Presenters
Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA)
OSEA envisions an environment where every Ontarian is a conserver and generator of sustainable energy and its mission is to serve the Community Power sector including households, farms, First Nations, co-operatives and collaborative businesses, local distribution companies, municipalities, other institutions and non-Community Power partners: through advocacy, public outreach and capacity building.
OSEA is working hard to catalyze the efforts of community organizers and raise awareness of the benefits of Community Power and renewable energy through various communication channels. On behalf of its members, OSEA speaks in a unified voice for Community Power, advocating government policies and programs to spur the widespread deployment of renewable energy. It also provides valuable training and other services to its members.
OSEA’s 2nd Annual Community Power Conference
As part of its programme OSEA is organizing the Community Power Conference on November 15 & 16 and Green Connection 2010 is its launch party.
The annual Community Power Conference brings together Community Power proponents from throughout Ontario and abroad to share best practices.
This year Ontario marks 100 years of Community Power: electricity owned and operated by the people of the province. A century ago, in a ceremony in what was then the city of Berlin and is now Kitchener, Sir Adam Beck, the founder of Ontario Hydro, flipped the switch enabling electricity generated at Niagara Falls to be sent along public-owned transmission lines to municipal utilities in over a dozen communities, including Toronto.
In the spirit of Sir Adam’s slogan, “Power to the People” is the theme of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association’s 2nd Annual Community Power Conference.
Delegates attending the conference will have a chance to learn all they need to know to become generators of renewable energy, with workshops that begin with basics and deal with every step along the way. The enormous economic, social and environmental benefits for communities of local ownership will be illustrated and speakers who have become power producers in their communities will share their experience, passing on the lessons they have learned. Experts in the renewable energy sector will highlight the opportunities, under recent legislation, for everyone from farmers and First Nations, to church groups, service clubs, as well as individuals.
The conference will build the networks needed to support Community Power and show Ontario, the international community, and specifically the Canadian power generation industry that Community Power means business.
Where:
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building
222 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Green Enterprise Ontario (GEO)
GEO envisions a sustainable society that balances the pillars of people (social equity), the planet (a healthy environment) and the economy (long-term prosperity), and commits to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
GEO works hard to provide Ontario based businesses with the education, programs and tools they need to develop their own sustainable business practices, it encourages and educates consumers, businesses and governments to purchase sustainably produced goods and services; it works with all levels of government to introduce policies and programs that foster a more sustainable business environment and channels consumer investment to businesses committed to improving their level of sustainability.
