Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow (QUEST) named Inuvik one of its best-in-class communities to pilot in its smart energy communities scorecard initiative.

Brent Gilmour, QUEST's executive director, said the scorecard initiative is the first tool of its kind in Canada to evaluate and benchmark the progress of small communities on their energy goals.

"What we're looking for the scorecard to do at the end of the day is offer to multiple sectors in a community a roadmap to transition to being a smart energy community and allow them to evaluate their progress along the way," said Gilmour.

A smart energy community is one that maximizes its energy efficiency, integrates clean energy technology, uses locally available energy sources and also reduces the amount of energy it uses overall.

Gilmour said QUEST chose Inuvik to participate in the program because the town is reflective of many Northern communities that are dependent on conventional energy systems. The scorecard initiative will highlight ways that Northern communities can better integrate renewable energy resources.

"We wanted to work with communities that could see the benefit of participating as a way to enhance their energy delivery needs," he said. "There's a real focus for Inuvik on how it can use alternative energy supplies."

Yellowknife, Calgary, Bridgewater, N.S., Grande Prairie, Alta., and London, Ont., will also participate in the scorecard initiative to ultimately work to improve energy efficiency, enhance reliability, cut costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

Inuvik mayor Jim McDonald said Inuvik has done a lot over the years to improve the town's energy efficiency.

"Four or five years ago we approached the power corporation to replace all of our streetlights with LED lights," said McDonald. "That reduced our street lighting energy use quite a bit, I think by about half."

He added that some of the town's energy is from local solar panels, and the lights at the arena and curling club in the recreation centre were upgraded to LED.

"Through conservation lighting policies, like turning off lights when they're not being used," he noted, "over a matter of three or four years, we've reduced our consumption at the rec centre by around 200,000 kilowatts."

Another way Inuvik is improving its energy efficiency is by tempering the water in the utilidors using heat extracted from the engines at the power plant.

McDonald said Inuvik's biggest energy challenge is how to heat the community with a reliable source of fuel.

"But individuals are doing a lot themselves already, like burning wood," said McDonald. "The cost of heating has really forced people to look at alternatives."