Skeena Energy Solutions is hosting an Upper Skeena Empowered Energy Solutions Forum in Sik-E-Dakh (Glen Vowell) to help community members learn about energy conservation and renewable energy.
Taking place April 5 and 6, the free event is open to anyone interested in learning about better ways to heat their home and save money, career opportunities in local trades, climate change, or hearing about upcoming plans for local energy solutions.
It includes demonstrations, presentations and information on energy conservation and renewable energy technologies.
“The Forum will empower community members with the knowledge, experience, networks and resources they need to make more informed decisions about their energy use,” reads the event’s webpage.
The event will take place at the Sik-E-Dakh Community Hall and include vendors such as BC Hydro, Work BC, Boulder Creek Heating & Cooling, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Derek Ingram, project manager of Skeena Energy Solutions with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, said the forum is part of phase two of the Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities project from Natural Resource Canada.
The project provides funding for renewable energy, capacity-building projects and related energy efficiency measures in Indigenous, rural and remote communities in Canada.
“In the first part of the project, which was spanned over the end of 2021 to February of 2023, we developed the regional energy plan, and we learned what the community was faced with, with power issues and energy security,” said Ingram.
These findings also included issues in housing, such as aged-out infrastructure in windows and doors, weather stripping and heating system installation that impact energy efficiency.
He said the forum is an attempt to make the information gathered in phase one of the project more accessible to the community.
“When the regional energy plan was done, we had [a] 130-page resource that could help communities close some of these gaps, but that information wasn’t accessible to everyone,” said Ingram.
“It’s about energy security, energy, literacy and capacity, so people can have warmer, more comfortable homes [and] save money.”