Course
Energy Conscious Communities: A Primer Course
Karen has contributed to training over 150+ municipal practitioners on community energy planning with colleagues at York University’s Sustainable Energy Institute. This new course has been developed for a broader municipal and community audience.
What You Get
From general commitments to a concrete, defensible plan.
This course applies the same circular energy framework at the heart of More Than Carbon — Reduce, Improve, Switch, Regenerate — to your community’s real energy planning challenges.
Every community needs to move from general climate commitments to a concrete, defensible plan. More Than Carbon gives you the framework and vocabulary to make that happen — and to bring it back to your council, your department, and your partners.
The Modules
Three parts, taken together or on their own.
Part 1 · On Attention
Why energy planning belongs at the community level.
Build the case for why energy planning has to happen at the community level and why carbon alone is the wrong measure of success.
This is the credible, evidence-based opening argument for community energy planning. It gives you the grounding to build community buy-in.
Part 2 · On Intention
Build and structure a community energy plan.
Learn to build and structure a community energy plan using the Reduce / Improve / Switch / Regenerate framework.
This module moves from concept to concrete, sequenced plan. You’ll have a practical tool that you can apply directly to your municipality’s energy file.
Part 3 · On Agency
See the framework play out in real Canadian cases.
Through real Canadian case studies, see how the framework plays out across land use, buildings, mobility, local power, thermal systems, and municipal assets.
Rather than starting with a blank page, you leave with adaptable, precedent-backed models and a clear picture of what implementation actually involves.
Ready in early 2027
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