ReThink Red Deer

Electricity from the Sun - from Dreamer's Paradise to Everyday Use

Location: Margaret Parsons Theatre - Red Deer College

Thursday January 13th, 2011
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Presented by:

Gordon Howell, PEng.

Free public presentation and discussion. No registration.

The world of solar energy is changing quickly. The price of solar
photovoltaic (PV) electricity continues its march downwards along with
staggering world-wide growth. Solar electricity is now becoming
affordable for us in our everyday lives. At the same time, we see that
the price of electricity is poised to rise even more to pay for new
transmission lines and cleaning up our dirty-coal electricity.

Is the solar tipping point within sight? Solar electricity is rapidly heading
towards being cheaper than fossil-fuelled grid electricity for
homeowners in Alberta. The time has arrived for sunny Alberta to
harness another of its abundant renewable energy resources.
• What solar electricity can do for you?
• How does it reduce your electricity bill?
• How does it provide you with energy cost security?
• What would a solar electric system cost for your house?
• What would it look like?
• How would it change your electricity emissions footprint?

Presented by ReThink Red Deer and RDC Green Campus.In support of the 2011 Pathways 2 Sustainability Conference.

Gordon Howell is an electrical engineer with Howell Mayhew Engineering in
Edmonton, www.hme.ca, specialising in designing and developing
grid-connected solar-electric systems. He is also a member of the Solar
Energy Society of Alberta, www.solaralberta.ca. In 1995 Edmonton Power hired him to install a solar-electric system on his own house, which was the first solar PV system connected and selling into the grid west of Toronto and the 12th one in Canada.

Since 1995 he has been uncovering the barriers to connecting solar PV systems to
the grid, and working alongside Alberta’s government, regulators and electric utilities
to remove them so that we can be ready for the solar tipping point. He was also on
the team that developed Edmonton's first three net-zero-energy houses, and is
helping to make net-zero-energy housing the least-cost housing option.