Membership Spotlight: Amy Roesler
About Amy:
Amy has more than 20 years of experience designing, delivering and advocating for solutions to today’s (and tomorrow’s) energy efficiency, utility management and GHG emissions reduction challenges. She is currently the owner and principal of an independent consulting practice, Roesler Consulting Inc, and served on the 2020 Board of our local chapter of AEE (Alberta Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers).
Amy was Executive Director of the Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance (AEEA) through 2020, was a Board member and Vice-Chair from 2017 to 2019, and has been a member since 2015. She was Director of Western Canada with CLEAResult, a turnkey efficiency and emissions reduction program implementer delivering Alberta’s first commercial, industrial and methane emissions reduction programs from 2016 to 2019. Prior to this, she led and delivered large technology and business transformation projects in the areas of demand side management, smart metering, customer care and operations with utilities, agencies, and private corporations. She holds a B.Sc. Honors degree in Physical Geography from the University of Alberta and an MBA specializing in Sustainable Development from the University of Calgary.
About AEEA:
Formed in 2007, the Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance (AEEA) is a diverse organization of more than 35 Alberta companies actively working to advance and maximize EE in our province. Our members include Alberta engineering firms, program implementers and equipment installers, utilities, municipalities, educational institutions, training organizations and other Alberta industry associations that drive employment in, and advancement of, the energy efficiency industry in Alberta. We have a track record of credible public policy advocacy that has meaningfully advanced the energy efficiency sector in Alberta, while informing and advocating with governments, convening stakeholders and providing opportunities for industry collaboration and networking.
Highlights of Recent Energy Efficiency Developments in Alberta:
- The provincial government shuttered the province’s first and only attempt at broad energy efficiency programming, Energy Efficiency Alberta, in September 2020 after only two full years of operation, primarily due to its funding structure via the previous NDP government’s carbon levy.
- An independent assessment funded by Efficiency Canada indicates that up to 5,300 jobs and $2.3B in GDP growth annually could be delivered by 2030 through a sustained energy efficiency industry.
- An October announcement launched up to $55M in funding to Emissions Reduction Alberta to launch the Energy Savings for Business Program, however large swaths of the province’s residents and non-profits are still not engaged in energy efficiency.
- Federally, that gap may be partially closed with contemplated economic stimulus funding focused on energy efficiency slated to roll out after the COVI-19 vaccine rollout, including up to $5,000 in energy efficiency rebates available.
- Alberta’s main deficiency in sustaining the economic, social and environmental benefits of energy efficiency is the lack of a market-driven, sustained funding model. Whether that comes via energy efficiency integration into the utility system or via a continued and longer-term broadening of the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund, in the meantime Alberta is getting left in the dust compared to other provinces in terms of mitigating utility infrastructure and usage costs for Albertans.