River valley centre gets a poetic update with solar cells
The update of Edmonton Convention Centre’s iconic multi-level atrium that follows the slope of Edmonton’s river valley is nearing completion. The update includes Canada’s largest building-integrated photovoltaic system. The 35-year old skylight modernization includes a poetic message for visitors of the Centre and the river valley.
The pattern of the cells opens to a circular oculus with lines of Morse code that spell out a poem. It is an excerpt of Gifts of a River by E.D. Blodgett, a former Edmonton Poet Laureate. The poem is legible from left to right within the atrium, but the visual appeal extends outside and across the valley.
The new solar cells will convert sunlight into clean electricity while maintaining the transparency of the Centre’s current glass atrium. All 696 sloped panels on the atrium have been replaced. Even with the PV cells covering approximately 50% of the surface, more light is getting through to the atrium compared to the previous tinted panels.
It is estimated that more than 200 Megawatt-hours of electricity will be generated each year and that the panels will reduce anticipated greenhouse gas emissions by over 150,000 kg. Read the poem and learn more at https://www.canadianarchitect.com/edmonton-convention-centre-gets-a-poetic-update-with-canadas-largest-bipv-system/
Pollinators and your garden
While you may not be concerned about maximizing the harvest from your garden, having native pollinators can be helpful. Native bees in your garden can increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you can grow. Native pollinators can also help encourage your flowerbed to increase flower production. When a flower has increased success with producing seeds one year, they will increase the number of flowers they put out the year after.
June 22-28 is designated National Pollinator Week to raise awareness of the many challenges facing pollinators today and highlight ways to help them. Native bees in Alberta are pollen-collecting bees and are 2-3 times more effective at pollination than the honeybee. Wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies, and moths are also important pollinators.
If you want to encourage more native pollinators, here are seven native plants you can add to your yard to improve your local ecosystem and help bees and other pollinators living nearby https://www.ealt.ca/blog/plant-this-not-that-20
Indigenous Environmental Stewardship and Reclamation
Yellowhead Tribal College is still accepting applications for Fall 2020 from students interested in two exciting programs: Indigenous Environmental Stewardship and Reclamation (IESR) and Renewable Energy Installation Assistant-Photovoltaic (REIA).
IESR prepares students for the demanding and evolving field of environmental safeguarding, reclamation, and restoration. REIA is a one-year, 12-course certificate program that prepares and trains students for careers in the growing field of photovoltaic panel, also known as solar panel, installation.
Both programs provide students with a background in theory and practice, including laboratory work and field experiences. Learning from academics, Elders, industry, and community experts, students will learn how environmental science or renewable energy technology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge are vital in balancing traditional values and the needs of the industry and communities in either the continued development of resources or the development of green energy. Learn more at https://ytced.ab.ca/ Share river valley event, job posting, or news
If you have a river valley event, job posting, or news that you would like to see published in this newsletter, please send the info to nsrivervalley@gmail.com
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712
nsrivervalley@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/NSRVCS/
http://www.edmontonrivervalley.org/