What's New

SolarBC is in its final months of the program, and federal incentives for solar thermal will run out at the end of this year. In addition, the solar thermal industry in Canada has suffered over this summer with the sudden cut to the ecoEnergy retrofit program on April 1, 2010. The Minister of Natural Resources, Christian Paradis, has indicated he will support us in asking for funding in the upcoming budget if the industry can use the summer to meet with their local MP's to convince them to support the industry's request. This work is critical and his office has been clear - we need to ensure local MPs will support any request the Minister puts forward.

The Edwards family joined the renewable resource revolution after watching a neighbour clear-cut all the trees from his lot. Tim and Tammy Edwards decided to offset the natural loss by harnessing the sun’s energy with an Apricus solar hot water system installed by SolarBC Registered Installer Via Solar. "We decided to turn a negative into a positive and use the sunlight now available to us," says Tami. "Besides, the government has made it so attractive with the incentives available that we would be crazy not to do it."

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.

BC Hydro is currently rewarding people who can save 10% of their fuel bill with $75. Sign-up to be a Team PowerSmart Member and track your energy savings on line. Reward eligibility: Account holders must have at least 12 months history at the same address, must be a Team Power Smart member, and must sign up to Track Your Savings online. Solar hot water will definitely help you reach this goal. "This is a great tool," says SolarBC Project Manager Liz Kelly. "I can see on line that since we installed our solar hot water system, our BC Hydro bills for April and May are already significantly less than they were during the same time last year."

There are currently 26 communities across BC committing to the new "Solar Ready" bylaw that requires all new single family homes (where applicable) to be built to accommodate future installation of a solar hot water system for water heating. In the city of Vancouver, this bylaw has been in place since 2008 and in the last two years, approximately 1220 permits have been issued for new homes the majority of which have been built solar ready. So how can you tell if you are living in a solar ready home? Just look for the Solar Ready sticker on your piping.

There’s a solar revolution happening in BC as local governments around the province are passing resolutions to sign on to the new Solar Hot Water Regulation bylaw.

The regulation requires all new single family homes (where applicable) to be built to accommodate future installation of a solar hot water system for water heating. Communities signed on so far are:

While solar hot water is fast becoming a mainstream alternative-energy technology around the world, for many homeowners the workings of a system are still unclear – perhaps you remember the first systems installed in the 70s, or liken solar hot water to images of portable camping showers. But the truth is that the sophisticated systems of today can accommodate the most modern of homes. They can tie in not only with your existing hot water tank to supplement your domestic hot water supply but can work alongside in-demand heating, space heating, floor heating and be used to heat pools and hot tubs. In the last year and a half in BC, we’ve seen 315 systems installed on homes as well as systems on numerous municipal buildings, schools and commercial businesses.

A special campaign has recently been launched by 350.org, an international organization dedicated to tackling the global climate crisis. "Put Solar On It" is a call out to all community leaders to install solar on 10/10/10, and join the thousands of communities who will be celebrating climate solutions. All over the world, solar panels will be hoisted, wind turbines will be installed, community garden projects will break ground, and more.