Residents in the Vancouver Island city of Colwood are getting a federal boost to improve the energy efficiency of their home.
The federal government said it will invest up to $3.9 million from its Clean Energy Fund towards a three-year program called Solar Colwood, a program designed by the city to reduce its energy usage and carbon emissions.
Nearly two thirds of the funding will go directly towards incentives for 1,000 Colwood homeowners and businesses helping them to invest in clean energy alternatives and energy efficiency retrofits to their buildings.
The project also includes retrofits to municipal buildings to use solar energy. Colwood’s municipal fire hall, for example, will have a solar hot water system installed to reduce the building’s use of natural gas for hot water heating. The city also plans to install a small solar photovoltaic system on the fire hall roof.
The entire Solar Colwood program is valued at $12 million, with the hope that much of that will be invested in the local economy. Partners in the program include the T’Sou-ke Nation, Royal Roads University, Horizon Technologies, SolarBC, League Assets, the B.C. Government, BC Hydro, Terasen Gas and the WestShore Chamber of Commerce.