Introducing our first annual salute to five citizens who have shown exemplary leadership in working to reduce fossil fuel reliance and accelerate our nation’s shift to a clean-energy economy.
From a construction worker to a CEO, each of our inaugural Clean Energy Champions is doing his or her part, both in the limelight and behind the scenes, to move us closer to a better future. We profile them in our forthcoming Tracking the Revolution – Canada 2015 report, and we’re sharing them with you today as a sneak peek.
Charlotte Argue, EV Evangelist
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Argue is Climate Change and Air Quality Program Assistant Manger in Vancouver for the non-profit Fraser Basin Council, a public-private NGO. She spearheads green fleet initiatives, including the E3 Fleet national certification program. Thanks in part to her efforts, British Columbia leads Canada in EV adoption—chasing global pioneers California and Norway.
Ron Dizy, Connector and Catalyst
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Dizy is managing director of the MaRS Advanced Energy Centre, which works to accelerate adoption of innovative energy technologies, then usher them into global markets. His outfit brings together different actors—utilities, entrepreneurs, non-profits, governments, academics—to open channels, wrangle issues, and lower barriers.
Christopher Huskilson, The Atlantic Connection
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Huskilson is president and CEO of Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Emera, a diverse energy services company that is steadily working to cut energy waste and transform the region’s electricity system. Its $10 billion balance sheet includes holdings in electricity generation, transmission and distribution across Atlantic Canada, New England, and the Caribbean.
Meredith Smith, Wind Warrior
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Officially, Meredith Smith, 29, is an assistant construction manager with Surespan Wind Energy Services, a leading Canadian installer and servicer of turbines. She oversees the construction of towers and turbines all over Ontario, and regularly climbs them to keep everything running smoothly up top. Off the clock, she is a grassroots pro-wind activist, and clearly has a great time doing so.
Annette Verschuren, Storage Pioneer
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NRStor, where Verschuren is CEO, owns, operates and develops energy-storage projects that help ease the transition to a grid that is increasingly powered by variable-output renewables. The company’s holdings include a 2 MW energy storage facility that uses Temporal Systems flywheels—literally, 10 giant spinning wheels—to keep any potential hiccups off the electricity system.
The Clean Energy Champions appear in Tracking the Revolution – Canada 2015, the companion to our global report, which we released in July. The new report assesses our nation’s clean energy performance and progress. It sizes up Canada relative to other clean energy leaders, and compares and contrasts provinces and regions.
