Tag Archives: rooftop solar

Energy

The Expanding Local Market For Solar Power

A Cortes Island based solar company has been installing more systems that tie into the grid. 

There is a lot of potential for solar energy production in British Columbia. It has been largely untouched because of the province’s reliance on hydro-power and natural gas. As of October 2023, BC Hydro had 8,500 net metering customers with a combined solar capacity of 71 MW. This was only a fraction of the 4,609.5 MW of solar capacity tied to Canada’s grid that year. 

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Energy

Solar Panels on Quadra Elementary School

It has been a month since the Quadra ICAN Energy Efficiency Team achieved its goal of having 14 solar panels installed on the roof of Quadra Elementary School. 

According to Mike Gall, one of the participants in this project, they will only supply about 5% of the school’s needs – but that is not their purpose. 

This solar array is meant to be an educational tool. Students and the general public, will soon be able to go online and monitor the performance of the solar panels that a typical house on Quadra or Cortes Island would need. 

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Energy

Quadra ICAN asks ‘What can we do when the grid goes down?’

When Jan Zwicky talked about the need to be independent of the grid, she referred to a 60 second power outage at 4 AM last year. Zwicky wasn’t aware there was a problem until she went into the basement three days later. Her freezer, which had been packed with food, was still off. Most of the contents were ruined. 

Zwicky said she is not dependant on a computer and has a back-up system that can keep the lights on, “ But boy, I don’t want that freezer to fall apart!”

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Environment

Quadra ICAN: Building community resilience through practical projects

“Our aim is to assist Quadra in becoming more resilient and self-sufficient in the face of impending ecological challenges. Our mandate is to organize and foster direct action on clearly defined practical projects.” – Quadra ICAN.ca

A decade ago, the first incarnation of ICAN (Island Climate Action Network) was responsible for getting a community garden started on Quadra. It also joined forces with Sierra Quadra to encourage Quadra’s retail sector to ban plastic bags, and started an anti-idling campaign. Team leader Leona Skovgaard traces the relaunch of the organization, now called Quadra ICAN, to a conversation that she and Jan Gladish had over tea.

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Food

Resilience on Cortes Island

Originally published on Cortes Radio.ca

Folk U Friday for April 3, 2020: Resilience on Cortes Island 101: Food resilience and storage, energy systems, and much more! with Mark Lombard and Eli McKenty 

Mark Lombard and Eli McKenty are two members of a group of Cortesians interested in the infrastructure for resilience brought together by Karen Mahon and the Cortes Climate Hope organization. They spoke about some of the elements necessary to help create a Cortes that would be more self-sufficient and survive short term natural disasters such as fire, earthquake, and extended power outages. Of course, they had no idea when they started meeting that it would be just in time for a pandemic to hit, nevertheless their group had numerous practical suggestions that many are beginning to think about with new enthusiasm.

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