Northern voices lead energy conversations
UNBC Faculty of Environment Assistant Professor Dr. Sinead Earley and colleagues at the University of Victoria are leading transformative clean energy research through the Northern Regional Energy Dialogues (NRED). The five-year project expands on Earley's previous work to amplify northern voices and aims to strengthen community resilience, support community energy systems and enhance long-term economic stability throughout the region.
The following story was written by Philip Burgess Cox and is shared by the University of Victoria.
Victoria, B.C. - A first-of-its-kind effort to gain a detailed picture of the energy aspirations of small, rural and remote communities across northern BC has sparked new conversations that will help shape the next decade of clean energy development in the province.
The community-led conversations are part of the Northern Regional Energy Dialogues (NRED)—a five-year Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET) project developed in partnership with the University of Victoria (UVic) and University of Northern BC (UNBC), with support from the Northern British Columbia Climate Action Network (NorthCAN).
Led by UVic researchers Tamara Krawchenko and Kara Shaw, and Sinead Earley from UNBC, the NRED team has already sat down with communities spread across 1,100 km of northern terrain in the last eight weeks.
This month the project begins scaling up with a new series of regional dialogues that will connect dozens of communities and First Nations to think together about their shared issues and aspirations, with the aim of strengthening community resilience, expanding energy ecosystems and bolstering economic security across the region.
“Our plan is to create an open platform for community voices across this significant geographical area to share their energy needs, wants and plans—because nothing like that has ever been done before,” Sinead Earley explains. “This will create a rich picture of the breadth of energy needs across the regional north, which we hope we can use to help these communities overcome some of the specific challenges they’re facing.”
Read full story NRED's efforts to connect with community.
Dr. Sinead Earley is an Assistant Professor in UNBC's School of Planning and Sustainability. Earley and NRED Community Coordinator, UNBC graduate Sarah Korn, have been part of the Northern BC Climate Action Network (NorthCAN) since it was established by the Community Energy Association in 2022. One year later, with funding from the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, they worked with CEA staff to deliver the first in-person NorthCAN event at UNBC's Prince George campus.
Since then, the network has connected 400 people from around the region who initiate and implement local climate-related solutions. Later this month, UNBC will be one of the organizations presenting the 2025 NorthCAN Forum in Prince George where NRED will be one of the featured topics.