Natural Resources committee  There was a lot there. I'm going to speak about the Nova Scotia experience. Our work and our expertise is on energy efficiency and reducing energy usage. In Nova Scotia, primary sources of energy usage come from home and building heating and cooling, which is a mix of electricit

Natural Resources committee  There are various studies that are done that rank different countries. I think Canada is somewhere in the middle of the pack, but I wouldn't want to try to quote a specific study. There are things that Canada can do from a policy perspective. One of the things that the federal g

Natural Resources committee  Certainly one of the ways that any business can mitigate the effects of the price on carbon is to become more energy efficient in terms of their energy usage. Whenever any business, whether it's a small business or a heavy industrial user, becomes more energy efficient, they beco

Natural Resources committee  I look to my colleague here. I don't know if I can pinpoint a specific jurisdiction that is doing that better, but part of the role governments can and do play around incentives is around providing incentives for new technologies. When I spoke earlier about where we focus our e

Natural Resources committee  I believe we are. I believe that extends to the entire energy-efficiency industry in our province, and it would be the same in all provinces. If you're the owner of a small business, as I said, you have so many competing priorities. Energy efficiency is an area that often falls t

Natural Resources committee  Before I speak to how the programs work, I will say that on the residential side, the federal government has recently come to the table through, as I mentioned, the low carbon economy fund to put some additional monies into that sector. I mean, more can always be done, but there

Natural Resources committee  Yes, that's right. I could use a coach or a personal trainer. Businesses and institutions are much the same. As Amelia said, they have such a long list of priorities of where they can spend their money and their time. Often, they just don't have the information to know where to

Natural Resources committee  That's a great question, and it's one we are asked quite a bit. Our job, as we like to think about it, is trying to convince and incent people to do something they otherwise wouldn't do on their own. We use a mix of tools. Financial incentives are one of the tools, but we also

Natural Resources committee  It really does depend on the type of energy-efficiency project you're putting in place. If you think of a retail building, you're using energy to heat and cool the building, for lights, computers and whatnot. You can make some relatively low-cost changes, for example, lighting or

Natural Resources committee  We have not had direct discussions with the Canada Infrastructure Bank or other financial institutions, but we are a part of a conversation that's happening across Canada that's being led by a relatively new organization, Efficiency Canada. I believe they may have presented to th

Natural Resources committee  Do you want to take that one?

Natural Resources committee  I think that both levels of government can play a role in filling that funding gap. The federal government has recently come to the table through the low carbon economy fund and put a significant investment into energy efficiency in Nova Scotia. The majority of those dollars wer

Natural Resources committee  The number one need, I believe, is industrial energy efficiency, meaning industrial facilities and industrial manufacturing processes. That's the case in Nova Scotia, but I also know it's the case across Canada. That was brought out in the Generation Energy Council report. There

Natural Resources committee  I'll start, thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Stephen MacDonald. I'm the chief executive officer of Efficiency One. With me is my colleague Amelia Warren, our director of customer experience and partnerships. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you