Many Albertans have found the answer to this important question in Drake Landing, an Okotoks neighbourhood developed by United Communities where 52 of the homes use a solar energy system to provide space and water heating—the first neighbourhood of its kind in North America. The rest of the development consists of homes powered in the traditional way, but still constructed to be very energy- and water-efficient.

Whether their intention is to lessen their carbon footprint or simply save money on heating their homes and water, residents are making a bold statement that living greener is not only possible, it’s comfortable and attractive. And in a province like Alberta, where most of our energy is produced by the burning of fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, projects like Drake Landing are more important than ever. “Alternative energy is crucial to our future,” says Alix Halpen, marketing manager for United Communities.

Tyler Stevenson, United’s project manager elaborates on the topic. “As energy sources become more expensive [and] harder to find, renewable energy will be the way to offset rising costs and demand.”

With these issues coming to a head, governments and private businesses are turning to different ways to power our lives. Solar power is just one of the readily-available options. Alberta is an excellent location for solar energy projects because our province receives as much solar radiation as Florida, far south of us. It’s no coincidence that Calgary is nicknamed the Sunshine City, considering we have more sunny days than any other in Canada.

All homes in Drake Landing Solar Community have panels on their detached garage roofs. In the summer, the panels collect energy and use it to heat an antifreeze solution, which is piped underground to transfer its heat to tanks of water. The water is stored in boreholes drilled deep below the subdivision, heating the earth around it until it is needed in winter. When a home calls for heat, the hot water is piped to the basement, where a heat exchanger warms the air and then circulates it through the home. It is a system unlike any other in the world, providing each home with 90 per cent of its space and water heating needs.

One important feature United implemented was that the remaining homes in Drake Landing adhere to strict water conservation measures. The City of Okotoks has been extremely successful in reducing its water consumption through a bylaw that encourages its residents to conserve water wherever possible. Accordingly, each home in Drake Landing was provided with a rain barrel and xeriscaping guidelines for water-wise gardening. Homes were also fitted with water-saving fixtures and appliances and built to R-2000 standards for energy efficiency and air quality.

“Although the energy from the sun is free, it still takes a lot of money to capture it,” Stevenson says. “It is still more cost-effective to build a well-insulated, airtight structure. So reducing your heat loss from your house will still give you the best bang for your buck.”
Halpen believes now that United Communities has shown it’s possible for this type of sustainable housing to be built, and the Drake Landing solar community will kick-start similar developments. Eventually, she says, all homes may be built this way if the price of the solar energy system can be reduced.

“[The] upfront costs are quite high so infrastructure needs to be utilized over a larger amount of homes to reduce the per-unit cost,” she says. With the success of Drake Landing, new solar communities will follow and Stevenson believes that time is in the near future.
“The day will come, and likely in our children’s lifetime, where it will become second nature to take advantage of this technology, similar to how recycling [has] become mainstream today,” he says. “The neat thing is you can go to the local hardware store and buy either a photovoltaic or thermal solar system right off the shelf. Three years ago you weren’t able to do that. So this is a technology that can be used by the average homeowner today.”

Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said of Okotoks, “about ten years ago, the folks there decided they were going to live within their local environmental means. Today Okotoks can fairly call itself the greenest community in Canada, maybe the world.”

Drake Landing, and its revolutionary solar energy system and water conservation policy, is no small part of that achievement and residents can be proud of their efforts to fight climate change. NL