David Silburn will be giving a talk at SAIT’s Orpheus Theatre on March 28, 2018, to discuss the use of solar energy in people’s homes.
“There is a need for quick, rapid deployment of cleaner, energy efficient technologies,” said Silburn.
Silburn has been the general manager of SAIT’s Green Building Technologies for 10 years.
Having trained as an architect, Silburn now works with a team of people designing and constructing sustainable buildings using means such as solar energy.
The upcoming talk, Greater Heights for Solar Energy Efficient Technologies, will take place on March 28, 2018 at 7 p.m. inside the Orpheus Theatre on SAIT’s campus, and will have free admission.
SAIT’s Orpheus Theatre will hold this event
The talk will involve a question and answer period, but will mainly be focused on the topic of building net zero or passive energy houses, and how home owners, builders, and developers can use solar in their day-to-day lives.
Silburn said solar will be important in the lives of many SAIT students as they develop their careers and build their own houses.
“Solar is a relatively inexpensive, almost maintenance-free way to generate energy, which, in Southern Alberta, there’s a ton of sun, so it makes a lot of sense,” said Silburn.
Jesse Corbel, the Calgary seminar manager for the Solar Energy Society of Alberta (SESA) since October of 2017 had a similar view to Silburn.
“Alberta has the largest solar potential of any of the provinces in Canada,” said Corbel.
He said that there is a large strain on the electrical grids in Alberta, but it can be helped if solar is used to diversify the methods of generating energy.
As opposed to having one large power plant, solar will allow the power to be decentralized and specific to personal homes or communities.
Corbel said that relying more on solar energy would minimize fuel costs and the burning of fossil fuels.
As production increases, the solar technology will get cheaper.
“The Alberta government wants to turn off all their coal plants in 2030 and have 30% of all the energy input being completely renewable being wind or geothermal or solar,” said Corbel.
“They have a lot of projects up, and it’s just going to get bigger.”