SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Few things illustrate the importance of energy savings like generating your own - just ask homeowner Steve Robertson whose house, just 20 minutes out of Yellowknife's downtown, is completely off the grid.

Louie Azzolini, Arctic Energy Alliance executive director, commends the City of Yellowknife on its Community Energy Plan renewal that could see more alternative energy sources, similar to this wood pellet boiler used to heat the Alliance Building, in public facilities. The city already has a large wood pellet boiler heating the pool, arena and curling club. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

"There was power coming to the house, we've lived here for 25-plus years in the same location and we always had power, but then there was an upgrade to the line that didn't continue out to us," said Robertson. "Our choice was very simple, that we needed to put in our own power system."

Six months of the year, from approximately March to August, Robertson's house is powered only by solar panels. During the overcast winter months, he uses a diesel generator and estimates the solar panels will pay for themselves within seven to 10 years, when compared to running on diesel all year.

"I would say we prob use somewhere between a quarter to a third of what an average household in Yellowknife uses," said Robertson, adding that there are some households out there that are even more conservative. "We live in a small house but we have a microwave, electric coffee maker, electric fridge, satellite TV and computers. Although we're very aware of it, it's not too rustic."

Although he appreciates the environmental benefit to using less energy, Robertson said the matter of cost is a major factor in his interest in conservation.

"I think people have different motivations, you can be doing it for the right reason, whatever you believe those to be, but I think for a lot of us there is also plain economics," said Robertson. "When you have to provide your own power, you become acutely aware of your own energy consumption." Both for environmental and economic benefits, the City of Yellowknife is taking the whole energy picture into consideration to renew its Community Energy Plan. Through the changes proposed in the 2007 plan, Remi Gervais, City of Yellowknife energy coordinator, said the the city has saved approximately $650,000 per year.

"Energy efficiency is very often a cost-effective way to reduce energy use," said Gervais. "You're not really producing energy by doing energy efficiency retrofits but they have a return on investment, so that's an economic choice that achieves environmental targets."

The previous plan expires in 2014 but saw two significant goals met: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent in city operations and 6 per cent in the community.

"Achieving those targets means the actions we were taking are having the impacts that we were hoping," said Gervais. "Also, a lot of the successes we're having from the past plan is the experience that we have now that is able to tell us what works and what doesn't. So that gives us a lot more knowledge about what can be done for the next plan, hopefully we can achieve even greater targets in the near future."

One project that Gervais said has seen significant savings was installing large biomass (wood pellet) burners.

"There is one currently at the pool, YK Arena and curling club - one pellet boiler for these three buildings," said Gervais. "That just saved, last year, its millionth litre of oil and it has been six years since we installed that one."

Since its installation, Gervais estimated the wood pellet boiler offered a net savings of nearly $150,000 per year. A second boiler at the city's baling facility saved approximately $30,000.

"The other retrofit that we've really seen some results from is the (light-emitting diode) LED lighting, street lighting and facility lighting," said Gervais. "We still have room for additional implementation there."

Currently, he said the majority of community service buildings are using LED lights, for exterior lighting in particular. Street lights are gradually being replaced with LEDs, Gervais said approximately half have been switched out at this point but they hope to have all changed over in the next two years.

Within city-owned infrastructure, Gervais said the net savings for lighting has been approximately $30,000 per year, and $80,000 for streetlights.

An additional project with an estimated $100,000 net savings is a waste heat recovery system installed at the arena. The system takes heat produced by the ice plant and uses it to heat the building - some heat is also distributed to the nearby field house.

The Arctic Energy Alliance is one of the consulting members to the city's Community Energy Planning Committee and Executive Director Louie Azzolini said the city is setting an example for its citizens and the country, garnering national awards for its sustainability efforts.

"The impact of the city's initiatives are far reaching both across Canada but also within Yellowknife because they're showing what is possible," said Azzolini. "It's easy to talk but they're doing it, and it's in the doing that peoples behaviours and attitudes are shaped."

The city is asking residents to provide input towards developing the new plan through a survey, currently available on the city website. Over the next three months, Gervais said the city would be collecting responses, as well as putting together a study on energy usage, and presenting it at a public open house early in the new year.

"The survey is used to define what Yellowknifers care about when it comes to energy: what their values are," said Gervais. "We want to find out what our priorities should be, whether it's cost, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable uptake."

After a draft plan is developed - with further public consultation and comment from city council and committee members taken into account - a the final plan that will target energy consumption from 2015 to 2025 will be presented towards the end of next year.