The lead story in the Monday, September 12 , 2011 issue of The Wall Street Journal "Environment" section by Michael Totty discusses the energy and environmental challenges facing growing cities. The first solution on his list is district heating.

Since December Compass has been providing strategic guidance to the City of Seattle on a long-term District Energy strategy. In July Trent Berry and key City Staff presented interim recommendations to City Council. A final report was issued in August. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce covered the Council presentation

Compass has been working with Parklane Homes since 2007 to develop a district energy utility (DEU) for the company's River District development. The River District is located on former industrial lands along the Fraser River in southeast Vancouver. The development will be built to high social and environmental standards. It will ultimately encompass over 700,000 m2 of new floor space (~55 legal parcels), consisting mostly of residential uses, with some smaller amounts of retail, office and community uses.

Yellowknife's plans to warm downtown buildings with geothermal heat from an old gold mine are back on track, thanks to a new partnership with Corix Utilities.

The City of Yellowknife recently received a sustainability award from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for its Smart Growth planning initiative, part of which includes the Con Mine energy project.

Structured Decision Making (SDM) is increasingly being integrated into the standard practices of large organizations - like the US Fish and Wildlife Service and BC Hydro, for example.

On a recent trip to the capital of the Northwest Territories for the Yellowknife Heat Recovery project, Compass consultants Trent Berry and Taylor Zeeg experienced nothing like they’ve ever had before. “OMG, amazing,” they said. “How can it be so good?” they asked. “Who knew?”.

The Yellowknife City Council recently voted unanimously to support implementation of a new Community Energy System proposed by Compass as part of the Yellowknife Heat Recovery project. The vote is a significant milestone for the project, taking the city one step closer to 20,000 tonnes/year of GHG reductions.