Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 01/01) - We are now living high off the petroleum hog but that will not be the case for our children and those yet to be born, warns a university professor.

Owner Matthew Grogono stands at the rail of the Icarus V. The houseboat was the first residential application of solar panels in Yellowknife. Installed by then owner John Alexander in 1983, the original solar panel (background) continues to transform sunlight into electricity. - Richard Gleeson/NNSL photo

Tang Lee said experts and oil-producing countries believe the world supply of fossil fuels will run out some time between 2050 and 2080.

"The only thing left to us if we want to maintain the lifestyle we have today is nuclear or solar power," said Lee, who teaches architecture at the University of Calgary.

Lee was among the presenters at a solar workshop hosted by the NWT Energy Secretariat and Ecology North last week in Yellowknife.

He said building designers must consider the lack of fossil fuels, and the skyrocketing prices that will accompany the sinking supply, when designing buildings.

The end of oil aside, Lee said the operating costs of conventional buildings typically amount to 10 times their construction cost over the life of the building.

Incorporating renewable energy technologies such as solar space and water heating makes economic as well as environmental sense.

Mike Noble, another presenter at the forum, is banking on the increasing popularity of solar power.

Noble is with EnerWorks, an Ontario-based business that produces a solar hot water heating system that snaps on conventional hot water heaters.

The company will start selling (or leasing) the $2,000 units this summer. The units provided 50 per cent of the water heating requirements when tested in Southern Ontario.

Noble said the technology the system uses to collect solar heat works at -40 C, but the system has not been tested in climates as harsh as the Northwest Territories'.

The territorial government has plenty of incentive to encourage the use of renewable energy. It subsidizes energy costs to consumers to the tune of $30 million annually.

In an effort to encourage the use of renewable energy, the government last year introduced a program -- the renewable energy technology conversion assistance program -- that offers up to $7,500 in matching funding toward the cost of incorporating renewable energy technologies.

All but four of the 20 projects that received a total of $110,000 in funding last year harnessed solar energy.

Lee closed his presentation at a public meeting that followed the workshop with a plea that betrayed his design sensibilities: "If you're going to put solar into a building, make it look nice."