Community Articles
General News · 23rd October 2005
Dwayne
Alternative Energy was the theme of the 4th Annual Sustainability Home Show at Manson's Hall yesterday. In a rousing show of interest and support for the initiative sponsored by F.O.C.I and headed up by Lovena Harvey, people from Cortes and surrounding islands convened for a veritable feast of information.
The first speaker this year was the very popular Guy Dauncey who gave a stunning Powerpoint presentation that consolidated many mind-stretching statistics on the state of the world. In his ever-optimistic manner, Guy encouraged us to join with him and others to help British Columbia become a world leader in the generation and use of sustainable energy. People are hearing his call and close to 600 are now members of The BC Sustainable Energy Association he founded in June of 2004.
Find out more at www.bcsea.org and at www.earthfuture.com
Next up were Ron Jones and Sarah Gutterman speaking on the topic of Green Building. They emphasized that conservation is one of the most important strategies when it comes to building a new home. This includes taking stock of all aspects of living including water use, indoor environmental quality, thermal mass, waste management, insulation, roofing etc. They pointed out that an often overlooked aspect of most building practices is the aspect of "embodied energy. In other words, how much energy has goes into the production and transport of building materials even before they arrive on-site? Indicating a positive trend in modern building practices, they gave examples of construction projects where buildings are completely providing their own energy. In response to questions from the audience, Ron emphasized the need to go beyond the simple notion of "dollars per sq. ft" when thinking about building and to instead dwell on "quality of space". He further emphasized the virtue of reducing the overall footprint of our buildings in the face of N.America's disproportionate use of material resources when related to the rest of the world. Sara recommended a great website: www.healthyhome.com.
Final speaker for the day was Kees Schaddelee whose presentation titled "Biodiesel 101 and Options for Cortes" was right to the point. He shared extensively about the growth, development and current state of the biodiesel industry and passed on a list of web-links for those interested in pursuing this topic more deeply. Follow the attached link for that list.
The first speaker this year was the very popular Guy Dauncey who gave a stunning Powerpoint presentation that consolidated many mind-stretching statistics on the state of the world. In his ever-optimistic manner, Guy encouraged us to join with him and others to help British Columbia become a world leader in the generation and use of sustainable energy. People are hearing his call and close to 600 are now members of The BC Sustainable Energy Association he founded in June of 2004.
Find out more at www.bcsea.org and at www.earthfuture.com
Next up were Ron Jones and Sarah Gutterman speaking on the topic of Green Building. They emphasized that conservation is one of the most important strategies when it comes to building a new home. This includes taking stock of all aspects of living including water use, indoor environmental quality, thermal mass, waste management, insulation, roofing etc. They pointed out that an often overlooked aspect of most building practices is the aspect of "embodied energy. In other words, how much energy has goes into the production and transport of building materials even before they arrive on-site? Indicating a positive trend in modern building practices, they gave examples of construction projects where buildings are completely providing their own energy. In response to questions from the audience, Ron emphasized the need to go beyond the simple notion of "dollars per sq. ft" when thinking about building and to instead dwell on "quality of space". He further emphasized the virtue of reducing the overall footprint of our buildings in the face of N.America's disproportionate use of material resources when related to the rest of the world. Sara recommended a great website: www.healthyhome.com.
Final speaker for the day was Kees Schaddelee whose presentation titled "Biodiesel 101 and Options for Cortes" was right to the point. He shared extensively about the growth, development and current state of the biodiesel industry and passed on a list of web-links for those interested in pursuing this topic more deeply. Follow the attached link for that list.
