Sustainable Living 101

The "Ready, Set, Solve" program is currently underway with overwhelming enthusiasm from students, challenge hosts and program sponsors. This is the second year of the contest, based on a successful pilot the CRD Climate Action Program that ran in winter 2011. Thanks to support from BC Hydro Powersmart, participation has more than doubled in this round, with 18 teams totaling 65 students tackling real life climate and sustainability problems for local governments, educational institutions, and non-profits.

Ready, Set, Solve challenges cover a range of climate topics including identifying and mapping innovative rainwater management techniques and bicycle infrastructure, designing a "Youth Climate Action Camp," developing a waste reduction strategy and designing for a natural playscape for the local community centre.

Teams comprised of students from Royal Roads University, the University of Victoria and Camosun College are using skills applicable to their post-secondary education to solve the challenge. Teams have two months to complete their challenge.

The CRD will host an awards ceremony on Thursday April 4 to announce celebrate all of the student accomplishments. Winning teams will receive great prizes thanks to support from the following local business: The Condo Group, PRT, Canoe Brew Pub, Camosun College, Prince of Whales Victoria, Contact Canada  and many more. With their support, the top placing teams will receive small academic scholarships, outdoor experiences, gift certificates, and much, much more!

For more information about the 'Ready, Set, Solve' initiative and to see the current list of challenges and sponsors visit: www.crd.bc.ca/readysetsolve

Right now, you can borrow a kit of tools and resources from your local library to help you learn what you can do at home to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Once you have used the kit, take a short survey to be entered to win some fabulous energy saving prizes!

Each kit contains resources and activities for you to:

• Measure household appliance electricity use with the Kill-A-Watt Meter.
• Discover air leaks in your home using the Thermal Leak Detector.
• Test out the ultra-efficient LED light bulb.
• See how efficient your showerhead is with an easy test.
• Learn more about more local solutions to climate change with a documentary film and a variety of books.

The Climate Action To-Go Kits have been available in our local libraries since October 2012, but thanks to their popularity we have just added more kits to the circulation, for a total of 22 kits.

This program has been made possible thanks to a partnership between the CRD, BC Hydro and our local libraries. Kits are available at all 10 branches of the Greater Victoria Public Library, the Sooke, Sidney or Port Renfrew branches of the Vancouver Island Regional Library, the Salt Spring Island Public Library, and the Camosun College Library.

Learn more at: www.crd.bc.ca/actionkits

With the holiday season upon us, December is a great time to take advantage of the local bounty available in the Capital Regional District. From locally grown fruits and vegetables, to arts and crafts, all your holiday needs can be found within easy reach.

Share Organics, a Victoria-based organic grocery delivery company, has a large database of recipes using island-grown fruits and vegetables. Many of the South Island grocery stores also have a wide selection of local produce. The Vancouver Island Diet website is a great resource for finding a variety of food products produced on the island. Why not try something new this year and serve a winter squash at your Christmas dinner?

Anyone on your Christmas list would be happy to receive a gift made on the island. The Papery, on Fort Street, has an assortment of handmade cards and stationary supplies. And there are a number of craft fairs around the city that feature a variety of handmade goods. A new store in the downtown Bay Centre, Lotus Boutique, carries locally made accessories and clothing, as well as fair trade items. Don't have time to get out to the stores? Look for gifts made in Victoria on http://www.etsy.com/, a user-operated handmade marketplace. Or, if you want to try your hand at making custom gifts, the internet is a great resource for ideas, with websites like http://www.craftgawker.com/ and http://www.crafster.org/.

However you spend the holidays, bring the joy a little closer to home.

Each October, BC Hydro encourages their customers to celebrate Power Smart Month.  This means that now is the time to take advantage of a number of rebates on energy-efficient products to help you reduce your home energy bills! Below are some links to a number of other great offers to be had. Check them out today! 

• Rebates on ENERGY STAR® lighting, appliances and electronics.
• Daily prizes to be won through Power Plinko.
• Capture a photo of what waste means to you and enter it into the Team Power Smart Photo Contest
• Get some tips and success stories for reducing energy from people around the province in the Power Pointers section.
• Check out the Candlelight Conservation Dinner on October 25. There are a number of participating restaurants in region (look under Victoria and West Shore) that will be dimming the lights and showing how simple actions can add up to make a big difference while offering some dining deals. 
• And don't forget to sign-up for Team Power Smart to get paid to save your home energy!

 Stay tuned to powersmart.ca throughout the month to participate and save!