Yukon Research Centre, Kluane FN team up for energy inventory

Whitehorse –You may know how much fuel your furnace burns in a month- or how much you spend on gas for your car. Now imagine scaling that up to include all the energy used and emissions created by every person, home, business, and vehicle in your community.

That’s the job facing researchers at Yukon Research Centre (YRC) and the Kluane First Nation (KFN) in southwest Yukon.

“It’s actually a lot more complex than the home energy audit most people are used to hearing about,” says Lisa Christensen, the researcher with YRC. “That’s why we call it an ‘energy use and emissions inventory’.”

Working in partnership with the KFN, the inventory will look at the total energy use and emissions generated by the 65 private homes in Destruction Bay and Burwash Landing, as well as all the commercial   and government activity taking place in the communities. The study will also try to quantify the emissions associated with land use changes, forestry, the local landfill, and even the sewage system.

The First Nation can then use this information to plan community energy strategies, and measure the success of alternative energy projects or energy conservation efforts.

“The First Nation has a number of renewable energy projects underway and ones they are interested in setting up,” says Christensen. “This kind of inventory can inform and support development of those projects by helping to create a picture of how energy use and emissions may be offset.”

Similar community energy and emission inventories are done in jurisdictions like British Columbia, but this is the first time one has been done at the community scale in Yukon. The YRC is working closely with the Kluane First Nation in planning and implementing the inventory. Researchers will hire a local person to work on the inventory and establish a local committee guide the project to make sure it meets the needs of the communities.

While the report, due in March, will give the First Nation government valuable information it can use to measure projects and plan for the future, it can also help individuals in their energy conservation efforts, says Christensen.

“I think people these days are well aware of climate change and its impacts, and there is a growing awareness of energy security,” she says. “People want to protect their energy security and this is one way of supporting efforts associated with that.”
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Contact:
John Boivin
Media Coordinator, College Relations
Yukon College
867 668 8786
jboivin@yukoncollege.yk.ca
www.yukoncollege.yk.ca

Jacqueline Bedard
Director, College Relations and Int’l
Yukon College
867.456.8619
jbedard@yukoncollege.yk.ca