Okotoks Drake Landing Solar Community was visited by members of the International Energy Agency last week. The Solar Heating and Cooling committee is represented by 14 different countries and they meet twice a year. Natural Resources Canada hosts the meeting once every 10 years and they chose Okotoks Drake Landing as the venue for this meeting. Natural Resources Canada were very proud to show the IEA members the cutting edge technology used in this thermal project, a first of its kind in Canada.

There are 52 homes in Drake Landing that benefit from this technology. The technology is so advanced that is able to provide over 90% of the heating from solar energy. Considering how cold Canada can be achieving 90% efficiency from Solar Energy is ground breaking. Other warmer countries using similar technology are not able to match this efficiency. Okotoks sustainability coordinator Dawn Smith is hoping the Drake Landing project can be rolled out on a much larger scale. This would make sense as Alberta benefits from some of the best Solar availability in the world.

Although this technology was a first in Canada and very cutting edge, the project is now in its seventh year which means it is tried and tested and works very well. The project cost seven million dollars and a large percentage of this cost was research. Future projects will be cheaper as the research has already been done.

The residents of Okotoks are very environmentally aware and speaking as a Realtor I find my clients are very excited about the possibility of having the sun pay for 90% of their heating costs. If similar projects were to get approval in Okotoks we would have no problems selling these homes. I have just completed a Green Real Estate course and I am very excited about offering green homes to my clients.

If you are interested in finding out more information about Okotoks real estate or buying a home in this amazing community please Contact Me.