Hoping everyone is keeping cozy.
September, as usual, saw a ramp up in work as everyone got back from summer holidays and chill times to ‘get down to business.’
Moving into October, I got some much appreciated family vacation in. Then immediately jumped into a work trip, where I went back to the Nemiah Valley and up into the Cariboo. The chefs made amazingly hearty meals and the most deluxe bannock dessert I’ve ever had, to counter the subzero temperatures. And I got to play with fire, satisfying my inner pyro, with a woodstove in one of the cabins I stayed in.
In the startup world, it’s been interesting to see service based up and coming businesses enter the Foresight system (e.g. Massif Energy). The Foresight 50 is coming up, and I look forward to seeing where the accelerator sees the future of cleantech heading.
I met with a former client who’s working on accelerating battery energy storage system (BESS) adoption in Canada and the US. This is certainly relevant, with storage consistently being one of the big question marks for moving to full electrification. In support, BC Hydro recently launched new solar photovoltaic and BESS rebates. Which I’ve been excited to see a handful of communities I work with utilize over the past couple months, adding solar and battery to their energy resiliency solutions.
In other work, I’ve been getting more involved in energy efficiency and housing projects. These are some of the most challenging projects I’ve ever worked on, and not for the technical reasons.
While the US is deep into federal election season, BC also had an election. I was happy that the New Democrats formed government this past week, and I look forward to seeing them continue their efforts on combating the climate crisis, housing crisis and homelessness in this province.
As for recommendations, the organizers of the event I went to on Orange Shirt Day shared these media resources. I completed this course, Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples® through work – which I found to be a good overview. And I started reading Seth Klein’s A Good War, which looks at Canada’s response to climate change, comparing and contrasting to the country’s response to World War II. It’s solutions-based and hopeful, and I look forward to finding the time in finishing the read.
Thanks for reading!
If you have topics you’d like to discuss or elevate, reach out to me at blog@erinjquon.com or leave a comment