>> Ruben Anderson

The Capital Regional District wants to give you several thousand dollars in a new incentive program for installing a solar hot water system. Building on the success of the Solar Colwood pilot project (which is also being extended), incentives are now available across the Capital Region.

The solar collectors on Fernwood NRG’s Park Place apartments (1222 Yukon) have been pumping out hot water and lowering utility bills since 2008. The Cornerstone building was plumbed and wired for solar during its renovations in 2006, and Fernwood NRG is in the process of obtaining estimates to take advantage of these grants to install solar collectors on the roof of the building. With a hair salon, café, restaurant, and residential suites, this will mean a big reduction in the amount of natural gas used in the building.

British Columbia, and especially sunny Victoria, gets a lot of energy from the sun, even though it may not feel like that when you are turning into a prune in the February rain. But that is only February, most of the year solar is a money maker—the new solar systems are even productive on cloudy days. In fact, Germany has installed about a third of all the solar collectors in the world—which generate 7% of their energy—despite getting less sunshine than B.C.

The CRD incentive is a real opportunity to make our neighbourhood more self-reliant. If Fernwoodians are interested, Fernwood NRG will organize an information session later in the spring with a professional solar system designer and installer. Drop a note to solar@fernwoodnrg.ca and let us know if you would be interested in learning more.

You can read up on the solar hot water program, and the list of Frequently Asked Questions at Solar Colwood’s webpag: http://www.solarcolwood.ca/solar-hot-water.php.