Celebrating a Year of Community-led Energy Innovation

Reflections on the Home Energy Experience Tour (HEET)

It’s been nearly a year since the conceptualization and delivery of the Home Energy Experience Tour (HEET), a cross-Canada community engagement tour, powered by Indigenous Clean Energy.  From April to July 2025, HEET visited 15 Indigenous communities from across Turtle Island, bringing practical, hands-on energy and housing education directly into community spaces. 

I was working behind the scenes with a small team to support my friend Cedric Pepelea and the HEET team. I helped support workshop materials, communications, marketing, and the broader strategy as this unique initiative took shape. It was a privilege to contribute to a project rooted in Indigenous leadership, creativity, and cultural connection, and even more inspiring to see the impact through the stories captured across the tour.

The heart of HEET was its interactive Heat Loss House sessions, where participants of all ages explored what makes homes healthier and more energy efficient through hands-on modelling and curiosity-driven discovery. These workshops were co-created with local community champions.

I’m happy to share that there’s now a 16-part mini-documentary series that chronicles the work and voices of these community champions, capturing everything from local renewable energy projects to youth mentorship and housing innovation. Each episode shows how shared learning can spark big ideas and lasting community benefits. 

Watch the series and explore the stories here: https://indigenouscleanenergy.com/heet/

Thank you to all the community champions, participants, facilitators, filmmakers, and supporters who made this tour such a meaningful experience. Projects like HEET remind us why we make room for good work, the kind that builds connection, spreads knowledge, and uplifts people across the country.

Here’s to more collaboration, more learning, and more space for light in the world.

— Dan