Lions Bay can be a Model for Community Climate Action

Remember the storms of 2006… no electricity for 5 days, 6 if you lived in Brunswick Beach? What if Lions Bay had its own source of power? After all, we have 2 creeks and an ocean full of energy on our doorsteps. What about the wind that rolls down the mountain? Can it be harnessed? Germany uses solar power more than we in BC do, and they get fewer sunlight hours a year than us… surely we should look at how we can do the same?

Whether you believe in climate change or not, with the rising cost of hydro and oil, wouldn’t it be great to reduce those ever-mounting energy bills? Since virtually all homes in Lions Bay are older, they are less energy-efficient than new builds and keeping them warm in winter is expensive. Ironically, the cleanest form of energy is hydro, but those of us who heat with electricity are paying an increased rate on the new two-tier system introduced by BC Hydro last year. Homes still using oil furnaces are also feeling the pinch (to say the least) since the cost of oil rose dramatically last year. And, as a Village, how is our consumption of all this power adding to the problem of climate change?

The BC Government has set several targets on municipalities to reduce carbon emissions. To this end, our Greenhouse Gas Emissions were recently audited in what is called our Community Energy and (Green House Gas) Emissions Inventory (CEEI), including electricity, gasoline, diesel and waste. This report is available on the village website.
Under Bill 27, Lions Bay must set carbon emission reduction targets and action plans and update the OCP with this information by May 2010. The baseline gives the task force some focus for each of the three areas of carbon emissions – energy/buildings, transportation and waste.  Lions Bay is committed to a list of actions listed in the Lions Bay Climate Change action plan, available on the village website.

To this end, residents were invited to attend a meeting on April 2nd chaired by Mayor Brenda Broughton and Councilor Ruth Simons to form a Green Energy Task Force.

In 2002, with the aid of a grant from BC Hydro, Lions Bay commissioned Sigma Engineering Ltd to produce a report on the feasibility of harnessing the power of our two creeks to provide energy with Micro Power plants. The resulting report, “Micro Green Energy Hydro Generation Project on Harvey and Magnesia Creeks”, was turned down by the Council of the day due to concerns of noise. However, technology has come a long way since then and, following the storms of 2006 when the Village was without power for a significant amount of time, Mayor Broughton believes “the community wants to get off the grid”, making now an excellent time to revisit this opportunity. Those who attended the first Task Force meeting agreed.

A lively and interesting discussion covering wide ranging sustainability issues followed the initial presentation of Bill 27’s requirements and deadlines and it was agreed that another meeting be held soon. In a follow-up meeting on May 6th, three groups were formed to focus on the following, specifically for Lions Bay:

Green Energy
Arrive at an accurate assessment of current consumption (where we’re at right now) and in order to measure real reductions, including meeting the Province’s targets within required deadlines.

Research the opportunity to provide sustainable/renewable energy for the Village of Lions Bay.

Communicate with- and educate residents with regards reducing energy consumption on a household level.

Waste Management
Introduce Village policy changes to incentivise waste reduction – reduce allowable garbage can size and limit green waste while exploring usage for green waste within the Village.

Educate on composting, researching appropriate methods to meet Bear Smart Objectives.

Communicate with the community regarding waste management.

Community Gardens and Pesticides
Identify locations within the village appropriate for community gardening.

Visit community gardens in other areas and learn how they organize and manage their gardens.

Research alternatives to watering.

Educate the community on pesticides and survey residents on pesticide use.

Because other communities and organisations have already embarked on this road, a speaker series is being organized to help our Village make rapid progress towards our goals, especially regarding the reduction of carbon emissions and the provision of renewable energy for the Village. A number of grants are currently available to finance these initiatives, which could obviate the need for increased taxes. In fact, it is hoped that by finding a way to produce some, if not all, of our own energy that residents might enjoy more affordable, more reliable and more sustainable energy.

Many of us living in our beautiful Village feel strongly about environmental concerns and living in a more sustainable way: The vision is to become a model of how communities can address climate change: In the words of Ghandi, to “be the change we want to see”. The dream is that we could eventually inspire other communities to make the changes we make.

If you have ideas, suggestions, questions, comments or would like to get directly involved with the Task Force, feel free to contact any of the contacts listed here.

CONTACTS
Task Force Chair – Councilor Ruth Simons,(604) 921-6564, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Green Energy – facilitator Penny Nelson, (604) 922-5290, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Waste Management – facilitator Neil Berman, (604) 921-8405, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Community Gardens and Pesticides – facilitator Gillian Smith, (604) 922-3191, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

SIDEBAR - Are you PowerSmart?

The first target set by the Task Force was to encourage Lions Bay families to sign up for BC Hydro’s PowerSmart program, a fun way to commit to reducing your household’s energy consumption by 10% – and your bill –over the next year.

The initial goal of the Task Force was to beat the number of households in the Village of Anmore, near Belcarra, that had signed up (Anmore is a similar-sized community to our own Village). Great news is we met this goal on May 27th, with 87 homes in our village already signed up for the challenge!  But now we need to stay ahead and our next goal is to get to 100 homes.

If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so at www.bchydro.com/powersmart. By logging in to your online hydro account and answering a few questions, you can see how your consumption compares to similar households’ usage, and a meter on your bill page will let you know how you’re doing each month. Lots of fun to show the kids, too!

Along with news about grants for making energy-efficient improvements that would also enhance the value of your home, there are plenty of tips about how to reduce your hydro consumption (and bill!).

To read about how the Bermans on Sunset Drive got the kids to help cut hydro usage, click on this article @ www.lionsbay.net for the blog url http://www.bchydro.com/news/unplug_this_blog/two_lions_bay_kids.html

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