On June 23, the EDA’s Teresa Sarkesian, President and CEO, signed the Electricity Human Resources Canada Leadership Accord on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – a public commitment to promote diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the workplace. Signatories are committed to improving opportunities for under-represented groups through changes in governance and organizational policies, training and development, and recruitment and retention. Over the next two years, the EDA is committed to the Accord and will identify, implement and track progress of organizational initiatives supporting a number of commitments as outlined in the Accord. We look forward to doing our part in making meaningful change within our organization, and to promoting the accord throughout the electricity distribution sector. The EDA encourages others to join the Accord to help demonstrate their own commitment to working towards supporting an inclusive workplace for all. Watch the video for our full statement and visit th ...

Utilities are facing unprecedented levels of change. From creating and implementing green strategies, selecting and adopting new technologies, and finding and mitigating cybersecurity vulnerabilities, the pace of change is incredible and is not expected to slow. Utilities themselves, however, are in the business of making longer term investments to provide essential services. So, how do utilities balance the increasing pace of change with the longer time horizon needed for its investments? This is like asking why we should change the way we deliver electricity when wires and poles have already been built and have many years of useful life ahead of them. Here are three questions to consider for utilities who are deciding when and how often to change in response to increasing internal and external change pressures: What is the cost and payoff? – consider both the cost of action (to change), but also the cost of inaction (resisting change). The latter is less thought of but equally important. The &ls ...

The EDA is pleased to announce that our new online CUEE Digital Buyer’s Marketplace has launched! Through a new CUEE website, you get access to anyone, anywhere, 24/7 and 365 days a year, as part of a digital catalogue of vendors, with no travel or accommodation expenses of an in-person event. Vendors can showcase products all year long, with the potential to reach a wider North American audience, instead of the limited two-and-a-half-day in-person event. The CUEE Digital Buyer’s Marketplace will also be promoted extensively by the EDA to drive potential customers to your dedicated exhibitor page. VENDORS: To discuss the right package to meet your business development needs, please contact us at mediasales@eda-on.ca to ensure you are part of the new CUEE Digital Buyer’s Marketplace. BUYERS: Shop for all of your utility needs with ease from anywhere and explore an online catalogue of vendors all in one place. Check out the new online CUEE Digital Buyer’s Marketplace at www.c ...

Jim Fonger, VP Asset& Advanced Technology Development, Ameresco jfonger@ameresco.com If, like me, you are of a certain age then you watched the Jetsons as a kid. Believe it or not that little cartoon successfully predicted the advent of video calls, robot vacuums, smart watches, drones, holograms, tablets, and flat screen TVs. But the thing everybody really wanted was the flying car.  I really like my electric vehicle and it looks like a Jetson car, but it does not fly.  I bought my EV and made other changes to my lifestyle because I am greatly concerned about one thing the Jetsons did not predict: climate change. At last count 1,935 jurisdictions in 34 countries have declared a climate emergency, according to the Climate Emergency Declaration. This reflects the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning that we have only 12 years to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees. Beyond this would significantly worsen the risk to hundreds of millions of people of extreme ...