London homeowners now have a tool to see if solar panels fit and mean energy savings
CBC
The City of London has launched a new online tool designed to help homeowners decide if solar panels are a viable option for their power needs.
The tool is an online map called MyHEAT Solar, which allows Londoners to identify benefits and costs associated with solar panel installation, with data specific to their home.
"We really want to engage and inspire Londoners to take action to reduce their emissions," said Jamie Skimming, manager of energy and climate change for the City of London.
The map, developed by MyHEAT and Google, uses Google Maps and other technologies like aerial imagery to identify the energy potential of homes in the city through tracking weather patterns, orientation of rooftops, and the position of the sun in the sky relative to homes at any given moment.
This data is used to provide relevant information to Londoners about the impact solar panel installation might have on both their wallets, and the environment.
Users can enter their address to find their home. When their home is selected, the website will then display important metrics specific to measurements taken directly from the map, including a suggested installation size tailored to the user's monthly electrical bill, and the size of their roof.
The website outlines additional details such as upfront costs for installation, number of years until the panels are paid off, and total savings after 25 years of operation. It also includes how many tonnes of carbon dioxide would be offset, as well as the number of equivalent trees planted, and how many cars' worth of emissions that counts for.
"When we look at our local greenhouse gas emission sources here in London, single family homes are our second largest source of emissions," Skimming said.
These greenhouse gas emissions can be cut significantly when solar panels are installed on a home, something Skimming says makes them a good way for Londoners to contribute to the municipal Climate Emergency Action Plan.
He adds, even the simple sight of a neighbour's solar panels can put environmentalism top of mind for some people.
When Londoners are asked about what they would like to do to pitch in to the climate plan with their actions, solar panels are usually top of mind for homeowners, said Skimming.
"Kind of like buying an electric vehicle or buying an E-bike," he added.
Rooftop solar power generation is on the rise across Canada. MyHEAT has websites set up in both Edmonton and Fredericton, and the City of Calgary made a similar tool available in April 2022.
In 2021 during and interview with CBC News, Nicholas Gall, a director at the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, said demand for solar installations is on a meteoric rise. Data from his association showed that commercial and residential solar generation has grown from enough to power a few hundred homes a decade ago, to enough to power more than 100,000 homes.
More than 1,000 Maritime Electric customers are without power after high winds blew across the Island Friday night into Saturday.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating a case that could shape the way sentences are handed down in cases where both the offender and victim are Indigenous, which some Nunavut lawyers say could have ramifications for the Inuit-majority territory.
A man barricaded in a former church in Welland, Ont., was taken into custody early Saturday, nearly 24 hours into a standoff that began over a fence dispute.
Peel police are investigating after a Friday night shooting in Mississauga left one person dead, police said.
Another busy construction season has come to an end in London, and the city is already looking ahead to next spring when a slew of new projects are expected to begin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun to lay out publicly what he sees as boundaries when dealing with China, as his government wades into a new relationship with the economic giant.
Ferry crossings are cancelled and over a thousand households are left without power Saturday morning, due to high winds and severe weather conditions.
Tens of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers are waking up without power on Saturday morning after high winds and rain hit the province on Friday night.
Statistics Canada is reporting a population decrease last quarter for New Brunswick — its largest quarterly decline since the 1970s, according to an economic development consultant.
Residents clapped, danced, sang and cried in the Anishinaabe community of Kitcisakik this week when the lights were finally turned on for the first time.
A man is suing three members of a Winnipeg family and a real estate broker he alleges used his intellectual disability to financially exploit him through property deals in Canada and India, leaving him out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Stephanie Gamble watched her mother model the first dress she made, smiling wide and walking an imaginary runway, she knew that was what she wanted to keep doing in her life.
'Tis the season for cuddling on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and watching holiday movies. And for people in B.C.'s Interior, that can increasingly mean seeing their home communities on display.