CIRES Initiatives

Climate Resilience Projects

CIRES intends to identify concepts for climate resilience projects, screening, and then supporting the maturation of such projects to the point of implementation, enabling locally-focused ideas to take root, evolve and replicate rapidly in an environment that is calibrated to make real change at the pace the people of BC need to see.

At the intersection of climate mitigation (characterised by efforts to decarbonize our systems) and climate adaptation (measures that essentially roll with the changes to our climate) is Climate Resilience. At the heart of Climate Resilience is the concept of building our mitigation programs in a way that both eliminates carbon from our economic and social systems while ensuring that regions develop robustness in essential areas that serve those localized populations.

The wildfires and floods of BC brought home the reality that supply chains are more fragile than we once imagined. When power, food stocks and and essential services are jeopardized, our population faces real risk of harm. What might once have been considered high consequence, low probability scenarios are now seen for what they are - high consequence events that are almost assured to occur somewhere in our province each year.

Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ remains relevant to human wellbeing. But in our complex societies with extended supply chains for food and fuel and where energy production continues to be centralized, the system is increasingly in jeopardy from climate-related extreme weather events. By decentralizing energy production built around renewable energy paired with reliable and resilient energy storage, we can provide greater assurance to regional populations that essential power will be available. By localizing a substantial proportion of our food production, we ensure that basic food needs can be met at any time throughout the year, independent of external conditions. And, through an increasing focus on zero emission vehicles (both battery and fuel cell electric) regions internalize regional fuel production (electricity and hydrogen) while boosting the potential for economic development. The challenge is to identify opportunities for such projects and help bring them to fruition. We need to deliver real projects on the ground - now.

In May 2022, CIRES will launch an initiative to call for project proposals from across the Kootenay-Columbia region. Through a screening team of experts we will assess not only basic viability of proposals but the capacity of the proposing group to evolve and deliver their concept. Proposals must have a climate resilience focus within the definition of securing the ongoing physical, mental and economic well-being of all within our region.

We often speak about ‘safeguarding vulnerable members of our society’ - make no mistake, in the face of climate related weather events, we are all vulnerable.

Floating Solar Photovoltaic

In many parts of British Columbia where land availability is constrained, or where topography is limiting, there is opportunity to locate solar pv on bodies of water using dedicated floating mounts. Floating solar is a relatively novel but rapidly maturing technology now gaining attention globally.

In the context of hydroelectric systems, floating solar located on the reservoir can act as a complementary system, providing peak daytime power and utilizing retained water as stored potential energy. Beyond the beneficial utilization of space, floating solar pv (FPV) offers complementary benefits from the shielding of water bodies from solar radiation, such as substantially reduced water evaporation and maintaining cooler water temperatures for fish populations

The CIRES FPV initiative has completed a survey of water bodies in the Kootenay-Columbia region as potential generation sites. Findings and recommendations of the preliminary FP study were presented and discussed at the CIRES September 2021 Conference in Nelson BC.

Contact us to find out more about the synergies between FPV and existing energy infrastructure.

Climate Resilience Centres

As extreme weather events around the globe increase in frequency and intensity, it is now clear that there are no safe havens from the effects of climate change. In the face of ‘threshold events’ such as deteriorating air quality, extreme heat, wildfire and flood, there are many vulnerable people within our communities whose health is jeopardized by such threshold events. Many people lost their lives in the recent extreme weather event across the Pacific northwest associated with the ‘heat dome’ phenomenon - a loss that was largely, if not entirely, preventable.

CIRES wishes to build upon the concept of ‘cooling centers’ to advocate for the provision of centralized facilities in all municipalities designed to provide a cool, filtered air environment with basic emergency services and communication, centers that are self-sufficient in power and which act as both refuge and auxiliary command center during emergency events.

CIRES has formed a working group with the objective of making the case for establishing Resilience Centers across the province of British Columbia and beyond, describing their basic functions, baseline economics and partnering with municipalities, medical services and first responders to determine what the optimal strategy should be for ensuring resilience within our communities. As planning for refurbishment of community buildings or design of new community centers or schools is initiated, CIRES encourages sponsoring bodies, funders and systems designers to consider a range of resilient and adaptive strategies within the design that will provide ‘strong-points’ to safeguard community members during emergencies - and provide amenity and opportunity for community building and learning during other times.

If you are involved in activities that intersect with our work, we would be happy to discuss and find out how we might align and amplify each others’ initiatives.