Port Hawkesbury, NS - A variety of representatives from the surrounding Municipalities of Inverness and Richmond Counties and the Town of Port Hawkesbury attended the first of a series of three seminars on funding programs available for Municipalities, Businesses and Homeowners who wish to make upgrades to save energy.


From left to right: (Front) Jason MacMillan, Garett Beaton, (Back) Joe O’Connor, Gordie Snook, Katelyn MacDonald, Carla Martell, Jeff Stanley, John Beaton, Jim Pyke, Blaine Gillis, Sean Brogan

The “Meter Series” seminars are hosted by the Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency (S-HRDA) and aim to provide attendee’s with motivation through valuable information on a variety of programs that offer funding for energy efficiency capital projects. The first session was held at the Civic Center in Port Hawkesbury on November 9th from 1-3pm and focused on funding programs applicable to Municipal operations.

Sean Brogan, Business Development Manager at Efficiency Nova Scotia and John Beaton, Energy and Sustainability Consultant at S-HRDA were the key speakers at the event and provided the audience with valuable information on programs available for municipalities to reduce their electricity usage. Mr. Brogan touched on a long list of excellent funding opportunities that Efficiency Nova Scotia has to offer such as the Commercial Solar Program and the Custom Program. John Beaton discussed programs offered by Shell Canada and a popular one from the Federation of The Canadian Municipalities (FCM), The Green Municipal Fund. A complete and detailed list of the Efficiency Nova Scotia programs and their criteria and application forms are available online at www.efficiencyns.ca.

“The Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency, through Strait-Highlands Green Action, is offering this series of workshops, seminars and information sessions to ensure that our partners are completely in the know when it comes to financial options related to energy usage”, noted John Beaton, S-HRDA. Beaton added, “Energy costs are only going in one direction so we need to maximize our offset of capital costs related to energy efficiency while the opportunity is there”.

Overall, the first seminar on energy efficiency was very helpful to the attendees and fully answered questions or concerns they had about the programs applicable to municipalities wanting to get ahead of rising energy costs.

“It’s important for Municipalities to adopt energy reducing changes because it helps them save large amounts of money to be used for other purposes, while helping to stabilize taxes and it puts them on the map as a Green leader in the community”, noted Katelyn MacDonald, Marketing Assistant at S-HRDA.

The next seminar, Meter #2: Businesses Energy Incentives, is tentatively scheduled for early December, and will focus on smart energy business practices as well as funding programs available for businesses who wish to make energy efficient upgrades and changes. Following that event will be the last presentation of the series, Meter #3: Homeowner Energy Incentives, which will focus on smart energy practices and funding programs for Homeowners and will be held early in 2012.

Media Contacts:

John Beaton
Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency
Phone: 902.625.3929 ext. 5
Email: john.beaton@strait-highlands.ns.ca

Katelyn MacDonald
Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency
Phone: 902.625.3928 ext. 8
Email: katelyn.macdonald@strait-highlands.ns.ca