Hear from our experts this September 5-8!
Evidence Week Canada will comprise a series of virtual 30-minute sessions where MPs and ministerial staff will have the opportunity to connect with panelists who are available to discuss any questions related to energy efficiency.
MPs and ministerial staff are invited to book private sessions with the experts using the links below. These sessions are private sessions — you will be able to ask precise questions to panelists! Please let us know if you would like a briefing document on your subject of choice before or after the meeting.
Panels available for booking:
Energy costs and low-income energy efficiency
Ask all your questions on low income energy efficiency and energy costs to researchers, program implementers, program administrators and lived experience experts on energy poverty, how it affects Canadians, how low-income Canadians left out of current climate and energy efficiency policies and get some examples of good low-income energy efficiency programming.
Panel of Experts
Abhilash Kantamneni
Research Associate, Efficiency Canada
Abhi has a decade of experience helping communities across US and Canada use clean and efficient energy to achieve local priorities including improving housing, increasing ‘good jobs’ and reducing poverty. His community-based approach to clean energy, civic engagement and capacity building has earned him wide recognition. Currently, he is completing his PhD in Geography at the University of Guelph researching the governance of building #EnergyRetrofits in Canada.
Runa R. Das
Associate Professor, Royal Roads University
Runa is an Associate Professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University. She received her PhD in Environmental Applied Science and Management from Toronto Metropolitan University and holds Master’s and undergraduate degrees in Psychology. She is the current Steering Committee Chair of Women and Inclusivity in Sustainable Energy Research (WISER): a global network of women and non-binary academics in clean, low-carbon, or sustainable energy research.
Amy Tuck
Manager – Residential & Indigenous Programs, Efficiency Manitoba
Amy leads Efficiency Manitoba’s Income-based, Indigenous, and community programs portfolio. For over 13 years, Amy has been designing and delivering energy efficiency programs for a variety of customer segments in Manitoba. With a decade at Manitoba Hydro, she gained insight into the significant role that demand side management plays for utilities and the importance of bill affordability for underserved customers.
Laura Tozer
Assistant Professor, Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences
Laura Tozer is an Assistant Professor of environmental studies in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences. Her current research focuses on how to accelerate equitable transitions to net zero and resilient cities, particularly related to energy transitions and building decarbonization. She co-leads the Urban Just Transitions Cluster at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Yasmin Abraham
President/Co-Founder, Kambo Energy Group
Yasmin is President and Co-Founder of Kambo Energy Group, a social enterprise that reduces energy poverty and improves housing in communities that have historically been under-prioritized. Yasmin is a leading expert in equity based energy and climate programming, working with governments and utilities across Canada to design and deliver inclusive solutions.
Making every new building net-zero emissions
Join researchers, engineers, tradespeople and home builders to learn about why Canada’s building codes are important in reaching net zero, why current building codes don’t consider GHG emissions and what is being done about it, what we can do about emissions from materials used in construction, and the affordability of energy efficient homes.
Panel of Experts
Kevin Lockhart
Research Manager, Efficiency Canada
Kevin completed his Master’s in Sustainable Energy Policy at Carleton University. Combined practical and theoretical experience has helped Kevin deliver successful projects ranging from rural energy efficiency programming to national awareness campaigns advocating for greater efficiency in the electricity sector.
Tanya Ratzlaff
Senior Manager of Strategic Relations, HPSC
Tanya is the Senior Manager of Strategic Relations at the Home Performance Stakeholder Council (HPSC). In her role with the organization, Tanya specializes in strategic oversight of programs such as their flagship initiative the Home Performance Contractor Network.
Cleaning heat and achieving net-zero in existing buildings
Join researchers, utilities and manufacturers to ask questions about heat pumps, how to decarbonize existing buildings, and how other countries require higher performance standards in existing buildings.
Panel of Experts
Alexander Gard-Murray
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brown University
Alexander is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab. He has a decade of experience researching climate mitigation strategies. In 2021 he helped develop the “Hybrid Heat Homes” model for accelerating building decarbonization by replacing central air conditioners with heat pumps, and is currently studying its application to Canada. He holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford.
Sarah Riddell
Research Associate, Efficiency Canada
Sarah has worked in commercial energy management, working to decarbonize federal buildings in British Columbia and the Yukon. Sarah has a BSc. in Agricultural and Environmental Economics from McGill University, with a particular interest in the economics of climate change.
Sharane Simon
Research Associate, Efficiency Canada
Sharane has extensive research experience, including foraminiferal and geoscientific studies, wind farm development, and teleworking. With a BSc in Petroleum Geoscience from the University of the West Indies and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences (Sedimentology) from Dalhousie University, she has honed the skill of asking difficult questions, observing patterns, and drawing meaningful conclusions.
Dylan Trebels
Owner & Principal Energy Advisor, Peach Home Energy
Dylan is a Registered Energy Advisor. He runs Peach Home Energy, a small business focused on helping homeowners in Ottawa makes their homes more energy efficient! Before taking a year off and retraining in building science, Dylan worked at several startups and tech companies in Ottawa and Toronto. He has experience leading corporate sustainability efforts and managing large scale software implementation projects.
The importance of electricity savings in a net-zero future
Join Efficiency Canada policy experts and ask questions about the importance of saving electricity – even low carbon electricity – in a resilient and equitable net-zero transition, what provinces and territories are doing on this issue, and what the role of the federal government could be to bolster Canadian energy efficiency efforts.
Panel of Experts
James Gaede
Research Manager, Efficiency Canada
For the past 10 years, James has conducted research on energy and environmental politics and public opinion in Canada through a variety of capacities, including two postdoctoral fellowships, research associate positions at York University, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo, and as an independent consultant. He has also been a member of two cross-Canadian energy-related research networks, prepared several successful research grant applications, and served as organizational and technical consultant at multiple academic associations.
Brendan Haley
Director of Policy Research, Efficiency Canada
Brendan has a PhD in Public Policy from Carleton University where his research used political economy and systems of innovation frameworks to understand the role of traditional natural resource sectors in Canada’s low-carbon transition. He was awarded a prestigious Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2016-2018 and holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University and a BSc in Economics from Dalhousie University.
Geneviève Gauthier
National Director of Consulting Services, Econoler
Geneviève is an energy transition expert who has advised the public sector and private organizations in the commercial, institutional and industrial sectors for almost 20 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal and a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She is the National Director of Consulting Services at Econoler, a consulting firm with almost 40 years of experience in the design, implementation, evaluation and financing of energy efficiency programs and projects.
Scaling up building retrofits
Ask building retrofits experts what policy approaches could scale up building retrofits in Canada, what new technologies could help us upgrade buildings better and faster, and what models are available to do so at scale.
Panel of Experts
Nick Rudnicki
Technical Director, The ReCover Initiative and CEO of RSI Projects
Nick is co-founder of the ReCover Initiative, a Halifax based non-profit established to scale retrofits in Canada. Nick is also the CEO of RSI Projects, a residential building and renovation company in operation since 2011. His experience on numerous new house builds led to an awareness that the carbon emissions and climate impacts of constructing new buildings is a significant contributor to the environmental crisis.
Arman Mottaghi
CEO, Properate
Arman Mottaghi is the CEO of Properate, a social-purpose firm on a mission to facilitate high-performance low-rise residential (Part 9) construction and renovation. Arman is a Clean50 Emerging Leader of 2023 and was named the 2021 Emerging Green Leader of Canada by Canada Green Building Council. As a former Board Director of the BC Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA) Arman brings a broad view of the high-perfomrance building opportunities to the table.
Lorrie Rand
Co-Founder & Director of Sustainability, Habit Studio Inc.
Lorrie Rand is Co-Founder of Habit Studio, an award-winning architectural and residential design practice, specializing in sustainable renovations and custom Passive Houses. As a building science specialist, Lorrie is passionate about integrating Passive House standards and Biophilic Design principles into her work, which has been featured in ArchDaily, e-Architect, Passive Buildings Canada, Passive House Accelerator Magazine, SABMag, and more. Lorrie is a Certified Passive House Designer with a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies from Dalhousie University.
Jessica McIlroy
City Councillor in North Vancouver and Senior Analyst with the Pembina Institute
Over the past twenty years, I have worked to learn and lead on clean energy development and climate action work with for-purpose organizations. I currently work as a Senior Analyst with the Pembina Institute, focusing on decarbonizing our built environment.
I also believe strongly in local government collaboration, and work as the Deputy Executive Director with Climate Caucus, sit on the Executive of the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, and am a member of the BC Municipal Climate Leadership Council.
Carol Maas
Policy Research Associate, Efficiency Canada
Carol bridged the water and energy sectors, authoring the first report of its kind in Canada to quantify the water-energy nexus. Carol’s efficiency work was inspired by energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins, and the belief that “efficiency is the best new source” of water or energy. Carol joined Efficiency Canada to apply her knowledge of the HVAC sector, efficiency and policy research to investigate home performance business models in the Canadian context.
Paul Dowsett
Founding Principal Architect, Sustainable
Paul Dowsett is the founding Principal Architect at Sustainable. With more than three decades of local and international residential, institutional, and commercial sustainable design and project management experience, Paul is uniquely qualified to lead a highly collaborative design team for projects of diverse scales, types, and complexities. Sustainable creates architecture for a healthy planet, by utilizing non-toxic materials and dramatically reducing carbon-emissions. For the past decade, Paul has been central to a practice of deep community engagement with marginalized people of all backgrounds and abilities. At the core of Paul’s philosophy and practice is the belief that design and construction solutions should be simple, sensitive, and sustainable.