Canada is one of the top Nations for Renewable Investments. It ranked #5 in the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) last September. The total for investments jumped 26% in 2014, over the previous year, to $9 billion.
Editor’s Note: The City of Vancouver has since informed me that some of the information in this article arises from a misunderstanding. Permitting costs do not include the equipment, just installation costs, which significantly reduces the totals used below. Rob Baxter, President of SPEC, says the this is a verbal commitment they made and not yet in writing. It is expected to cut $650 from the bill, which he says will still be at least three times higher than permitting in Toronto.
Vancouver intends to become the Greenest City in the world. It has drawn up an Action Plan identifying 10 specific goals for that it wants addressed by 2020. These include the city’s carbon emissions, Waste and Ecosystems, but they appear to have largely overlooked the potential for solar energy. Vancouver is one of the least attractive cities for solar.
Continue reading Vancouver’s New Permits Discourage Rooftop Solar
Canada will not meet its emissions targets for 2020. There has been improvements since 2005, but the oil sector is expected to produce 28% more emissions by the end of this decade. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would like to regulate the oil sands, but that “would be crazy” in light of economic developments. Despite the global trend towards adopting renewable energy and smart technologies, the Canadian government continued to tie this nation’s economic future to the fossil fuel industry. So what is Canada missing?
Continue reading What is Canada Missing?
By Roy L Hales
Kevin Edgecombe’s passion was enflamed ed during a trip to Nepal in 2009. His wife, Linda, was one of the Directors of IWEN (Intercultural Women’s Educational Network), a charity that rescues females from bonded labour and provides meaning to their lives through education. After seeing the extent to which the program liberated young women, he decided to get more involved. A builder by trade, it is only natural that he would come up with a program like “Classrooms for a Cause.” In 2012 he led a team of volunteers that built two classrooms at the Chainpur School in Godhawa, Nepal. Now he is building a 4,000 square foot multi-functional facility, called Unako House, in the Dang region of Nepal. The name Unako means “it’s hers” in Nepalese. The building will hold a community center, classroom, workshop, kitchen, large meeting room, two retail outlets and living quarters for a caretaker. Though the grid is very intermittent, there are excellent solar conditions. The building will be solar powered and truly Unako: a house of their own.
Continue reading Unako: A House of their ownBy Roy L Hales
Rare Birds was birthed out of friendship. One of the inspirations was the film “How to boil a Frog,” that Mary Jordan and Val MacKay-Greer saw at the 2011 Kamloops Film Festival. The film maker had wanted to bring hope to his daughter’s generation. It brought forth hope in Mary and Val as well. They were attracted to a communal lifestyle.
“What’s stopping us,” Val said.
