Outline for major
project due on the
13th!
Kirklees
GEOG 352
Day 9: Chapter 5 (Energy)
1
Kristianstad
Housekeeping Items
 Pizza lunch and resource session in second floor
atrium in 356, 12-1:30 today. This overlaps with
federal candidates’ forum, from 11:30 to 1 or so,
where pizza will also be served. This will be in
Building 355, Room 211.
 The City is sponsoring another heritage event, this
time a workshop on the basics of heritage. It’s on
the 15th. I haven’t been able to find out the details,
but if interested contact Chris Sholberg
[Chris.Sholberg@nanaimo.ca]
 A reminder about the film “Bikes vs. Cars” on
Wednesday at 6:30 in Building 250, Room 125, by
donation. And the Sustainability Fair on Thursday
from 11:30 to 2 in the Library Quad.
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Housekeeping Items
 To learn more about International Student Exchange
program (with the deadline of October 15th), see
Exchange Partners:
https://www2.viu.ca/educationabroad/exchlist.asp
 Exchange Application:
https://www2.viu.ca/educationabroad/documen
ts/ExchangeApplication.pdf
 Funding & Scholarships:
https://www2.viu.ca/educationabroad/finances.asp
 Exchange Contact: Jennifer Sills, Manager
Education Abroad 250-740-6312

3 jennifer.sills@viu.ca
Housekeeping Items
 The information on the Seniors’ Bus Co-op in
Vancouver can be found at http://busco-op.com/.
 Charity passed on a link about the overbuilding of
housing in China – see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trs_udhjWqc&fe
ature=youtu.be
 Today I hope to hear from the folks presenting on
Chapters 3 & 8, and from Ariel on Chapter 4.
 I would like to talk a bit about different resource
property regimes and had hoped to show a short
video from the Saving the Ocean series on a
Mexican fishing and whale-watching co-op that
practices a sustainable approach to resource
management. That will have to wait, as someone
4 else has it.
Resource Management Regimes
 Property systems
increasing commodification and bureaucratization of resources to detriment of ecological specificity
communitarian open access private
state
co-management
quasi-public goods free goods private goods public goods cooperation
Determinants of behaviour
o reciprocity
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absence of constraint
protection of property rights
law/coercion negotiation
Energy (Chapter 5)
 Key Points:
 Our global addiction to oil is very dysfunctional, and we
all need to question and re-evaluate the way that we use
energy, since our fossil-fuel use is driving irreversible and
devastating climate change (pp. 111-112).
 The suggested alternatives to fossil fuel energy, such as
nuclear, probably will not be able to produce enough
energy to completely take the place of fossil fuels and
have their own issues (p. 112).
 What could perhaps take the place of fossil fuel energy
forms as the dominant energy supply, however, is the
combination of “[d]istributed energy strategies, diverse in
type and scale, that increase local and regional selfreliance”, which could help to bring us to a low-carbon
6 and more environmentally sustainable energy future (p.
112).
Kirklees and Kristianstad
Reminder that outlines are due
On Thursday…..
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Pathways to Energy Sufficiency
 Energy consumption from non-renewable fossil fuels is
at the heart of what is contributing to climate change.
 Initially in the face of the politically caused ‘energy
crisis,’ a number of countries (including Canada)
explored alternatives to fossil fuel consumption – to oil,
in particular. However, after oil became available again
and the price dropped, this research and development
was dropped – in Canada at least. However, Denmark
was one of the countries that did not let it go.
 The National Round Table on Environment and the
Economy, which explored greenhouse gas reduction
strategies, that the authors quote on p. 112, has since
been terminated by the Harper government.
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Pathways to Energy Sufficiency
 The chapter profiles two cases: the Kirklees/ Yorkshire
Energy Services program in the UK, and the FossilFuel-Free Kristianstad program in Sweden. Though a
few years old now, other success stories are reviewed
in Chris Turner’s The Geography of Hope.
 The first was an attempt to influence citizens’ decisions
around energy that would have an impact on GHG
emissions.
 It involved a collaboration amongst agencies, credit
unions and contractors, with assistance from senior
governments, and enabled not only significant
improvements in energy consumption, but also
economic and social benefits.
 The program was successful in not only educating
residents about the advantages of energy conservation
9retrofits, but provided effective financial incentives.
Pathways to Energy Sufficiency
 The second case involves a small city, whose
population is much smaller than Nanaimo, and a
collection of 25 adjacent towns and villages who
collectively make up a territory about the size of the
Regional District of Nanaimo. Joined together the
population of the area is almost equal to Nanaimo City
by itself.
 For the past nearly thirty years, the region has been
exploring alternative energy, beginning with the
municipal energy company that started utilizing waste
wood chips instead of oil in the mid-80s. These are
used in a combined heat and power (CHP) process that
contributes to an ever-expanding district heating
network.
 Instead of waste heat generated by combustion being
lost, it is captured and used to heat water and or
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buildings.
Pathways to Energy Sufficiency
 In addition the municipal company that operates the
landfill built a biogas production plant to capture and
use methane from decomposing garbage and food
industry waste to produce electricity.
 From 1998 to 2002, the proportion of energy for
municipal buildings went from 48% fossil fuel to 9%,
with biofuels going from 27 to 78%. Households are
also encouraged through grants to switch from oil to
wood pellets, and biofuels are being explored as an
energy source for vehicles.
 In addition to pre-existing hydro power, and the new
shift to CHP, the region is also relying increasingly on
windpower (see chart on p. 123).
 These two cases give clues for the major projects: the
capital benefits are described on pp. 124-125, and the
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lessons of the cases are offered on pp. 125-126.