VREC is happy to announce the completion of its first dual system installation.  We successfully completed the installation of both a solar hot water system, as well as a photovoltaic system on a residential home in North Vancouver.  The home was being renovated and the owners were looking for efficient clean energy and fuel savings.

The solar hot water system is an Enerworks one collector solar pre-heat system. The PV system used SunTech panels with Enphase Micro-Inverters.  This particular site has some large shading during some parts of the day and the Enphase micro-inverters allowed the system to get the more power under these conditions.  This was our first install with Enphase inverters.

As part of the extensive renovations the home was pre-wired and pre-plumbed for the solar energy systems.  This helped reduce the installation costs.

The screen-shot below captures energy production for one week from the photovoltaic system.

PV on Point Grey Residence

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spec tour

SPEC and VREC will be sponsoring monthly solar tours this summer. Come and learn about different types solar energy systems and how they can be the solution you are looking for!

The SPEC Building boasts three installations of active solar technology:  solar hot water, solar space heater and PV panels.  VREC was an installer on two of these projects.  If you are interested in learning about renewable energy, getting specific questions answered or simply want to see what they look like, contact SPEC to book a tour time 604-736-7732 or admin@spec.bc.ca.

It is all happening at the SPEC building, 2150 Maple Street in Vancouver.  The next tour dates are June 24th and July 12th.

spec tour

Today and tomorrow are BC Solar Days.  VREC will be joining with SPEC to celebrate tomorrow from 1-4 PM.  We will be giving tours of the solar systems on the SPEC building including the photovoltaic and solar hot air systems we installed.  As well, our portable solar power system will be powering a band performing at the site.

It is all happening at the SPEC building, 2150 Maple Street in Vancouver.

With the looming HST now is time to look at buying a solar energy system.  Currently both solar photovoltaic (electric) and solar hot water systems are exempt from provincial sales tax.  But that will change July 1st with the introduction of the HST.  So that means an effective 7% increase in the price of these systems for consumers.

In addition to the tax exemption, prices on photovoltaic panels have fallen dramatically over the last couple of years and are at their lowest ever.  The high Canadian dollar has also meant that we are paying less for panels here in Canada.

There are also some good reasons to purchase Solar Hot Water systems.  There are currently over $2,000 in incentives available.

Contact us to learn more about how to take advantage of these savings.

When it came time to tally up the LEED points for a local Burnaby residence, it wasn’t just the usual suspects that added up to gold.  The 1.2 kW photovoltaic (PV) system installed by VREC was also part of the achievement.

In addition to PV, the home features rain water collection, drought tolerant landscaping, low flow fixtures,  LED lights, tankless hot water, induction stove and a high performance building envelope.  The 7  panel system will meet at least 10% of the homes electrical demands.  It is expected to produce over 1,200 kWh per year.

More information about the home can be obtained from Strandberg Consulting.

The SolarBC incentive that was doubled for February and March is now being extended until further notice.  The incentive which is applicable to Solar Hot Water installations, has doubleed from $1000 to $2000.  Click on the link for complete details, SolarBC.

That label might be more accurately applied to the Passivhaus standard that has been developed in Europe.  There are over 20,000 of these buildings now in Europe and about 10 in the US. Canada’s first PassivHaus recently opened in Whistler.  It is currently being used by the Austrian Olympic team but will be turned over the Municipality of Whistler after the games.  It is interesting that despite the rhetoric about sustainability from VANOC and the Province this project was initiated by other parties.  In my mind it is one of the few truly sustainable elements associated with the 2010 Olympics.

I had an opportunity to tour it recently.  Note that the information below is based on my hastily scribbled notes and I welcome corrections and additions.

Part of the core design of a Pasivhaus are walls, floors and ceilings that are super insulated.  There is also an attempt made to eliminate all thermal bridges.  The Whistler Passivhaus walls and roof were built using prefabricated 10 cm thick solid wood panels that were also structural.  On the outside of the wood panels was 36 cm of insulation for the roof and 30 cm for the walls. On the outside of the insulation was a breathable barrier, a venting space and then the cladding.

Since 40-60% of heat loss occurs through windows these are also important elements in the design.  The windows used have U-value of 0.85 W/(m².K) or an imperial r-value of 7-7.5.  Wood fiber insulation is used in the window frame.  The windows provide twice the insulation value of a typical 3 pane window.  Most of the glazing is on the south side, with some of the east and west and none facing north.  The windows do have overhangs designed to provide some thermal shading in the summer.

The building is also very airtight.  It scored 0.28 on a blower door test.  Because it is so air tight the building uses a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system.

Heating is provided by a ground source heat pump.  The geo-exchange field is is only 100 m² and located on the south side of the building (for solar recharging).  It contains 200 m of pipe in a buried in a horizontal loop 2 m deep.  The heat pump itself is small – only 3 kW but has COP of 4.5.  There is no backup or auxiliary heating for the heat pump.

Heat from the heat pump is delivered through in floor hydronics located in some sections of the floor.  If need it can also be sent through the HRV.  This heat pump also is used for domestic hot water.

Because the system is optimized for lower occupancy they are actually having to deal with over-heating during the winter games.

The 300 m² building is expected to use a total 35 kWh/m² of energy.  Approximately 17 kWh/m² for heating and the rest for other electrical use.  The costs were about $370 / m² but it is expected that future projects in the area will be around $300/m².

This infromation was compiled with the help of Vancouver Renewable Energy and Salal Permaculture.