New Arctic Energy Alliance Staff

AEA welcomes 3 new staff members to our team. 

Nick Walker has joined us from Prince Edward Island as an Energy Management Specialist in our Yellowknife office. 

Teresa Chilkowich has joined us as a Regional Energy Project Coordinator in our new Fort Simpson office. 

We have also hired Wayne Lennie as a Regional Energy Project Coordinator in our Norman Wells Office. 

We are pleased to have all of you as part of our team and look forward to working with you.

How can I save money on Christmas lights?

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AEA Visits Sears in Yellowknife

In October two AEA staff members visited several stores in Yellowknife to discuss the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program.  We discussed how AEA can help the stores promote this program and distributed posters and forms for their use.  Below is a picture of an energy efficient washer at the Yellowknife Sears outlet with owner David Lucas.

Sachs Harbour Community Visit

Between October 10  - 13, I, AEA staff Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere, visited the community of Sachs Harbour in the Beaufort Delta. The main objectives of the trip were to help private homeowners prepare their homes for the winter, work with the Hamlet in reviewing some of the energy priorities outlined in its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) and promote AEA’s programs to homeowners, the community and local businesses.
During my visits to private homes, I distributed items such as low flow showerheads, faucet aerators, silicone, rolls of plastic for windows, furnace filters, energy efficient light bulbs, weather-stripping, door sweeps, and hot water tank blankets, to homes that needed them. I installed them when needed and ensured homeowners understood how a particular item would help them use less energy.  The timing of the visit was ideal. I reminded homeowners the importance of sealing their home, and other ways to conserve water and energy, and discussed AEA programs such as the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program (EEIP).  I listened to their concerns about power, water and fuel oil, and learned from them how AEA should further support them in Sachs Harbour in the future.  Homeowners said they really appreciate this concrete help, especially since most of the materials are not available locally.
I also spent time at the Hamlet office discussing the areas where AEA can contribute to saving money on their energy bills. I met with the businesses in the community to promote programs such as the Commercial Energy Conservation and Efficiency Program (CECEP) and other free services such as a yardstick energy audit.  Whenever possible, AEA staff takes time to visit schools in the communities they visit and talk with students about energy, climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency. I visited the lovely Inualthuyak School and two different sets of activities took place with 14 students.  With the students from grades 3-9, I did a winterization workshop to teach them the importance of plastic on leaky windows and how to install it themselves. The students were particularly impressed by the thermal thermometer I brought and noticed that the window temperature was colder before the plastic was installed than after. Upon completion of the activity, when asked what they had learned, one student replied: “I learned that after putting plastic the cold air and wind don’t get into the window and the window is warmer after”.
I want to thank the community of Sachs Harbour for their openness and constant friendliness, mashi cho, ilaanilu!

Yellowknife's Wood and Solar Fair

On Saturday, October 1st, from 9 - 5, AEA hosted its first Wood and Solar Fair. Previously, AEA hosted Wood Pellet Fairs, and the intent of this year’s event was to expand this successful event to cord wood and solar technologies and promote the knowledge and application of wood pellets, cord wood and solar technologies in the Yellowknife area. The Fair itself was primarily targeted towards residential applications while still providing information and sources for commercial applications.
 

This event was comprised of 4 different components:
 

• tours of open houses in Yellowknife with either a cord wood stove, pellet stove, pellet boiler or solar PV system
• workshops at AEA
• a tour of the City of Yellowknife’s pellet boiler and district heating system that serves the arena, swimming pool and curling club
• two distributors and installers of solar technologies at AEA to answer the public’s questions about those technologies
 

At AEA, we believe the benefits of using wood, pellet or solar technologies are best communicated by people using them. Put simply, word-of-mouth is the most important factor influencing future wood, pellet or solar users. This is why AEA recruited homeowners to open their home to the public and share their experiences. 11 homeowners accepted AEA’s invitation and were open to the public on the morning of October 1st. Congratulations to Judith Pitre for opening her home and being the lucky winner of a pallet of pellets!
There were prizes for the public as well that day, and in order to participate, people had to get a passport at AEA and get four stamps on it. The grand prize was a matching EEIP rebate of 50% of the purchase cost of a wood stove, pellet stove or pellet appliance, up to $1,400. Congratulations to Kay Da Corte for winning this prize! Other prizes were two 230W solar panels donated by Ventek. Congratulations to Tamlin Gilbert and Tim & Sheila Laity for winning this exciting prize!
At lunchtime, free fish burgers were prepared outside of AEA on AEA’s wood pellet barbecue by Ecology North. In the afternoon, four workshops took place at AEA:

• Funding for larger pellet appliances by GNWT Environment and Natural Resources
• Burn-it-Smart How to burn wood efficiently and safely by AEA
• Introduction to grid-tie PV systems in the North by Ventek
• Introduction to pellets by AEA  

AEA thanks all its partners once again for making this event a success. Definitely to be continued next year!

Paulatuk Solar Panel Installations

The Hamlet of Paulatuk should be congratulated on getting their Photovoltaic (PV) panels installed and feeding power back into the local power grid. The local Youth Centre has 28 x 175 Watt panels, for a total of 5 KW, installed on its roof and 10 x 175W panels, for a total of 1.8 KW were installed on the south wall of Angik School.  The GNWT’s Department of Environment & Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's ecoENERGY for Aboriginal and Northern Communities Program provided funding support for the project. It has taken three years to finish this project and a lot was learned along the way.
Boyd Solar, the PV system supplier, Donald Andre from AEA Inuvik regional office and Steve Outlet from AEA Yellowknife office worked with the Hamlet and the School to ensure that all the required hardware was available for the installer. When Independent Electric Services Ltd. made the journey to Paulatuk, everything was there and the installations took less time than was anticipated.
Debbie Ruben, the SAO in Paulatuk, was very happy to have power flowing back into the grid to help reduce the high power cost.

Northerners Taking Action

Energy and dollar-wise Northerners collected a total of $41,153.30 in Energy Efficiency Incentive Program (EEIP) rebates in October 2011. That brings the total rebates this fiscal year (April - October) to $121,765.05 for 480 rebates.

EEIP recipients for October  include Dan Kearley of Fort Smith who received a $2125 rebate for installing insulation and Nicole Richards of Norman Wells who received a $700 rebate for purchasing a wood stove.

Go to Northerners Taking Action

What Are We Doing?

In the month of October we held our Wood and Solar Fair in Yellowknife and welcomed new staff with an orientation in our Yellowknife office.   AEA staff visited the communities of Hay River, Kakisa, Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Sachs Harbour.

In November we plan to visit the communities of Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Whati. 

What Can You Do?

Funding Programs Available:  Energy Conservation Program

Improve Your Energy Efficiency:  click here for ideas

Use Renewable Energy: Wood Pellet Heating

Go Carbon Neutral: Carbon Neutral North

Comments or Suggestions?

If you have comments on anything in this month's E-News or have suggestions for our next issue, please contact us by e-mail or by phone: 920-3333 in Yellowknife or toll-free 1-877-755-5855 from anywhere else in the NWT.