Peter Love is not a Leasider, but he certainly has Leaside connections! The co-founder of Summerhill Group, one of Canada’s leaders in delivering energy efficiency programs, has worked for a number of years in the Leaside Business Park where he’s a well-known presence. Growing up, his kids played hockey at Leaside Gardens, and a granddaughter now enjoys synchro swimming at Leaside. For many years, he’s been a passionate advocate for building a “culture of conservation.”
It isn’t every 70-year-old, especially one who already has more than a few university degrees, who heads off to a first-year university course in psychology, but that was what Peter Love did a few years ago at the University of Toronto. His wife even took a “first day of school” photo of him. His aim was to learn more about how best to get people and governments to pay attention to energy conservation.
He thoroughly enjoyed that first-year course, enough to continue for a few more courses! He learned new teaching methods from the young profs, including using Kahoot! as a learning assessment tool. He now uses Kahoot! regularly in his own teaching as an adjunct professor at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, a professor at Yorkville University and a volunteer cleantech advisor at MaRS Discovery District.
Peter started his career at Pollution Probe, in the early 1970s, when “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” first became a mantra. He says, “We’ve done a great job on recycling, but haven’t done as well in the ‘reduce, reuse’ portions, and that’s what I’m working on encouraging now.”
Two important numbers he wants us all to think about:
82% – the proportion of man-made greenhouse gas emissions coming from the production and use of energy. Most of us believe that climate change is happening, and therefore, we need to decrease these greenhouse gas emissions.
60% – over 60% of our energy in Canada is wasted. For instance, an internal combustion car engine is 20% efficient, while the other 80% is waste. We need to think seriously about electric vehicles and using heat pumps.
His focus is working on energy policy and programs with a view to using less energy. This is where it comes back to his return to school to study psychology – to find ways for us to pay attention and take action, since he asserts “the most important barrier to energy efficiency is awareness.”
A personal frustration is that conservation and energy efficiency policies have become more politicized than he thinks they should be. Doing a better job on energy conservation should be something all municipal, provincial and federal representatives and parties agree is important. … and by individuals asking questions of these representatives, and then voting accordingly.
Peter has worked for not-for-profits, private companies, in advocacy (“telling governments what they should do”), for government agencies and in universities. As he says, “I just can’t keep a job.” This gives him a unique and useful perspective when conversations need to cross boundaries. Just in this past year, he’s given more than 20 guest lectures across Canada, and also participated in “lunch and learn” sessions on energy conservation.
With an emphasis on conservation of a different type, he is also the treasurer of the Muskoka Conservancy, which to date has protected 51 properties, covering 4,000 acres.
Peter Love’s energy is boundless.
