The Temperance Street Passive House will be the first passive house certified in Saskatchewan. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

139. The first certified passive house in Saskatchewan

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson In 1976, gas prices doubled overnight. Naturally, this freaked …

Energy audits are often supported by municipal or provincial energy efficiency programs because they provide a strategic recipe book for all future energy efficiency improvements to businesses or homes. It provides hard, cold facts about return on investment for each change you are contemplating. It might be the best money you spend. Here, Rob Gawreletz inspects the attic insulation and seals in a home audit by CReturns, in Edmonton, Alberta. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

138. Energy efficiency coming to Alberta, at last!

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson On March 2, 2016, energy efficiency companies and experts from …

Edmonton's new carbon neutral net-zero garage suite is full of sensors and will be part of Godo Stoyke's PhD lifecycle assessment of the home to determine if energy efficiency and solar energy production can make not only the operation of the home carbon neutral, but whether it can also offset the carbon used in materials and construction and decommission. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

137. Carbon neutral laneway home–first of its kind

David DodgeBuildings, Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage 2 Comments

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson This carbon neutral garage suite is a first for …

Visiting the Kinney Earthship, in the dead of winter on the Canadian prairie landscape north of Lethbridge, Alberta does invite comparisons with the lunar landscape! So much so it inspired photographer Steve Nagy to create this selfie in the middle of the night on a fine winter day. And in fact the number one question the Kinney's get about their Earthship is how does this passive solar heated home work when it's -30 degrees celsius.

136. Earthship living in a cold Canadian winter

David DodgeBuildings, Energy Efficiency, Net Zero, Passive Solar, Renewable Energy, Solar 8 Comments

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson  When we last visited the Kinney Earthship it was a smokin’ hot 30 …

The Mosaic Centre in Edmonton, Alberta is a net-zero commercial building powered by a nearly 200 kilowatt solar system (some of which is flat mounted) and heated by a geoexchange system that runs on solar power.

135. Shining a light on solar energy myths

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson In Greek mythology, Icarus, while escaping Crete wearing homemade …

Electricity from tomatoes?

134. Biogas: Brown waste – green power!

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson Brown gold. Prairie pies. Monkey missiles. Whatever you call …

In Green Energy Futures' whirlwind tour of wind energy myths we learned that the only significant health effect of wind farms is that they annoy some people. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

133. A whirlwind tour of wind energy myths

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson It seems to happen with every new technology. It …

Peter Amerongen is one of the acknowledged grandfathers of the net-zero home—a home that produces as much energy as it consumes. Using his secret formula for insulation you can make a net-zero home in the most northerly city in North America. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

132. Insulation 101: One builder’s secret blueprint for a net-zero home

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson The era of net-zero homes is upon us. These super-efficient …

Carl Lauren of Tyee Log and Timber Homes in Kimberley B.C. wanted to promote energy efficiency in home building so he pushed City Hall to start a program. Pictured is the crew that hand builds log homes at Tyee in Kimberley. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

131. Small town energy efficiency program is simple by design in Kimberley B.C.

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson All Carl Lauren wanted to do was promote the …

Jason Rioux's shipping container cabin. The cabin was built out of seven sea containers in a hub and spoke pattern near Bobcaygeon, Ontario. This incredibly innovative sea container cabin is powered by a small 1 kW solar system and is packed with energy efficiency innovation - probably part of the reason the video has more than 100k views on YouTube. Photo Courtesy of Jason Rioux

130. Green Energy Futures: Our favourite stories from 2015 from net-zero to sea container cabin

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson The year 2015 may well go down as the …

Highlight of 2015 - Dan Hofer, financial boss, David Vonesch of Skyfire Energy and Jake Hofer electrician with Green Acres Farm near Bassano, Alberta pose in front of their 2 megawatt solar farm that consists of more than 7,600 solar modules that produce the electricity to run Green Acre's recycling and farming operations. Photo David Dodge GreenEnergyFutures.ca

129. Green Energy: The highlights of 2015

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson  No question, 2015 will be remembered as a banner …

Even the suburbs of Vitoria-Gasteiz are green and pedestrian friendly. Photo, David Dodge

128. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Spain’s green capital is made for walking

David DodgeBiogas, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy 2 Comments

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson Change is hard. Green energy enthusiasts talk a lot …

According to Penelope Comette of the Pembina Institute and the Green Jobs Map there are 14,100 renewable energy jobs in B.C. Photo David Dodge

127. Renewable energy jobs a big growth sector

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson By any metric, the renewable energy sector is a …

The solar crew of Dave Simmonds, Warren Sarauer and Steve Milne from Evergreen and Gold Renewable Energy pose with Evansdale Community League's new 13.6 kilowatt solar system that will provide half of the community organizations electricity over the course of a year. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

126. Evansdale Community League solar: An investment in sustainability

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By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson In Edmonton, Alberta, almost every neighbourhood has a community …

Approximately 13 million tonnes of coal are mined at Highvale (adjacent to Wabamun Lake in Alberta) each year and delivered to TransAlta’s Sundance and Keephills coal-fired power plants. Photo David Dodge

125. Coal phase out case study: What Alberta can learn from Washington State

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Renewable energy made up half of all the new power plants constructed in the world …

Dan Hofer hands me a carrot from the cool storage room on the Green Acres Hutterite Colony. These carrots are for colony use, but these are the same you might see at a farmers market in the region. Photo David Dodge

124. Green Acres, Hutterites invest in solar to run the farm and more

David DodgeRenewable Energy, Solar 5 Comments

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson You’ve seen them before, though they don’t tend to …

Edmonton's Energy Transition Strategy seeks to reduce emissions by 35%, reduce individual energy use by 25% and get 10% of our electricity from local renewable energy sources by 2035. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

123. Mayor Don Iveson on Edmonton’s landmark Energy Transition Strategy

David DodgeEnergy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Waste Energy Leave a Comment

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson Climate change is often portrayed as this giant, fuzzy, …

Just one of the groups that has taken the 5-day solar training course at Grid Works Energy Group in Edmonton, Alberta. Owner Randall Benson has trained more than 700 electricians in solar in the last six years. Solar jobs now total 174,000 in the U.S. surpassing coal jobs. Many places in Canada are just beginning to install solar, but it has enormous potential to diversify the economy and provide clean, low emissions electricity. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

122. Solar training on the rise

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By David Dodge and Duncan Kinney Solar sector employment in the U.S. is booming. It …

Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick at the mountain city's large sun tracking 1-megawatt solar farm a project designed to re-brand Kimberley as a modern, clean energy tourism town. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

121. SunMine: How solar is transforming Kimberley, an old mining town

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By David Dodge and Duncan Kinney You hike over the crest of the hill and …

Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver says "In our greenest city plan we have a goal to double the number of green jobs in the city." More than 3,000 of the clean energy jobs found in the Clean Energy Jobs map are in Vancouver. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca

120. Vancouver to go 100 per cent renewable

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By David Dodge and Duncan Kinney It may have left everyone not from Vancouver green …