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

Building on the EcoDistrict screening work of Compass and Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI), the Portland Development Commission recently issued a Request for Qualifications to identify companies interested in developing, owning and operating a shared thermal energy system in the Rose Quarter of Portland.

Structured Decision Making: A Practical Guide to Environmental Management Choices is a book about the creative and messy process of making environmental management decisions. The approach we describe is called Structured Decision Making, a distinctly pragmatic label given to ways for helping individuals and groups think through tough multidimensional choices characterized by uncertain science, diverse stakeholders, and difficult tradeoffs.

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.

A collaborative publication developed by Compass and Ecoplan International for United Nations Habitat (UN Habitat) was granted a 2011 Award for Planning Excellence - Honourable Mention by the Canadian Institute of Planners.

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.

I came across this Microchips podcast on the CBC site talking about how a software program develop for playing poker shows how we make decisions. I found it both informative and entertaining. Enjoy.” –Tim Wilson