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Oakville's Community Energy Plan

Oakville’s CEP will act as a guide to help the town, its residents, and businesses develop and adopt new best practices to improve our overall energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and make positive economic and environmental impacts in our community. The plan will help us look at how we can better use energy in our homes and businesses, through our transportation choices and land use decisions.

The ultimate goal of the plan is to help us as a community:

• use energy more efficiently and reduce waste
• reduce energy costs
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• create more opportunities to attract businesses and jobs
• increase the security of our energy

Get involved

Have your say! A key component to developing the CEP is hearing from you! Please take a few moments to complete our survey Your feedback will help shape the vision, goals, targets and actions of the plan.

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Cities in Action: Bay Area Climate Change Summit & Youth Summit

Did you know?

Yes, China is the top emitter of greenhouse gases. According to the World Resources Institute, it accounts for 27 per cent of global carbon emissions. Canada, by comparison, accounts for just 1.7. But let’s examine that more closely. China has more than one billion citizens — approximately 18 per cent of all the people on Earth. Canada barely exceeds 36 million, or 0.5 per cent. Given its massive population, you would certainly expect China to emit a comparative volume of greenhouse gases. We may not produce as many emissions collectively as China, but individually, we’re worse. Last year, the organization Climate Transparency reported that each Canadian produces, on average, 22 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, almost three times the average in the G20. China’s per capita emissions? 8.8 tonnes. Canada’s high figures are due largely to the oilsands and the transportation sector.  The fact is, every tonne of CO2 that goes into the atmosphere is adding to a global problem. But the story of China is both complicated and hopeful. China’s emissions reflect not only its massive population but also its efforts to become an industrial power. In catching up with the developed world — as well as producing so many of the consumer goods we take for granted — China has burned a lot of coal (which it has in abundance) as well as oil and gas.  But the country also recognizes the effect this has had on air quality. China has not only slowed the construction of coal plants, but it has invested heavily in green technologies through an aggressive program of subsidies and incentives.  Given the authoritarian nature of its government, it can make things happen quickly. As energy-sector journalist Gregor Macdonald pointed out in this newsletter a couple of issues back, “China has a historical record of being able to maximize and supersize and accelerate changes in its economy and its infrastructure based on policy.” And it has brought results. At 130 gigawatts of power, China now has more solar energy capacity than any other country in the world. It also produces the most wind energy, and the Global Wind Energy Council described China as the “driver of global market growth for most of the last decade.” Then there’s the business of electric vehicles. Chinese consumers bought more than one million EVs in 2018, while the megacity of Shenzhen now has a fleet of 16,000 fully electric buses. China is the world’s biggest auto market, and by setting strict minimums on the number of electric or hybrid vehicles sold there, it is forcing domestic and foreign automakers to accelerate the process for building EVs.  It is absolutely true that China is numero uno in carbon emissions. But it’s also showing leadership in finding ways to reduce them — and the knock-on effect of that could be greater emissions reductions around the world.

Cities around the world are becoming increasingly bike-friendly, which is leading to an increase in programs that allow you to rent a two-wheeler for short periods. The U.S. consultancy MetroBike has been tracking this growth industry, and reports that the number of bike sharing programs worldwide in 2018 exceeded 1,500.