What's New in Saanich

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.

SolarBC would like to give a huge thank-you to the communities and organizations that participated in this year's activities and for their hard work in organizing and implementing their Solar Days events, all of which has been a fantastic success on a whole. As well, all of our homeowners who hosted the open houses deserve a province-wide round of applause! Many were not expecting the huge crowds that came out and for their generosity and hospitality, as well as their enthusiasm in sharing their solar experiences with others we are very grateful.

Please keep an eye on our website for future pictures of all the events, which we will be posting as we get them in.

Following the success of the first Saanich Solar Open House, in June, the Solar Community recently hosted a follow-up event last Tuesday. Roughly 130 people in the community showed up for a chance to listen to a presentation from SolarBC's executive Director Nitya Harris, before walking from booth to booth to get to know local Registered SolarBC installers.

It was a scorcher of a day for Saanich’s solar open house on Wednesday. The tented, outdoor event drew in a 200+ crowd, as people met and chatted with SolarBC installers from the Victoria area.

"We didn’t want to just have speakers - we've done that," says Mark Boysen, Sustainability Director for the District of Saanich. While the sunny day helped to encourage the turn-out, he thinks the format of the event added to its success. "Because our goal is based on residential installs, this connected homeowners a lot better."