Page 37 - OffGrid East Coast Special Edition 2016

To be able to do this, the Province of Nova Scoia (which, like New Brunswick and Ontario, had an explicit deiniion of how municipaliies could use LICs) amended the Halifax Charter in 2010. Later, the Municipal Government Act was amended to allow other Nova Scoian municipaliies to undertake similar innovaive projects using LICs.
What makes this diferent from tradiional ways of using LICs?
Solar City is enirely voluntary; the infrastructure is on private property and owned by the property owner. Think of the possibiliies! As Halifax Councillor Jennifer Wats states, ”other municipaliies in NS are using this legislaion to apply it to other sustainable projects for homeowners: heat pumps, energy eiciency projects and it could be considered for small wind and biomass.” In Nova Scoia alone, municipaliies are now ofering heat pump programs (Berwick) and eiciency projects (District of Lunenburg & Richmond County).
Using LICs, municipaliies can make it more afordable to do green retroit programs, while reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, creaing jobs and providing a great return on investment for project paricipants.
How can you make this happen in your municipality?
Wats adds that “other provinces can do this mechanism and some are but it is important to note that legislaion governing municipaliies is diferent in each province so it may need to be tailored to each provincial context.”
A report writen by the Pembina Insitute on using LICs
to inance energy eiciency is an excellent introductory guide for all Canadian municipaliies, helping them to understand possible dynamic funding opions to get the program of the ground. Beyond making sure that the rules it, Halifax used low-interest loans to make its project a reality. The city obtained funding through the FCM’s Green Municipal Fund and $100,000 from the Department of Energy to ofer loans with 3.5% interest over 10 years.
Too good to be true?
Chew on these numbers: In addiion to creaing around 50 jobs in the pilot phase of the project, more than 3,000 residents signed up and over 1,200 homes were assessed between December 2012 and January 2015. And that’s not all! According to the project summary, over 300 residenial solar hot water systems were installed and water consumpion was cut by 14 million litres per year. Over the next 25 years, GHG reducion of 10,500 tonnes is anicipated.
Though the 24-month pilot phase is over, Halifax has decided to keep using LICs to invest in solar soluions. The city has extended the program for more three years with an increased budget and have begun to include solar photo voltaics, solar air and solar thermal technology.
As this project shows, green soluions to our climate challenges are within our reach with Nova Scoia leading the country in using Local Improvement Charges to make them more afordable and accessible to its ciizens. That’s exciing news to share. Spread the word!
Epic Energy exists to help people and businesses in our communiies, harness and enjoy, the full beneits of the Sun, Wind and Water.
Contact us If you are building or want to incorporate renewable energy into your home.
We install Net Metered and Of-Grid systems
Fredericton, NB | Tel: 506-461-5360 | Email: epicenergysoluions@gmail.com | www.epicenergysoluions.ca
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