Salt Spring Island Eco-Living and Home Tour

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Sunday, July 26th, 2015
9-6 pm both days

Transition Salt Spring announces the 5th bi-annual Eco Living and Home Tour, Sunday July 26 2015 BUY TICKETS VIA EVENTBRITE HERE: https://www.eventbrite.ca/myevent?eid=15883745711 Back by popular demand, Salt Spring's Eco-Living and Home Tour returns July 26th, from 10 am to 4 pm. Visitors from all over the Salish Sea are welcomed to Salt Spring to see innovative examples of eco-building, renewable energy technology, tiny homes and sustainable living.

The tour is not limited to houses: as the name suggests the Eco Living & Home Tour includes food gardens, edible landscapes, Electric Vehicles, and creative re-inventions of island living for the post fossil-fuel era. The self-guided, daylong tour includes some of B.C.’s best examples of green building. Showcasing energy efficiency, water conservation, food production, renewable energy, transportation alternatives, and ecological protection, homes from tiny to grand all share one thing in common: a dedication to push the boundaries of sustainable living.

Happening at the peak of summer on beautiful Salt Spring Island, the tour promises visitors a glimpse into the unique “boutique gumboot” style that is emblematic of Gulf Islands culture. Now in its 5th year, the Salt Spring Island Eco-Living and Home Tour will feature a net-zero solar homestead, an array [is this true? how many?] of trendy yet practical ‘tiny homes’, a family home built using hemp-crete, and a host of other examples of what award winning Salt Spring Island builder Meyor Kraenhoff has called the “green building renaissance”.

Krayenhoff’s patented SireWall system will be on show, an insulated rammed-earth technology that has been selected for both its beauty and function by international clients from a corporate office complex in Pakistan to the Brinton Museum in Big Horn Wyoming. “It’s always a big thrill to enter a home where every detail has been carefully thought out not only for aesthetic beauty, but from a sustainability point of view,” says Transition Salt Spring member and tour organizer Andrea Palframan. “It’s inspiring, but also practically very instructive to talk with homebuilders who have been through the joys and trials of building green, from sourcing materials to finding willing contractors to, in many cases, working with local building authorities to pioneer renewable energy and green tech systems.”

In addition to being a haven for eco-innovators, Salt Spring Island is one of the fastest growing electric vehicle communities in Canada. Thanks to owner volunteers, electric vehicles— from Nissan Leafs to Teslas— will be tooling up and down the leafy roads on tour date. Saturday, July 25th, several dealerships and EV owners will be offering a taste of fossil-fuel free cruising to tour participants. The Hedgerow House B&B is the first accommodation service provider on Salt Spring to install an EV charger for guests' use, and will be welcoming EV tourists to the island all summer, in addition to being a stop on the July 26th Eco Living & Home Tour.

Tickets are on sale online via Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/196RIQ9 and cost $25.

The 2015 Salt Spring Eco-Living and Home Tour is a fundraiser for Transition Salt Spring. In addition to the bi-annual tour, Transition Salt Spring projects include the largest school-based solar power array in B.C., community allotment gardens, and regular speakers’ and film series devoted to building local resilience and reducing fossil fuel dependency—activities designed to support the Salt Spring Climate Action Plan.

Transition Salt Spring is looking to build on the growing number of sustainability projects on the island so that the island can become a leader in clean, renewable alternatives and demonstrate an alternative to fossil fuel projects like the TransMountain pipeline and its associated oil tankers.

Elizabeth White 250-537-2616 [email protected]

Andrea Palframan 250 537 [email protected]

Online at www.facebook.com/saltspringecolivinghometour?fref=ts