In Edmonton, Alberta, almost every neighbourhood has a community league. These locally elected boards of community volunteers run facilities and programs and engage in civic issues.

Our cover photos show the solar crew from Evergreen and Gold Renewable Energy installing a new solar system for the Evansdale Community League. Dave Simmonds, Warren Sarauer and Steve Milne are positioning solar panels for a 13.6-kilowatt solar system that will provide half of the electricity consumed by the league over the course of a year. The system is both an expense and an investment. In addition to reducing annual operating costs, thanks to partial funding through government infrastructure grants, it has a simple payback of four to five years, depending on the price of electricity. As a bonus, it will pay a dividend every single month for the next quarter century.

Evansdale is the home community of David Dodge, host of Green Energy Futures. He was involved in the planning of the project and understands the value of local initiatives: “It’s safe to say that I’m a big believer in the importance of community leagues and in the contribution they make to the quality of our life. While the leaders of the world meet in Paris and craft sweeping policy that affects the entire planet, let’s remember that the most important changes usually happen close to home.”

From GEF # 126 – November 30, 2015. http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/evansdale-community-solar

Unless otherwise noted, all images in the Spring 2019 issue courtesy of David Dodge.