Tofino may be famous for their winter storms, but that didn’t stop them from becoming a solar community
“The little community that can” should be the motto for the District of Tofino. Despite being known as one of the greyest regions in BC the small coastal town has eagerly jumped aboard to receive the distinction as one of six flagship SolarBC Communities.
“We’re exploring how effective (solar) can be out here, where we tend to have a lot of cloud distribution,” says Mayor John Fraser. “But I think it will work very positively.”
This cutting edge perspective is one of the reasons Tofino was chosen as a SolarBC community; they regularly practice ecological sustainability, from environmental design to advocating environmental protection of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
“We saw the opportunity fit with the style of Tofino, going green, so it was a good move for us to make,” he says.
Mayer Fraser says that the district is now in discussions about how to start implementing solar heating procedures. Among the options on the board is the installation of solar heating for their community centre. One of the long term goals they have discussed is turning their “stump dump” into a solar farm. The six mile dump has been used for 50 years by local contractors as a place to deposit stumps and other organic matter from construction sites.
Rain or Shine, Tofino will continue to lead by example with their outstanding activism and hands on approach to new ways of conserving energy and resources. SolarBC is proud to have them on board.
Comments (2)
Add a CommentTofino;-Solar for cloudy communities
Very encouraging to read about Tofino's move towards solar energy. Here in Tahsis (further north but also on the West Coast of the Island), we are very interested in looking at possible solar applications for our community. Capitalising on the Summer sun for solar heating of hot water during the tourist season and for storage of heat for Winter use would suit our situation also. What means are available for storing Summer heat for Winter use?
Storing solar thermal energy
Storing solar thermal energy gathered during the summer for winter use is pretty hard with our given technology. Currently the energy is stored via water. To save this energy for winter use is pretty well impossible. The industry is looking at phase change materials for storage but they are still a ways from becoming practical. One way that is feasible to store summer energy is if you have a geothermal field. You can store any excess heat from the summer and then recover for winter heating. This may be a costly option if you don't have geo, but it is feasible.