The draft West Kootenay 100% Renewable Energy Plan focuses on transportation, heating and cooling buildings, and waste management, and potential for new renewable energy sources in our community and in the West Kootenays. 

Together with other local governments, we’ve identified potential actions that can improve our community’s health, economic strength, and safety. We’ve built this plan with a lot of consultation and collaboration between local government staff, elected officials, renewable energy experts and members of the public. 

Learn more about the draft plan and opportunities to share your input at www.westkootenayrenewableenergy.ca. The draft plan describes our current energy use, and shows how “Big Moves” can make a difference to energy use and the carbon pollution that contributes to global warming. Before the plan goes to council for adoption, we want to hear from community members.

Community members can visit the plan’s website to help improve the plan and set priorities:

• Review a summary of the draft plan
• Join a public overview and discussion by internet or phone
• Take a short online survey 

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this important initiative.

How We Got Here

Throughout 2018 and 2019, thousands of local community members, businesses, and organizations signed our petition urging their local governments to take leadership toward renewable energy. In response, nine communities in the West Kootenay region officially signed the Renewable Kootenays pledge to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050.

For the past year, West Kootenay EcoSociety has been working in close collaboration with our nine partners to help make the pledge into a reality. The result is the West Kootenay Renewable Energy Plan, which identifies the actions that local governments will take and measures how much impact the actions will have on carbon pollution and energy use.

The plan includes actions to:

• Accelerate the switch to electric vehicles
• Help people move beyond the car with public and active transportation
• Retrofit existing buildings to reduce their energy use
• Adopt proven, available technologies to improve new buildings
• Make our economy more circular by reducing, refusing, re-using and recycling
• Generate more renewable energy in our region

After many months of careful work to engage local community members, concerned groups, and key experts, we have the draft plan which each local government is now reviewing. Now is the time for your input.

We are doing it.

Over 100 businesses and organizations across the West Kootenays have signed on to the call to transition to 100% renewable energy. Local groups from hospitality to technology, consultants, health services, faith communities and many others recognize that the transition to 100% renewable energy is a crucial step to a cleaner, healthier and more responsible future.

When we get the support of residents, local businesses and organizations to transition West Kootenay towns to 100% renewable energy, then our decision-makers will have the support to be leaders in the climate crisis and make the necessary policy changes, allocate resources appropriately, and incentivize long term clean energy sector jobs.

We are organizing community leaders like you to be involved.

Will your business or organization be a part of the movement for a brighter, cleaner, more responsible future?

Canadian Cities for 100% Renewable Energy

17 local governments have passed resolutions for the transition to 100% renewable energy at the community-level, including 9 in the West Kootenay region. Who will be next?

Inventories of jurisdictions of cities with 100% renewable energy (RE) targets:

• Global 100%RE Map (Global)
• Go 100% Renewable Energy Map (Global)
• Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Power Map (US)
• Sierra Club Ready for 100 (US)
• Track0 Cities & Regions (Global)
  from Renewable Cities