Past Seminars at KEN
Below is a short summary of the seminars we've held, including links to presentations and podcasts.
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Solar MicroFIT - May 2010
Scott McKenzie from Tucker House spoke about the Province of Ontario's new "Feed in Tariff" program for homeowners, microFIT. This program enables homeowners to purchase and install a solar power system on their home, and sell the power at a guaranteed rate directly to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). To access the information presented at the seminar as a pdf download from Sustainable Ottawa, click here.
Growing Vegetables - April 2010
Master Gardener, David Hinks, introduced the basic concepts of small-plot, gardening. He covered topics such as how to select foolproof crops, how to avoid soil compaction, build soil fertility, create compost, select plants suitalbe for our climate, avoid pests and diseases, and more. Here are the excellent slides from the talk: Home Grown Veggies.. A proposal to start community gardening in Kanata was also discussed by a representatvie from Just Food. For more information about this, visit www.justfood.ca
Waste Not, Want Not - February 2010
At this presentation, we delved into the topic of garbage separation. This was followed by guest speaker and KEN volunteer, Michelle Lambert, who talked about how to reduce food waste. She shared the story of her family's journey to reduce food waste, which she recorded in a journal over four months.
Caring for Suburban Trees - April 2009
Martha Copestake, a City of Ottawa staff forester, and Erik von Lucznebacher, president of E&S Tree Experts, spoke about how to care for trees in our neighbourhood. They spoke about the City's proposed tree by-law, the City's tree planting programs, climate change's effects on local trees, how to prevent and treat infestations, and how to care for your trees and hedges. The emerald ash tree borer and other infestations affecting local trees was discussed. Much of the information and relevant websites are captured on KEN's Trees web page .
Be the Change in the Suburbs - February 2009
David Chernushenko shared a short version of his movie, "Be the Change" and spoke about how to "live lightly" in the suburbs. David Chernushenko is the founder of the Living Lightly project. For more information about his movie, "Be the Change," or his current movie project visit www.livinglightly.ca.
Bullfrog Power - November 2008
David Faassen provided an overview of Bullfrog Power, a company which is Ontario's only %100-green electricity provider. Bullfrog Power buys electricity from wind and low-impact hydro installations in Ontario, and sells it directly to homes and businesses. Bullfrog customers pay a small premium for their green-sourced energy and receive their electricity over the Ontario grid. For the typical household, this works out to about a dollar a day extra on their electricity bill. To find out more visit bullfrogpower.com.
Solar Hot Water Heating - September 2008
This event explored domestic solar hot water heating and an exciting project called Solar H2Ottawa. The goal of Solar H2Ottawa is to install 250 domestic solar hot-water systems in the Ottawa area by 2010. Solar H2Ottawa is a joint project of Sustainable Ottawa and Seventh Generation Community Projects. Through Sustainable Ottawa, home-owners have access to considerable financial incentives of up to $1200 from the ecoENERGY program of Natural Resources Canada. Visit H2Ottawa to learn more.
Green Gardening with Ed Lawrence - May 2008
Ed Lawrence recently retired after thirty years as head gardener for Rideau Hall and six other official residences in the National Capital Region. He shares his gardening expertise every Monday on the CBC's noon-time gardening show, "Ontario Today." At our May seminar, he delved into low-impact gardening, answered questions, and signed copies of his new book, Gardening Grief and Glory. The seminar also featured information tables from the Make It Green Garden Centre, a local pesticide-free nursery, and Kanata-March Horticultural Society.
Garbage! - April 2008
This event focused on how much garbage we produce and highlighted practical ways in which Kanata residents can reduce the amount placed at the curb. We screened the film Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home, a humorous look at one Toronto family's three-month garbage-tracking experiment. Local organizations that offer solutions for reducing our garbage output set up information tables: the Red Dot Campaign to reduce junk mail; the Rethink Garbage team for the City of Ottawa; the Inside the Bottle campaign to encourage the use of tap water instead of bottled water; the Extraordinary Baby Shoppe, a source for cloth diapers and other environmentally friendly baby items; and Kanata Freestore, Kanata's own online item exchange website. For more info visit our reuse and recycling page.
Ground Source Heat Pumps - February 2008
This event provided residents with information about replacing their existing heating and air conditioning systems with a ground source heat pump (GSHP). Our guest speaker was Erik Thorsteinson, a Research Engineer from the Sustainable Buildings and Communities Group at Natural Resouces Canada's CANMET Energy Technology Centre. For more information about GSHPs, see our Ground Source Heating and Cooling section.
View a PDF of Erik's GSHP sides.. To listen to a Podcast of this talk, click here. It will take a few minutes to load, and you need Apple QuickTime: Download QuickTime.
Eating Locally - January 2008
This seminar focused on why we should source more of our food from local farmers and how to get access to it. The event was an interactive session was led by guest speaker Moe Garahan, Director of Ottawa's Just Food organization. Six local farmers and representatives from farm coops and markets set up information tables with samples of their delicious local fare. For more info go to KEN's Local Food page. To hear a Podcast of this presentation, click here. It will take a few minutes to load, and you need Apple QuickTime. Download QuickTime.
Solar Energy Systems - November 2007
Keynote speaker Jeff Knapp, a solar expert from Natural Resources Canada, gave an excellent overview of solar technologies and related government incentives. For a PDF file of his presentation, click here.
Home Energy Audits - October 2007
This event featured a lively talk by Jonatham Ham, a home energy auditor from Green Home Inspections. For a PDF file of his presentation, click here.