Kitchener, Ontario was the first place in the province to electrify with long-distance power. Travelling all the way from a central generation plant at Niagara Falls, the lights came on in October 1910. After more than a century, that’s all changing as renewable energy slowly but surely takes over the local energy market - at least in the near-to-medium term.
Technology, consumer demand and market restructuring mean that new renewable energy systems will continue to pop up in our landscape. Solar farms will cover what were once active pastures and wind turbines will interrupt pre-existing views. Tradeoffs between the good that renewable energy does for the environment and these potential downsides need to be identified and managed.
Explore the research being done in the Waterloo Region to assess the opportunities and impacts of renewable energy development, specifically wind farms, ground-mounted photovoltaics (solar), and biomass energy, and contribute to this research by engaging in a participatory mapping exercise.
About the Speakers
Professor Kirby Calvert's teaching and research program addresses questions surrounding energy and energy transitions through a geographic lens. He is currently studying how and in what ways the implementation of renewable energy (RE) technologies is impacting patterns of land-use, resource management and energy system governance. He is also applying geospatial information technologies to help facilitate informed decisions for renewable energy implementation and community energy planning (e.g. area-based resource assessments and spatial planning scenarios).
Rebecca Jahns is a Master's graduate from the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Guelph. She has traveled extensively through Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley region for her pilot-study thesis, entitled Place-Based Conversations and Participatory Mapping: Contributing to Community-Informed Spatial Planning of Renewable Energy Projects. She is passionate about environmental protection and the advancement of renewable energy technologies, and hopes that her work will add meaningful insight to both of these research areas.