Solar heating panels will be attached to three Island hospitals, part of a provincial program intended to make all government operations carbon-neutral.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority has issued a request for proposals to build solar heating systems at Victoria General, Saanich Peninsula and Lady Minto on Saltspring Island.
The successful bidder will construct a solar heating system to provide energy for the hospitals’ hot-water systems.
The three systems are expected to cost $600,000 to $700,000 in total and will be paid for by the provincial Public Sector Energy Conservation Agreement. B.C. Hydro and Terasen Gas are also partners.
Minister of State for Climate Action John Yap said the solar-heating panels are exactly the sort of projects the agreement was expected to fund when it was established three years ago with the aim of making all B.C. government operations carbon-neutral by the end of this year.
“The whole idea is to show leadership,” said Yap.
The $75-million agreement is now reaching the end of its final year. Yap said sometime next year government will report on its success in becoming carbon neutral.
Any failures will prompt paying for carbon offsets. The Pacific Carbon Trust has been established to build a carbon offset market.
By reducing carbon emissions, usually in the form of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, it is hoped the pace of climate change can be slowed.
The latest round of solar heating projects, totalling $2.8 million, also includes 24 schools, nine post-secondary institutions and two other hospitals across B.C.
Joe Ciarniello, energy manager for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, said during prime solar conditions — midday, midsummer — it’s expected the solar panels can heat up domestic hot water on their own, to about the necessary 60C.
“But in the evenings and winter it will be less than that and we’ll have to make up the difference,” he said.
Original Story By Richard Watts, Times Colonist (Link now unavailable)