On December 5, 2016, approximately 170 people braved the cold to talk about the future of energy in Alberta at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus.Dr. David Layzell, Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Steering Committee Member and Director of the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) project, argued that energy system transition is the “grand challenge for our society.”
No one ever said the transition to a new energy economy would be easy. From the very beginning, The Natural Step Canada (TNSC) was under a great deal of pressure to describe the impacts and outcomes of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL). We resisted prescribing a solution.
Navigating the interconnected web of issues surrounding energy, climate change and sustainable development is a complex task. Over the past year and a half, the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has developed a platform for constructive dialogue and game-changing innovation.
Leaders from government, business, not-for-profit, academia and indigenous communities will gather in Calgary for a special two-day event on October 19 and 20. Their objective: to share proposed solutions for solving Alberta’s most complex and pressing energy challenges.
Chad Park, Energy Futures Lab Director offers his top six suggestions for Alberta’s Climate Technology Task Force, drawing on the experience and insights of the Energy Futures Lab so far.
Building systems that are fit for the future means beginning with the end in mind and working together with unlikely allies. Our greatest challenges can only be addressed if we learn to do so.
We are all familiar with the idea of starting with the end in mind. This is the essence of “backcasting”, a methodology for planning in complexity. Sustainability expert, Pong Leung introduces the backcasting framework and its application to the sustainability challenge.
The term “Brain Trust” was coined in the 1930s by a New York Times reporter to describe a group of advisors who provided advice to Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidential campaign.
The Energy Futures Lab is all about the energy system. In fact, the idea is built right into our convening question. But what do we really mean by the energy system?
Accelerating the transition to a sustainable energy system is a pretty big goal. Let’s face it, if we could meet this challenge with a step-by-step approach, we would have solved it by now.