Drayton Valley Energy & Emissions

PCP Milestone Framework

In 2015, with Council Resolution #217/15, the Town of Drayton Valley (TODV) officially joined the Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCP). The PCP is a national network of over 350 municipalities that have committed to reducing greenhouse gases and acting on climate change. PCP is managed and delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

The PCP program helps municipalities reduce energy use and emissions through a five-step Milestone Framework:

Milestone 1: Create a Baseline Emissions Inventory and Forecast

    Milestone 2: Set Emissions Reduction Targets

    Milestone 3: Develop a Local Action Plan

    Milestone 4: Implement the Local Action Plan

    Milestone 5: Monitor Progress and Report Results

Moving through these five milestones can save municipalities money, improve air quality, create jobs, and improve local residents’ health.

First Milestone Achieved

In January 2020, the Town of Drayton Valley achieved Milestone 1 of the PCP Milestone Framework. As part of the requirements to achieve Milestone 1, the Town was required to create a GHG emissions inventory and a ten-year emissions forecast. The energy and emissions inventory helps the Town to track energy use, emissions and spending as well as gather money-saving information while the forecast enables the Town to measure progress over time.

The Drayton Valley Energy & Emissions Inventory 2015-2018 is available at the following link:

For highlights on Drayton Valley’s Energy & Emissions Inventory 2015 to 2018, click here!

Achieving Milestones 2 & 3

To achieve the next milestones in the PCP Program, the Town of Drayton Valley is developing a Local Energy Stewardship Plan. The Plan will set goals for reducing energy use and emissions generated and outline the potential municipal and community-wide initiatives for reaching these goals over the next ten years.

Energy Survey Completed

An online survey was conducted from April 20th to May 18th, 2020. The objective was to gather feedback from residents on their priorities for energy stewardship and energy programming in Drayton Valley. The online survey was to be complemented with a host of engagement activities at local events, with educational institutions, with the Chamber of Commerce, senior center, and other local stakeholders. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the online survey becoming the sole engagement instrument applied at this time.

The online survey was built on Google Forms and heavily advertised through the Town’s social media platforms, the local newspapers, and with physical posters at bulletin boards throughout the Town (including grocery stores, medical centers, schools, and others). The Town offered a $50 Chamber Cash prize draw to encourage participation. Unfortunately, the survey garnered only 43 respondents, which makes the results statistically invalid (<1%).

However, the feedback provided useful insight into the different opinions of the respondents. Some of the key findings is shared in the “What We Heard” Report available here:

What We Heard – Public Survey Summary

Local Librarian Wins Energy Survey Prize Draw!

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Ms. Verna Wicks is the lucky winner of the Energy Survey Prize Draw which ran from April 20 to May 18th, 2020. Our local librarian is a familiar face in town. She hosts various fun programs at the Drayton Valley Library and continues to do so virtually through the library’s social media channels.

Ms. Wicks won Chamber Cash worth $50 that can be spent at any one of the 38 participating local businesses in Drayton Valley. Her name was drawn at random by Councillor Nancy Dodds in her role as the Sustainability Committee Chair and witnessed by Councillor Amila Gammana.

“On behalf of the Sustainability Committee, I would like to congratulate Ms. Verna Wicks on winning the prize draw,” said Councillor Nancy Dodds. “For all the other respondents who completed the survey, we thank you for your time and thoughtful comments which will help shape the energy future for Drayton Valley.”

The energy survey was conducted to fulfill two objectives.

• The first objective is to publicize the findings from Drayton Valley’s Energy and Emissions 2015-2018 Report. This report is now available on the Town’s website and provides a data-driven overview of how the community as a whole use energy.

• The second objective is to get a snapshot of residents’ opinions and ideas about the current energy situation and what energy technologies, initiatives, and programs they would like to see in Drayton Valley in the future. The community’s feedback along with engagement with local agencies and other partners will be integrated into the development of the Local Energy Stewardship Plan for Drayton Valley.

The Local Energy Stewardship Plan will define Drayton Valley’s priorities around energy by optimizing our energy production and conservation opportunities to drive economic development, improve energy efficiency, reduce energy costs, and enhance quality of life for local residents. Community feedback is essential to ensure that the recommended actions align with what the community wants, and a shared goal will help to increase the effectiveness of energy stewardship efforts.

While we could never get never get all the responses that we would like, the responses we did receive have been quite illuminating. For instance, it is good to know that most respondents agree that energy stewardship is somewhat important, and that cost savings and economic development are top motivation towards becoming better energy stewards. There is a lot of interest for energy efficiency and waste management programs but less so for renewables. An analysis of the survey results will be available as a “What We Heard Report” on the Town’s website.

If you missed the survey but would still like to provide inputs to the Local Energy Stewardship Plan, please get in touch with the Energy Program Coordinator at energy@draytonvalley.ca. We look forward to sharing a draft version of the Local Energy Stewardship Plan for public comments this summer.