel distribution to heat and power many facilities to great success. One example is the Alaittuq high school's solar wall initiative, which has successfully been providing the whole building with power, despite initial readings predicting that the technology would only provide up to 50% of the facility's energy needs, in contrast with locations where solar radiation levels are the highest (such as southern Saskatchewan). The Hudson basin may seem like an unlikely locale for this installation, but this is exactly the kind of social innovations in local communities that we need everywhere. The first step in changing current development pathways is getting energy right. Another way is combining getting energy right with relocalization through energy cooperatives.