AGM and Celebration time! Saturday Sept 5 11am-1pm

The panels are on the roof of the Baysville Arena and the electricians and Hydro One are busy working on the connections to the grid.  It has been a long journey but we are now seeing our first installed project come to life!  Bond sales are continuing and our membership is growing.  Come find out more updates about your coop and celebrate with your fellow members at our AGM on Saturday Sept 5, 11-1 am.  More details to follow but put it in your calendar for now, looking forward to seeing you there!  If you are not yet a member head on over to our membership page and fill out the form, bring your $10 lifetime fee to the AGM or mail it to us.  We welcome new members!

LOBREC 2015 AGM to be held at the senior's centre in Baysville

11 AM - 1 PM Saturday September 5, 2015

Solar panels installed! PV now on the Lake of Bays Arena!

If you were in Baysville last week you may have noticed the equipment, pylons and busy workers at the community centre.  Electricians and NorthGrid's crew were working hard to get our system installed and on Friday morning, despite some light rain, the panels went up on the roof.   They are continuing to work away this week on getting everything connected and working so we can start generating electricity and renewable benefits for our community! 

As you may be aware, LOBREC is selling bonds to cooperative members ($10 lifetime membership fee to join, membership is open, see our JOIN page for more information) to pay for the solar system.  Bond sales are heating up and going fast so now is the time to invest if you haven't yet, or buy more to get in on this issue.  Check out our INVESTMENT page for more information about buying bonds. 

And now here are some pictures of the solar panel installation!

Happy Summer! Installation in Baysville coming soon!

Happy Summer everyone!  You may have noticed that LOBREC volunteers have been busy this summer, we have seen many of you at the Baysville Farmers Market and at the Lake of Bays Brewery last Saturday where we have set up our bond information booth.  Thanks to all who came over to chat, new members and new community investors!  We will be at the Baysville Farmers' market again this Friday July 10th and the LOBA gathering on July 11th so come on over and say hi!  We have exciting updates as the solar panels and electronics are ready for delivery in NorthGrid's shop and we expect equipment to start arriving next week!  Stay tuned for notice of upcoming installation celebrations!  And if you haven't bought your bonds yet, or you are interested in buying more, its not too late, but act soon as we are nearing our goal!  We are taking member bond purchases throughout the summer, come on over at an event to chat or send us an email at info@lobrec.org.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

The pubic is invited to our May Solar Social!

On Sunday, May 17th from 1pm - 3pm everyone is invited to our next LOBREC Solar Social. Weather permitting we will have a solar oven going and regardless of weather we will have some great sweets and refreshments. 

It all happens at the  Baysville Public Library (10 University Street). Rain location is the arena lobby next door. 
LOBREC members will be on hand to answer questions about our project for a 50kW roof top PV system on the Baysville arena roof.
Join LOBREC ($10 lifetime membership) and you can win a door prize (plus we will have door prizes for current members who bring new members). 

Please RSVP to: info@lobrec.org

Excitement brewing in the growing Muskoka Co-op sector

The coffee and food was great as was the company.  This morning a full room of co-op members, developers, financiers, credit union, community business development, economic development officers, chambers of commerce representatives and community members who want to better understand how the co-operative model can help build a sustainable community gathered at the Bracebridge YWCA for engaging presentations and discussion.  

There was great interest in having the contact information for the co-ops discussed available so we are posting them here in our blog, presentations to follow also!

• Maureen Strickland – Co-operatives and Community Economic Development(PDF)   www.ontario.coop info@ontario.coop
• Judy Sanderson – Ryde Community Cooperative ryde.coop@gmail.com http://rydecommunityco-op.com/
• Melinda Zytaruk - LOBREC presentation(PDF)  info@lobrec.org  www.lobrec.org
• Hannah Lin – Twenty Gravenhurst area artists open a business together (PDF)  info@artsatthealbion.com http://artsatthealbion.com/
• Kelli Ebbs - Muskoka North Good Food Coop (PDF)  muskokanorthfood@gmail.com  http://muskokanorthfood.com/

LOBREC Solar Social a Smash!

Beer tastings, "solar selfies", and good times marked our LOBREC's first Solar Social on March 21st at the Lake of Bays Brewery. Members were invited to this free event to meet other LOBREC folks, learn about our progress, and just celebrate sunnier days. The public was invited to come and join LOBREC as well and we had a few new members. 

Come celebrate with us at a fun social

When: Sat, March 21 from3:00 to 5:00pm  Where: Lake of Bays Brewing Company, right in downtown Baysville

The funds raised in our initial bond campaigns and our interim financing have allowed us to purchase the necessary equipment  to launch the project.  We are delighted to be busy working with our engineering team in completing the final design and ordering equipment for our spring installation of the 50kW roof top PV system on the Baysville arena roof. This frigid winter weather will soon warm up, the snow will disappear and we will be ready to install the solar panels and related equipment to feed electricity into the grid.

Join us for the launch of our 2015 campaign at a fun social event from 3:00pm to 5:00pm on March 21st at the Lake of Bays Brewing Company, right in downtown Baysville.  It is hard to miss, right on Muskoka Rd 117 at the bridge.  There will be snacks and beer tasting, along with a chance to meet with a ‘real beer brewer’.

The bonds in this offering will have the same 3.5% interest rate and have a settlement date of July 1, 2015.

Why did I join LOBREC?

Someone recently asked me why I joined LOBREC.   I thought I would post my answer here.

It is simple.  I have 3 grandchildren.  Ok, perhaps its not that simple.   Let me explain my thinking.  It boils down to energy cost and the environment.

First, let me deal with the energy cost issue.  In Ontario we are still hanging our hat heavily on Nuclear energy.   Ontario hydro users have paid approximately $19B of Stranded Debt from cost overruns of current Nuclear reactors and there is another $14B yet to pay.   Estimates to rebuild Darlington are currently running up to $.37 per Kwh.   Given our history of overruns of up to 2.5 x budget, you can see where this could go, and we still have no reliable estimates of the cost of safe storage of the spent fuel.  Solar energy is in the order of $.5 per Kwh today and coming down fast, and wind is lower.   I don’t want to gamble the financial future of my grandchildren on Nuclear.

Next is the environment.  We have done terrible things to this planet, the only home for the human race.  For example, we have created vast waste lands in the Alberta Tar Sands.  This is non-renewable and we have no history of being able to restore the natural environment.  We still don’t know how to extract gas from Fracking without polluting fresh water supplies, and fracking is linked to increased earthquake activity….not good for those buried Nuclear fuels, and the use of coal, oil and gas is heavily linked to air pollution, which is contributing to dramatic weather changes.    We have no way of knowing how we can mitigate this pollution enough to make the earth a safe place to live.

So the story is quite simple after all.  I joined LOBREC because I have 3 grandchildren.  Do you have grandchildren?

Rick Zytaruk, LOBREC board member.