A house with solar panels on its roof may not what you envision when you hear “heritage home” but two climate activists have found ways to merge their love of heritage and their passion for the environment in their 1912 house.
The George Henderson House on St. George Street in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood is one of 11 venues featured on this year’s New Westminster Heritage Homes Tour.
"On tour we have a charming rental unit in a 1911 building with a storied past, an arts and crafts house that is a clarion call for climate action, and the Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral with its big dreams and an even bigger heart that is raising funds for the Ukrainian civilians affected by conflict – plus an array of lovely houses that are beloved by their owners whose sweat equity is a testament to that,” said Catherine Hutson, Heritage New West board member and homes tour convenor.
Tickets ($45) are available online for Heritage New West's 42nd tour, which is on Sunday, May 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"We see our annual homes tour as a powerful way to highlight the enduring worth of older homes,” Hutson said. “Instead of tearing them down, why not refurbish, renovate, and reconfigure them as one small way to meet today's housing needs in cities like New Westminster and communities across B.C."
Green technology in heritage homes
Agnes Black and her husband Tim Takaro, the owners of the George Henderson House, have worked hard to make their heritage home a fossil-free, solar-electric energy-powered residence.
Heritage New West is thrilled to have the home on this year’s tour as it demonstrates how heritage and green technology can co-exist and enhance each other.
Black, a local climate activist, and Takaro, a public health/climate change scientist, are keen to encourage other owners of heritage homes and typical homes to make their homes more sustainable. They have prepared a handout – Stabilizing Our Climate for Our Kids: A Journey to Renewable Energy to Power Our Home – for folks attending this Sunday’s tour.
“Climate change represents an existential threat to human life on earth; the extraction and burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate change, and our buildings are one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions,” explained the couple in their write-up. “Knowing this led us to make changes to our home, to move away from fossil fuels and onto renewable energy sources.”
The couple began their journey of making our home more energy efficient about 15 years ago, when they had insulation blown into the exterior walls of their house and replaced the building’s single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows. In 2015, they had solar panels installed on the roof of their garage; in 2022, they began the process of switching to electric heat pumps.
“Our previous home heating system was gas-powered hot water heating, and our hot water tank was powered by gas as well,” they wrote. “We had no central air conditioning because we had not previously felt a need for it.”
After conducting a home energy audit, the residents worked closely with Energy Save New West and their contractor to remove their home’s gas-powered hot water tank and heating system.
“In their place we have two external heat pumps, plus seven internal ‘mini-splits’ – wall-mounted units that supply hot air to heat our home in the winter, and then provide air conditioning when needed in the summer,” said the couple’s write-up. “We also switched our cooking range from gas to electric induction, thereby reducing harmful indoor air pollution that’s been linked to asthma, and further reducing our fossil fuel use. We have loved this heating and cooling system.”
In April 2024, Black and Takaro added solar panels to the roof of their house, using the Canada Greener Homes solar loan program that offers no-interest loans of up to $40,000 for energy upgrades like solar panels.
The handout prepared by the couple includes a graph showing the amount of solar energy produced by their garage roof units and the amount projected to be produced by the house-top solar panels. They’ve also provided information about the cost of switching to heat pumps and installing solar panels, reductions in energy costs for their home, resources to get answers to questions asked along the way, websites to help with the rebate process, and more.
“We know we’re taking important steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, by decarbonizing our home, moving away from fossil fuels and onto clean green electric and solar power,” said their write-up. “And having air conditioning, even though we only use it when it’s truly hot outside, is a real bonus.”
