Tag Archives: rooftop solar

Call for Wind & Solar in Canadian Cities as Average Global Temperatures Rise

There have been thousands of scientific studies warning about global warming, but one of the most chilling is a new report advocating the adoption of a combined rooftop solar and wind turbine energy in Canadian cities. Professors You Wu and Lexuan Zhong from the University of Alberta aren’t warning anyone about climate change. They base their projections on the assumption global temperatures could rise to 2.°C above pre-industrial levels in as little as fifteen years and to 3.5°C sometime between 2070 and 2090.

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Coming Feb 17&18: Free Ecotrust Canada Workshops On Energy Retrofits

The energy team of Ecotrust Canada will be visiting Quadra and Cortes Islands next week. They are part of a registered charity which works primarily in rural and remote areas and helps guide people through the process of doing energy retrofits, installing heat pumps, new windows and solar panels.  They will be giving free workshops at 2:00 and 6:30 in the Quadra Community Centre on Monday, February 17 and at the same times in Mansons Hall on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.   

 “The upcoming workshops are to introduce residents to our Home Energy Savings Program. We’re offering a one on one support service, often called a concierge service. So once you register for our program, you’ll get an email from me asking very  basic information about your home, like the age of your home, the heating system you have etc. After that, you will receive a phone call from me and we’ll go through more questions about your home. You explain what your desires are, what challenges you’re experiencing around your energy bill, and then I can help guide you toward the right rebates and the right renovations, or retrofits, so that you can achieve that goal,” explained Michael Anthony Lutfy, the program manager for our area

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How are we doing with Climate Change? The ABC’s of Global Warming

By Ingo Overmann

It is my sincere  belief that thereason we are NOT making the urgently needed progress on climatechange is because far too many people do not understand the ABC’s.This applies to residents of remote areas like Smithers and Cortes Island just as much as someone living in the densely packed suburbs of GreaterVancouver.  If you want to test that statement for yourself, please ask the next 10 ordinary people you meet ‘How many POUNDS of CO2are created by the use of 1 litre of gasoline?’ Prepare to be amazed.We may be prey to the greenwashing and misleading statements of climate change deniers, but the lack of knowledge lies with us, and is ours to change. 

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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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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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