West Hants, Wolfville to benefit from eco-bucks

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Town of Wolfville and the Municipality of West Hants are among those that will benefit from more than $600,000 in provincial funding announced Sept. 11 by provincial Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau.

The funding is part of a $900,000 investment by the province into projects that will help reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. “We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 10 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020,” Belliveau said at the Wolfville Town Hall, site of the funding announcement for the Valley region. “The province is committed to making Nova Scotia one of the cleanest and greenest places in the world,” the minister said. “I know that by working together we can achieve that goal.”

The funding is provided through two programs of the federally-supported eco-Nova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change.

A municipal program supports municipally run projects while an environmental technology program supports businesses and researchers. $10, 000 for West Hants

West Hants received a $10,000 grant to complete an energy inventory and audit of its municipal building. “This is a very important announcement for us,” said West Hants warden Richard Dauphinee. “Ten thousand may not sound like much, but it will bridge the gap for us toward applying for additional funding in the future.”

West Hants, he said, is “looking at geothermal (upgrades) to our municipal office and also building a new fire hall and civic centre in Brooklyn. This is just a first step.” $41,000 for Wolfville

The Town of Wolfville received a $41,000 grant under the municipal program to retrofit heating systems in its public works building, its town hall and emergency services complex to reduce energy consumption. “The project is 50 per cent funded by the money we’re receiving here today,” said Mayor Bob Stead. “In all the renovations and upgrades, insulation and controls are front-and-centre.”

The town is covering the remainder of the cost of the upgrades.

Stead said, “when this building was built and then added onto, the kind of technology available today just wasn’t there. “The town hall, fire department and truck bays, and ambulance service all have similar issues that need addressing. All three will be addressed through this project, as well as our Public Works building. “There was never any attempt to do heat recovery and there never was an exhaust system where our Public Works vehicles are parked.”

And given that the government funding announced matches monies already earmarked by the various recipients, “it adds up to more than $1.3 million in energy-saving renovations and upgrades.”

Moreover, “there’s still money left in the fund. The next application deadlines are Oct. 31 of this year and Jan. 31, 2010. There’s a possibility some of us will be applying again, and may qualify for additional funding.”

Also receiving funds for projects were the Municipality of Digby and two private companies: Acadian Seaplants of Cornwallis and West Nova Agro Commodities of Lawrencetown.

Digby received $190,000 for an energy efficiency renovation to its municipal building. Acadian Seaplants received $250,000 for a sand/seaweed by-product recovery project and West Nova Agro Commodities received $162,000 to develop a heat recovery system for the grain-drying industry.