Where The Sun Shines
June 29, 2010
The Drake Landing Solar Community in Okotoks, Alberta met an important milestone last month, keeping its residents toasty almost exclusively with the aid of the sun. After three years, the project has successfully reached its goal of providing 80 per cent of the homes’ heating from an array of 800 solar panels on garage roofs around the community.
With new homes being increasingly built to take advantage of solar heating, either through active sources like solar panels or passive sources like strategically placed windows, successes like Okotoks’s go to show that it’s possible to take charge of our energy use beginning where we live.
Started on June 21, 2007 — the day of the summer solstice — The Drake Landing Solar Community certainly experienced hiccups along the way. In the project’s first two years, it missed its annual targets by 10 to 15 per cent. But now, according to the community’s website, it’s currently on track to reach 90 per cent of its users’ heating needs by the project’s fifth year.
Southern Alberta is in a particularly well located to take advantage of solar energy, with between 1,200 and 1,300 potential kilowatt hours available . In fact, a band of high potential runs throughout southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, providing a natural fit for residential and large scale solar projects.
And it’s not just Alberta that’s showing the country how much potential lies in solar energy. Ontario Solar Thermal Heating Incentive Program (OSTHI) provides funding to encourage the installation of solar heating, just as Saskatchewan’s Solar Heating Initiative for Today (SHIFT) encourages a variety of consumers, from residential to municipal, to do the same.
With successes like Okotoks paving the way, solar heating definitely has a bright future.
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