Four mayors and one chief have installed solar hot water on their homes in BC and joining the solar revolution is Mayor Darrell Mussatto, of the City of North Vancouver, who had his system installed in last summer.
“I really try to role model behaviour that I’d like to see in people,” he says. “I thought if I’m asking other people to look at alternatives to energy production I should do the same.”
Since becoming mayor he says he’s grown more educated about energy alternatives, and realized that he could do more with his own home. After finding that his home was well oriented for solar hot water and while the payback is a bit longer nothing beats taking advantage of the free energy provided by the sun.
“People think that in Vancouver there isn’t a lot of sun but we have quite a significant amount,” says Mayor Mussatto. “The province gets quite a bit of sun and even in the winter during the Olympics we had that long period of sun where the temperature on my solar hot water tank was quite significant.”
The mayor says he’s enjoyed seeing a decrease in his energy bills since his system has been installed, which has been a great indicator that solar hot water works like it should. “Sometimes you make decisions that aren’t such a good idea but this isn’t one of them,” he says. “This has just got better and better, from the experience with the installers to the efficiency of the system. I can sleep better at night knowing I’m reducing my fossil fuel use and maintaining a high quality of life,” he says.
His Enerworks system was installed with the help of SolarBC Registered Installer Terratek Energy, who teamed up with local contracting company ParkerDean Plumbing and Mechanical. An interesting challenge the team had during the install was finding space for the solar hot water tank, as he did not have extra room next to his existing tank. This was resolved by installing the solar tank in a convenient crawl space. The mayor was also impressed with the job that was done on the outside of his house – he says his panel looks like a skylight and the piping along the side of the house is almost invisible.
“It just fits in,” he says of the overall aesthetic.
Mayor Mussatto has been so impressed that he is looking at how to integrate building solar ready homes into the bylaws of the city. “We’re getting our staff to look at the City of Vancouver and what they’re doing,” he adds, regarding the current $3500 incentives for new homes installing solar hot water, provided by the city. The mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, also has solar hot water installed on his home.
http://www.solarbc.ca/blog/emily-kendy/2010/04/01/mayor-city-north-vancouver-goes-solar