Member Spotlight: Westerhoff Climate Strategies

We're back with another installment of our Member Spotlight series! When it comes to electrification, collaboration is key, and few understand that better than Lisa Westerhoff, owner of Westerhoff Climate Strategies. Lisa works across sectors to support low-carbon resilience and electrification efforts in the building industry, bringing stakeholders together to shape effective policy, programs, and strategy. Read on to find out more.

Tell us about your organization and your role within it.

I’ve been working independently under the Westerhoff Climate Strategies (WCS) banner since April 2024. As a one-woman show, I see my work as a facilitator in the general sense of being here to support others in meeting their low-carbon resilience and electrification goals in the building sector. I do that primarily by supporting engagement and facilitating various events and workshops, bringing different groups of interest holders together to find a path forward, often in the form of a new public policy, program or strategy. I also provide policy advisory and project management services, mainly to local governments but also to other scales and types of government, utilities, and industry organizations. Before striking out on my own, I worked in (and eventually led) the Climate Policy team at Introba for just over eight years. 

Why did you become a B2E member?

I had the pleasure of working on the first Building Electrification Roadmap, which showed us that achieving a clean, resilient and electrified sector would take a village to accomplish. B2E represents a hub of learning and collaboration designed to create and support that village, and I support its vision of making electrification the strategy of choice for affordable, efficient, comfortable and resilient homes and workplaces. 

What impact has the B2E community had on you/your organization? 

B2E has provided me with an avenue for sharing out some of the work that I do, but also for learning about what’s going on in this space. We’re lucky to have so many people working together in this sector, but it can be hard to keep track of! I’m also a part of the Awareness Building and Communications committee, which has been amazing for connecting with others working in the awareness-raising and communications space. It’s allowed me to share my perspective (based on my work both here in BC and elsewhere) and learn from others who are working to communicate the benefits of electrification in a way that means something to people who aren’t us. 

Tell us about an exciting building electrification project that you’re working on or recently completed? 

Earlier this year, I worked with Focal Engineering and Introba to release the Thermal Safety in Existing Multi-Unit Residential Buildings report. This study was commissioned by a group made up of the Cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health, and Metro Vancouver. The report highlighted 31 actions that local governments can take to help support thermal safety in existing MURBs, especially as the climate warms and we see more and more extreme heat events in the summer. While not explicitly focused on electrification, many of the recommendations look at how we can support or require efficient active cooling in MURBs. This kind of work clearly shows that electrification isn’t just about emissions reductions, but about health, safety and resilience. What’s great is that this work has since been leveraged into four additional reports for the cities of Toronto, New York, Austin and Washington, DC – each of whom are also exploring how to safeguard MURB occupants while meeting their own electrification or decarbonization goals. 

What do you see as a key driver in advancing electrification in your industry? 

A strong regulatory signal at the provincial level is a key starting point in my mind – whether that’s in the form of the Zero Carbon Step Code, or the proposed Highest Efficiency Equipment Standard. That said, it can’t all be about top-down action.

Making electrification the easy, no-brainer solution for people looking to reduce utility costs, stay safe and comfortable, and live a little lighter on the earth is necessary for us to achieve our goals. We need to continue to listen to what people are asking for and make sure that we can deliver that, no matter the political climate. 

Do you have any advice for others (individuals or organizations) who want to follow your path? 

This work really does take a village, and that includes people from all walks of life and areas of expertise. I’m by no means a technical expert, but I truly enjoy bringing other people together to continue to move us forward on electrification in BC and beyond. I’ve tried to adopt an attitude that what we do is both important and serious, but that that doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves too seriously. The key is to work hard but remember to take the time to enjoy each other – it’s the relationships we make that keep us going when things get tough. 

Is there anything more you’d like to include/want the B2E network to know? 

Get in touch with me if you’d like to share what you’re doing and learn more about what I do! 

To connect with Lisa on LinkedIn, click here.  For more information on Westerhoff Climate Strategies, see the website here.