The consultants said it wasn’t affordable–it couldn’t be done. But Salvation Army architect Michaela Jones pushed back hard requoting their 175-unit supportive living complex as net-zero-ready at the last minute. Now this amazing solar powered, geothermal heated and cooled, energy-efficient building will save Sally Ann $6 million.
Geoships just might be a creative answer to the climate and housing crises. Made out of ceramic, infused with locally available materials (such as hemp) the affordable designs are modular, resilient to climate disasters, and affordable. We talk to Jean-Marc La Flamme from Geoship about this rethinking of the fabled geodesic dome.
What happens to all of that farmland beneath those giant solar farms? We hear it all the time at Green Energy Futures. So we headed off to the 136-megawatt Claresholm Solar Project on the Canadian Prairies to find out.
Kenton Zerbin took a large slopped Church lawn that was not used much, except for mowing and transformed it into a public food forest park.
The UN has declared 2021 to 2030 to be the Decade of Ecological Restoration and, thanks to the University of Alberta–based award-winning Land Restoration International Graduate School (LRIGS), students in Alberta are taking up the challenge.
Ed Ma and Rhonda Blair built their super energy efficient green home 12 years ago using solar thermal modules–it’s still pretty cool after all these years. So much has changed since then and his green home project continues to this day. We talk to the couple about what they’ve done, what they’ve learned and what they would do differently today.
The county of Osnabrück in northern Germany produces 80 per cent its electricity from renewable sources, smashing national goals that call for 60 per cent by 2050. We look at one county’s response to the challenge of the national goals of Energiewende (energy transition) in Germany.
Riverdale Community League tested public interest in sustainability at a community meeting in 2005 and since then the community has created a community garden, a food forest, hosted energy efficiency pizza parties, and thanks to a grant from Eco-City is now powered by solar energy. Oh, and there’s a waiting list to get on the sustainability committee!
The European green capital for 2012, Vitoria-Gasteiz is small in size but big in ambition.
This week we visit the largest solar farm in Western Canada on the Green Acres Hutterite colony.
Shipping container architecture has become more and more popular over the years. We check out an off-grid solar powered sea contaner cabin called the Octopod, located near Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
Echohaven is a different kind of suburban development. It preserves natural landscapes, mandates energy efficient homes and guarantees solar access.
On their own a feedlot, an anaerobic digester and an ethanol plant might not make sense but combine them and you’ve got an integrated bio-refinery where each business feeds the other in a virtuous cycle.
Learn how a seriously integrated ethanol plant has become a central hub for half a dozen other businesses using its byproducts of heat, CO2, distillers grains and more!
The Cowichan Bio-Diesel Cooperative is the plucky little coop that could. In 2004 they started selling 20-litre jugs of bio-disel at the local farmer’s market. Nine years later they’re planning to produce 150,000 to 200,000 litres with a mix of corporate and retail clients.
Landfills are quickly becoming centres of innovation when it comes to turning what we throw away into energy. Edmonton has had a landfill gas operation since 1992 and it was the first in Western Canada to turn old garbage into a new resource. Learn how it’s done this week on Green Energy Futures.
More than 45 run-of-river projects have popped up in B.C. in recent years. We explore the Fitzsimmons Creek run-of-river project, a 7.5 megawatt powerplant that puts out enough juice to meet the annual demand of the Whistler Blackcomb resort.
This four-story, 60,000 square feet structure is practically a living thing. It’s a $37-million laboratory that aims to achieve LEED Platinum status, but more than that, they’re also pursuing a Living Building Challenge certification. This certification is so hard to get, there are only three certified living buildings in the world.
