Renewable Energy Project

In September 2004, the former Main-a-Dieu elementary school was reopened as the Coastal Discovery Centre (CDC), an ambitious multi-use social and commercial facility now home to a Credit Union, Museum, Library, C@P Site, Visitor’s Information Centre, Senior’s Room, the Big Wave Cafe, and the Lobster Hut.

The dream of turning the school closure, a bitter blow to local spirit and pride, into a new platform for growth and well-bring took four years, and the concerted efforts of five small communities — Main-a-Dieu, Bateston, Little Lorraine, Baleine and Catalone — to bring to reality. The considerable costs of renovation and upgradin, approaching $200,000, required extensive partnering between the lead citizen’s group, the Main-a-Dieu Community Development Association, and municipal, provincial and federal levels of government, supplemented by public donations and tireless volunteer fundraising.

Given the magnitude of the undertaking, the long-term potential of the CDC — not just to break even, but to succeed and develop — was the central concern of the 2000-2004 period, during which three separate feasibility studies were conducted. Early on, it became clear that the ongoing costs of powering (heating, lighting and insulating) the building would be the major drain on development resources and the biggest single risk to the whole enterprise.

It was also apparent that considerable scope existed for exploring “green power” options — solar, wind, geothermal, etc. — to reduce this burden and combine the environmental and economic dimensions of project sustainability. WHile renovations and planning priorities, combined with limited time and resources to study these options, prevented the initial elaboration of a “green action plan,” it was always the intention of the Association to revisit the issue as soon as practicable.

That time has now come.

Posted by Mike Targett | Email a comment