Tag: Spot Power



Reverend Annabelle Wallace and elder Les Young

237. God’s green home is net-zero

The amazing story of a church in crisis that took stock of their assets and wound up building the first solar-powered, net-zero church and social housing project in Canada. They saved the church, saved the school, built 16 new homes for refugee families and created an amazing community of sustainability.

Greenest School in Canada

236. Greenest School in Canada has a solar-geothermal greenhouse

Building on a teacher’s maxim “Words without actions are meaningless,” students at Lacombe High School formed the EcoVision club, took on a dozen projects and became the Greenest School in Canada.

Travers solar

235. Travers: Largest Solar Project in Canada

Alberta-based Greengate Power has already developed the largest wind farm in Canada – now they’re building the largest solar farm in Canada by a factor of four.

Tony Rossi of Loop

232. Loop – Reuse like the milkman

Circular economy – Loop is taking us back to the future by ditching the packaging and selling products in reusable containers, just like the milkman did.

Raffi - Young People Marching

230. Raffi – Young People Marching for Greta Thunberg

Raffi’s song “Young People Marching” is a tribute to Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has inspired millions of youth around the world to call for action on climate change. 

229. Recycling Energy

People in the movies carry disposable cups like people in the ‘60s were portrayed smoking cigarettes as the norm. Has the recycling generation lost it? Some believe we need to recycle recycling to tackle huge waste issues and tackle climate change.

228. Solar for Diesel: The Sun Shines on Fort Chipewyan

Solar will replace 25 per cent of diesel generation in Fort Chipewyan a small community of 1,000 people in northern Alberta that until now has received all of its electricity from a diesel microgrid. 

Carol Bishop with her Nissan Leaf

226. Life with an EV: Carol Bishop – Fill it up for 3 bucks

Carol Bishop of Edmonton bought a Nissan Leaf EV “for environmental reasons,” but loves it because it’s “fun to drive” and super cheap to operate. Fill it up for three bucks this week as we take a ride with Carol in her Leaf in Part II of our #LifeWithAnEV series. 

Ed Ma with his Tesla Model X

225. Life with an EV: Ed Ma – Electrifying performance

Once Ed Ma started reading about Tesla ten years ago, he was hooked! In the first in our series Life with an EV we talk to Ed Ma and Rhonda Blair about their ten-year romance with electric vehicles. Ed likes that EVs are better for the environment, but he absolutely loves the electrifying performance of electric vehicles. 

Ed Ma with solar thermal on his home

223. Solar Thermal Home still cool after all these years

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.

Jacob Komar and the geothermal revival

222. Geothermal Revival – Getting to net-zero the easy way

Jacob Komar is shaking up the energy efficient building world by resorting to an age-old technology: geothermal energy. He says you can save lots of money and use much less insulation and get to net-zero for half the price if you use geothermal to heat and cool your home or building.

Matthew Klippenstein

221. Tesla 3 is Canada’s Best Selling EV

Big news in EV circles. Matthew Klippenstein tells us the Tesla Model 3 is the best selling electric vehicle in Canada and sales of electric vehicles have eclipsed internal combustion vehicles in Norway.

220. Alberta farms fertile land for Rural Routes to Climate Solutions

His friends said he was crazy, but when Derek Leahy came to Alberta to start Rural Routes to Climate Solutions he found fertile ground for this ground-breaking project. He says engaging Alberta farmers in farm solutions that are climate solutions has been “a walk in the park.”

219. Osnabrück county produces 80% renewable energy

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.