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The Power of the Sun: How Solar Energy is Lighting Up Our Future
The planet is electric. It is literally filled with ways for us to create renewable energy and power our lives. Not only can renewable energy provide us with electricity, but it can also help us move away from a dependence on fossil fuels. Our Power, Our Planet is the theme for Earth Day 2025, which carries a focus on “harnessing renewable energy to build a healthy, sustainable, equitable and prosperous future for us all.” With this theme in mind, we are focusing our next few weeks on the different types of renewable energy options. This renewable energy series will take a look at the good, the bad, and the encouraging…
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Solar panel update & 6 things you might not know about solar panels
In 2019 my family took the plunge and installed solar panels. Over the years I’ve shared about our experience of getting started with solar panels as well as updates on our solar power generation. To read through past posts, check out this link here! Today I thought I’d share an update on our power generation this year, as well as the totals related to our output over the years. The application related to running our system and tracking output creates some useful graphics to monitor performance – which I love! Our generation by month for 2024 is shown “Monthly Energy in Current Year” table below, and it’s been a reasonably…
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The Power of the Sun: 2023 Residential solar panel update
As we flip the calendars over to 2024, maybe you’re considering some sustainability goals for the coming year. As stated in the recent UN Climate Change activities, we are at the “beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era”. If you’ve ever thought about a transition to solar energy as a clean and renewable energy solution for your home – this might be the year! My family made the move to solar panels a couple of years ago and have been very happy with the experience. I’ve shared about the reasons we chose to do it, process of installation and set up, and other updates in past posts here.…
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Residential solar panels: 2022 year in review
Why solar panels? In study after study, it has been found that our planet is warming. And a significant part of the emissions that are causing this change in climate can be traced to the energy used to warm and cool our homes. Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others. The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity. UN.org…
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Summer 2022 Solar Update
It’s been some time since my last solar update, so thought it was due! I find it endlessly fascinating to analyze the data from our panels and so wanted to share some of the 2022 metrics with you. Year over year, month to month it’s amazing to see how even our generation can be. I had expected more variation, but we really have come in at a fairly regular annual production. This year, with several additional panels brought online around April, we had expected to see a lot more energy production. But as you can see on the graph above, it wasn’t until late June/early July that we saw a…
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Canada Greener Homes Grant: 5 Steps to a More Sustainable Home
Introduction to the Canada Greener Homes Grant If you’ve ever felt that you might like to make your home more sustainable but that the cost was out of reach, the Canada Greener Homes Grant program might be for you! This program was initiated in May 2021 and, generally speaking, if you own a home and live in it as your primary residence, then you’re eligible to enroll (check the website for specific requirements)! The Canada Greener Homes grant allows for reimbursements of portions of renovations to decrease energy usage and reduce the carbon footprint of our homes – the maximum grant value from all renovations completed in the scope of…
