Energy conference exceeds expectations
New focus and new faces as more than 200 people sign up for event
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 16, 2016
INUVIK
The times are changing and the North must change with them, according to Christopher Henderson, the keynote speaker at the Arctic Energy and Emerging Technology conference and tradeshow.
Organizers say more than 200 people had signed up for the Arctic Energy and Emerging Technologies Conference and Tradeshow by noon on June 14. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo
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"I think there's great wealth throughout the North, throughout indigenous communities," he said. "There are some log jams we need to deal with, but I look forward to working with you to do that."
The conference kicked off June 12, but sessions truly got underway in the morning June 13 with delegates from the community and a few key speakers opening the event. They spoke of the challenges facing the North as a whole, but were clear in their belief in the opportunities on the table for communities and businesses.
"We're being really dumb about clean energy projects across the country," said Henderson, president of Lumos Energy, a company that works with indigenous communities to build sustainable energy infrastructure. "Every project seems to be new."
Instead, he said those projects need to be replicable and that proponents need to band together to make their work more efficient. He also said the way forward for aboriginal communities - both remote and not - is in clean energy technology.
"There ain't gonna be any gain without some pain," he said, noting that 95 per cent of the capital costs of green energy are up front in the first year, making the investment a daunting hurdle for most governments, but arguing that once they take that step, costs go down dramatically in subsequent years.
The balanced approach Henderson took to the shift to clean energy from fossil fuels in the North was reflected in the tone of the conference as a whole.
Vicky Gregoire-Tremblay, the event organizer and manager of economic development and tourism for the town of Inuvik, said the event had already exceeded her expectations.
"We have more than 200 people registered already, and there are still more coming," she told the Drum in the morning June 14. "The focus is a bit different, it's about Arctic energy in general, and people are really bringing their personal experience and background to it."
She also noted that participants have been upgrading their passes in order to gain access to more of the show.
"It shows that people are interested in getting more out of the entire event," she said. "It's smaller than the petroleum show has been in the past, but our expectations were lower, and we've exceeded them, so I'm happy with that."
