Welcome to the Ottawa New Energy Network !

Who are we?:

• We are a group of home owners and entrepreneurs, interested in discovering, and sharing knowledge of new technologies, products, designs and best practices, for reducing our energy footprint at home and in small business.

• We want to help individuals and communities discover ways to reduce their energy costs, with a focus on living spaces. We also wish to facilitate the growth of small businesses focused on healthy homes and communities, and sustainable energy solutions.

Why are we doing this?:

In addition to the global concern over energy and climate change that we all share, there are some specific motivations for starting this organization:

• Canadians consume more energy per capita than any other nationality in the world, including the US. We have an obligation to address this - starting with each of us.
• Energy consumption at home (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.) accounts for over 30% of the total consumption. We, individuals can collectively have a huge impact.
• This year, Ontario will begin consuming more electric power than we produce, with the situation growing over the coming 5-7 years. The major component of our government's solution to this challenge has been to announce a major investment (over $60 billion) in Nuclear energy. Residential consumption represents approximately 50% of this demand, and so communities can provide viable options to at least some of this investment.
• Implications of climate change, rising energy costs, as well as supply issues will lead to a greater need to seek alternative ways to manage residential energy demands - for cost and security reasons.
• Historically, Energy represents an undervalued element of our economy. There is significant potential to encourage economic growth and wealth creation, by supporting small businesses operating in this important area of the economy.

What will we be doing?:

We plan an inaugural meeting for September 13th, at 7pm in the basement conference room at the Ottawa Public Main library at 120 Metcalfe, Ottawa, ON K1P 5M2 (613-580-2945). Our intent is to have monthly meetings where we will have individuals and companies present products, ideas, etc., to our group, and we can share information. We are fortunate to have two experts at our first meeting to discuss the CMHC Zero Energy Home initiative as well as the Plug-in Hybrid car, and the opportunities that each presents.

Our group should be a force for real progress, so we don't want to limit our activities to a monthly information sharing meeting. There are an almost infinite source of possible initiatives, and we would like everyone to contribute suggestions on what they would like us to do. Afterall, we want it to be your organization.

Please scan over the pages of this wiki. It will grow once we get underway. For those of you not familar with the Wiki concept - think of it as a shared bulletin board, that you can edit the content of. For more information, see the links below

Next Meeting

• Click of the following link to go to the page describing our next meeting

http://homeenergyinnovations.pbwiki.com/Next%20Meeting

• What can you do with a wiki? Take a tour and use pre-made templates

• How do you create a new page? 2 easy ways

• Learn how to use bold, italics, tables, and more: The wiki style page

• Share this wiki with others. It's easy