Innovative Solar Installation Celebrated in Georgetown Ontario

Solar Panel Installation at BRC in Georgetown

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a unique celebration that certainly illustrated the innovation  and creativity of its chief proponent and owner, Bill Melnik.

The celebration was held on the roof of the building in this photo. Guests climbed the stairs seen on the left  to a magical space atop BRC Sustainable Elements on Armstrong Avenue in Georgetown, Ontario.

Try to envision arriving on the roof deck to find a spotlessly clean spongy floor with a steel superstructure hovering above supporting hundreds of solar panels. That was cool just by itself, but now add in a live band and impeccable catering service and you have a special celebration that no one has experienced before.

This installation is unique, possibly in the world. One would normally expect the solar panels to be attached to the roof but that is not the case at BRC. In this application a new steel superstructure was constructed to support the massive solar array. The advantage is that when the roof needs to be renewed, it can be done without interference from the solar panels.

Bill Melnik owns both BRC and its building as well as the solar company, Solarform which did the installation. Another building further down Armstrong Avenue has just received the same treatment from Solarform and the building next door has just signed on as well.

The BRC installation covers the 35,000 sq. ft. building and is expected to generate 365 megawatts of electricity annually or enough power to service 30 homes. Annually this will save over 197 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Melnik is a real believer in the future of solar energy. In his remarks he noted that Japan has started its own FIT program similar to Ontario's as it weans itself off of nuclear energy. In the past few years the efficiency of solar has improved by 20% and the cost has declined by 40%. At this rate of improvement he foresees solar becoming competitive with oil in as little as 5 years!

It would appear that Ontario is on the right track with its FIT program when it is obvious that it has triggered innovation and efficiencies within Ontario in this emerging technology.

Minister Deb Matthews Announces $2.6 Million for Georgetown Hospital

Pictured above is Minister Deb Matthews as she made the wonderful announcement this morning that the Ministry has approved $2.6 Million for the Emergency Room Expansion and CT scanner room at Georgetown Hospital. There was a "standing room only" crowd on hand in the Activity Room at the Hospital to hear the good news.
The Minister acknowledged the fact that this hospital was built in 1961 and hasn't had an expansion or overhaul since that time. The crowd burst into cheers and applause at the announcement because although they expected good news, they didn't expect the Minister to exceed the ask of $1.9 million.

The Minister also joked that she now thinking of herself not as the Minister of Health but now the Minister of Halton Healthcare, given the recent announcements of funding for Oakville Trafalgar Hospital and most recently funding for Milton Hospital. Although Joseph Brant Hospital isn't in Halton Healthcare, it is in Halton Region and has also received positive news on funding an expansion.

This support from the provincial government is great for Halton Hills and illustrates that the current government does recognize that growth areas are in need of provincial investment.

It has taken a very long time to make this commitment a reality at Georgetown Hospital. The crowd was made up of many community leaders who have pushed for this funding for quite some time. The Halton Healthcare CEO John Oliver would be among those since he was the CEO of Georgetown Hospital in the early 90's prior to amalgamation. Dr. Don Trant, another former CEO of Georgetown Hospital was on hand and noted that he really thought he was never going to see the day when this actually happened.

Minister Matthews said that this announcement was not only about the funding but was also approval for the project to proceed. This is just as important as the funding and means that this project can go to tender immediately.

The ball is now in our court to raise the community share of $5 million. This represents the largest fundraising campaign ever in our town. With Fred Helson's exceptional personal gift of $1 million we are well on our way. We are a generous community and so I expect that, with this provincial support in hand, the campaign will quickly meet its goal.

Food and Farming Part 2

I have been observing some very interesting things starting to happen at the grass roots level with respect to food production. These things are very welcome in my mind because I have also been watching the approaching "train wreck" of the on-going world-wide population explosion, climate change, degradation of the oceans, food price spikes, desertification etc. This list includes two trend lines that can't help but cross each other with serious consequences. One is the loss of food production and the other is the exponential growth in human population.

Over the past 50 years or so we have seen food production turned into big business with a focus on profit by shareholders and commodities speculators. There has been a steady loss of small farms in favour of  larger  farms that have shifted towards specialization and exportation over diversification and local markets. This is in the name of efficiency but at the same time apparently "sales-only" income for farmers is hitting rock bottom which raises the question of sustainability.

It was of interest to me this morning to read a Canadian report focused on Canadian food policy that calls for a restructuring of Canadian food production from start to finish. You can access this report at http://peoplesfoodpolicy.ca/files/pfpp-resetting-2011-lowres_1.pdf . It amazed me to learn that it was developed over 3 years and was the result of input by over 3500 Canadians. These people sat around kitchen tables and talked about what was important to them. This fact alone ties into my previous blog concerning apathy. It is obvious that people are not apathetic about issues that are important in their lives.

I was struck by the similarity of the Food Issue to that of Health Care in Canada. It seems obvious that change in food production and the way we treat those who produce it will only happen through changes in public policy. It will not be undertaken by corporations that control s huge proportion of the food  production system. It was the same  when medicare was adopted as a public policy. Medicare was never advocated by the medical profession but rather by a visionary politician, Tommy Douglas, who saw the need to re-organize the system to make it better for all of us.

To quote the People's Food Policy Report, Canada needs  "a policy which places the well being of the majority and the health of the planet at the centre of all decisions". 

Coincidentally, I will attending a Think Tank on Wednesday organized by Laurent Thibault who is chairing the Town's Economic Pillar of the Halton Hills Sustainability Advisory Committee.  Central to the discussion will be a position paper prepared by Laurent that emphasizes the importance of our local agricultural industry and the opportunities we have to capitalize on this resource.

I am looking forward to this week's discussion as we tackle locally issues that are clearly being discussed in many other communities across the country.

I also look forward your reaction to the issue of food production particularly in the local context.