Media Centre

VANCOUVER, B.C. December 22, 2010 — We're pleased to announce that the deadline to take advantage of the City of Vancouver's $3000 incentive towards solar hot water, on new and existing residential homes which are gas heated, is available now until Feb. 15, 2011.

VANCOUVER, B.C. October 18, 2010 — The fall season is shaping up to be a shining success for solar hot water in BC. The Solar Community of Vancouver has increased their incentive offer to homeowners in Vancouver with $4300 now available for solar hot water installations in both new and existing homes. This is up from $3500 for only new homes that has been available from the city since the beginning of the year, thanks to an increased commitment from Terasen Gas.

VANCOUVER, B.C. October 4, 2010 — What a difference eight months makes! Since a solar hot water system was installed on the Metro Vancouver Corporate Office, located in Burnaby, they have seen a 50 per cent drop in their natural gas use.

"We’re very happy," says Jules Leclair, P&P Senior Policy Analyst for Metro Vancouver. "The system is working and performing as predicted." Leclair says they are expecting to see a drop in their greenhouse gas emissions by six metric tonnes a year, thanks to the Sunda evacuated tube system that was installed on the building in January.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. October 4, 2010 — The Green Dream Home in Kamloops is being raffled off as the grand prize in a draw to be held on November 25, 2010. The house, which is outfitted with solar hot water, is the first of its kind as a demonstration training home and was completed earlier this year as a joint project of the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) and the students of Thompson Rivers University. The Green Dream home is one of 15 projects across Canada and two in BC, which won a national sustainable housing competition, led by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Equilibrium Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative. The first competition was in 2004, and was a call out to developers to build net zero homes.