Meet Cedric Pepelea
Education and Professional Experience
St. Lawrence College Energy Systems Program
Cedric’s strong technical foundations comes from his early career as an auto mechanic.
Understanding the need to electrify the world’s systems and move towards renewable energy, Cedric made the move to Kingston, ON to enroll in St. Lawrence College’s Energy Systems Engineering Technology (ESET) program.
During Cedric’s time at St. Lawrence college, he worked with the Sustainable Energy Applied Research Center (SEARC), providing applied research services for small and medium-sized enterprises in the renewable energy industry across the Eastern Ontario region.
He also joined Enactus, a business-focused student volunteer organization and was part of the national presentation team that finished in the top three, competing against over 74 other colleges and universities across Canada.
Cedric’s time at St. Lawrence exposed him to the technologies being implemented to tackle climate change. However, it was here he noticed that these technologies were not being implemented at scale. This ultimately led Cedric to start his own energy services consulting business upon graduation in 2016, hoping to bridge the gap between the engineering and business.
Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board
After graduation Cedric worked in the industry as the Energy Systems Engineering Technologist for the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.
In this role, he managed the energy consumption of over 42 schools. Cedric sourced multiple financial incentives totaling roughly $80,000 which were used to fund a number of energy efficiency projects, including improvements to school Heating and Building automation systems.
While working at the school board, he continued his energy services consulting business focusing on education workshops. In these workshops Cedric taught participants how to use conduct energy efficiency project feasibility studies using RETScreen Expert, Natural Resources Canada’s energy modelling software.
Focus Forward for Indigenous Youth
Cedric continued to branch out and broaden his energy efficiency experience in supporting the launch of a new non-profit. Focus Forward for Indigenous Youth, an organization that aims to create trade-based educational programs for Indigenous communities centered around a community driven construction project.
Cedric was one of the original four founding members and served as the Operations Director, supporting the organization in raising over $1,000,000 in grants, corporate sponsorships, and donations in its first year. This included successfully presenting at the Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre’s annual pitch competition.
Since then, Focus Forward for Indigenous Youth has successfully completed the construction of two large projects, a net-zero, solar powered, 4-season greenhouse at Camp Hope in the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and a solar powered 4-season greenhouse for the board of education in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island Ontario.
Limestone District School Board
While continuing his work with Focus Forward for Indigenous Youth, Cedric transitioned from the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board to the Limestone District School Board (LDSB). The main driver for this move was the opportunity to support the Ontario Eco Schools program, where schools apply for certification by undertaking environmental actions, campaigns, and projects. At the end of the year, school applications are assessed and are awarded a final certification level.
At Limestone DSB, Cedric created engaging energy-related workshops for students, mostly notably the “Understanding our School Campaign”. This campaign involved workshops giving students a deep understanding of their school’s environmental footprint.
Students used thermal imaging cameras to identify heat loss areas and explored the school's boiler room to see how fossil fuels were used. Students reviewed the school's utility usage, cost, and GHG impact, and discussed potential actions. They also calculated the energy and cost savings of replacing fluorescent bulbs with LEDs and wrote proposals for the change which led to the project’s approval and implementation over the winter break.
Returning after the break, Cedric informed the students of the project’s successful completion, highlighting their role in reducing emissions and fighting climate change.
Indigenous Clean Energy
Through his work, Cedric developed an expertise using the RETScreen Expert clean energy management software. RETScreen Expert, developed by Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), became the national standard for energy modelling and a mandatory requirement to access government energy efficiency funding.
Cedric’s work with RETScreen Expert eventually connected him with Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE). ICE, through a number of their programs, focus on capacity building of local energy champions in Indigenous communities across Canada.
ICE’s flagship Catalysts 20/20 program is an intensive Indigenous clean energy capacity-building program that provides practical and applied learning about renewable energy projects, community energy planning, energy efficiency and conservation, business management, and advanced energy systems.
In support of the Catalysts 20/20 program Cedric presented and taught Indigenous leaders from 20 communities the process of feasibility studies for utility scale renewable energy and energy conservation projects using RETScreen Expert as a tool to calculate the potential impacts and costs.
The learning Cedric has gained working with Indigenous communities and the challenges they face have made Indigenous Clean Energy a critical part of Cedric’s career. To this day he has expanded his support to include youth mentorship and home retrofit technical consulting for ICE’s newer ImaGENation and Bringing it Home programs.
Red Squirrel Conservation and Sustainable Kingston
During the pandemic, many companies struggled to maintain business as usual while in lockdown.
It was during this time that Cedric was approached by a former college instructor, and board member of Red Squirrel Conservation services, to discuss the organization’s struggles in not being able to conduct home energy audits during lockdown. This left Red Squirrel Conservation services unable to generate any revenue.
Luckily, Cedric had been monitoring the news around the residential energy space and knew that plans for federal and municipal programs were on the horizon.
Seeing this potential, Cedric left his job at the Limestone DSB to work for Red Squirrel Conservation services to rebuild the non-profit. He and the board explored a merger with Sustainable Kingston, a non-profit organization with the purpose of supporting the Kingston community in achieving its vision of becoming Canada's most sustainable city.
While discussions surrounding the merger continued, Cedric hired a number of former students, training them to become registered energy advisors. Unfortunately, the cost and time of training almost resulted in the organization’s bankruptcy. This led Cedric to lay himself off, continuing to work without pay, to avoid laying off the newly hired students as directed by the board.
Luckily, this extra time gave Red Squirrel Conservation services the time it needed to successfully complete the merger with Sustainable Kingston and employ the newly hired students in the process.
Explaining the Better Homes Kingston program with Sustainable Kingston.
Better Homes Kingston
With the success of the merger, Cedric took on the role as Chief Operating Officer for Sustainable Kingston with a new goal of securing the service contract to deliver Kingston’s Better Homes Kingston Program.
The Better Homes Kingston program offers incentives and zero-interest loans for Kingston homeowners to implement energy efficiency home retrofits and provides coaching services to help them along the way.
Cedric’s role included guiding homeowners through energy audits, understanding upgrade recommendations, sourcing contractor quotes, ensuring eligibility, and completing program forms.
Since its launch, the program has completed over 200 home retrofit projects, achieving an average GHG emissions reduction of 64%.
The Better Homes Kingston program’s success earned Cedric the Kingston 40 Under 40 award from the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (Kingston EcDev).
CP Logic
As other communities sought to develop similar programs, Cedric saw the need to expand his work beyond Kingston.
This led him to partner with EnviroCentre, a non-profit in Ottawa, and administrator of the Better Homes Ottawa retrofit financing program. Cedric became their Strategic Partnership Coordinator contracted part-time through his new Cedric Pepelea Consulting corporation.
Cedric’s first initiative as Strategic Partnership Coordinator was attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Communities Conference in February 2023 where municipal leaders, staff, and community partners gathered to gain new insights on how to tackle the most pressing sustainability issues.
Since the conference, Cedric’s work through Cedric Pepelea Consulting has expanded working with multiple communities and top consultants including Enerva, Posterity Group, and Indigenous Clean Energy which has allowed him to bring in a group of multi-disciplinary experts as subcontractors to support the business’ growth.
In June of 2024 Cedric was awarded a grant from the Kingston Economic Development Corporation to build a website which is rebranding as CP Logic. This differentiation is important as Cedric aims to focus his company on industry specific training programs and energy related training and workshops
Awards and Certifications
Kingston 40 Under 40 Recipient
2023
Selected from a diverse pool of nominees, the Kingston Young Professionals 40 Under 40 winners have showcased unparalleled dedication, innovation and commitment to their respective industries. Their accomplishments span across business, technology, healthcare, arts, culture and more, highlighting the diverse young leaders that Kingston is proud to nurture and support.
Enactus Canada John Dobson Fellow
2016 – present
Cedric has had the pleasure of working with the St. Lawrence College Enactus team since 2016. The team of students from various backgrounds work on analysis and development of renewable and sustainable projects for the school and community. As the lead Faculty Advisor, he not only mentors the team, but provides advice and guidance regarding project development, coaches presentation teams, and attends the Enactus Regional and National Exposition competitions.
Climate Reality Leadership Corps
Climate Reality Leader | 2019
Cedric attended the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training in Atlanta, Georgia led by Al Gore. At the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, he spent three days working with former Vice President Al Gore and world-renowned scientists and communicators learning about the climate crisis and how together the world can solve it.
St. Lawrence College Valedictorian
2016
The Valedictorian is an outstanding student who is committed to St. Lawrence College and their academics. By standing up as the Valedictorian, Cedric had the opportunity to speak on behalf of all fellow graduates and be the first to welcome the next chapter of their lives.