Ask most Albertan's about the Province's carbon tax and they'll likely let you know exactly how they feel.

But the Town of Black Diamond is making the most of it.

In fact, the Town's Parks and Recreation Manager, Les Quinton, says they've managed to get $141,947 of carbon tax money to make their carbon footprint a little smaller.

"We've had LED's retrofit in our Town Office, for interior lights. We've replaced furnaces with it. We've done solar with it as well. And we've also done a real ice unit, which helps cool the temperature of water we're using for resurfacing the ice."

Quinton, says some of the money goes to "energy audits" to find out what needs to get done, while other grants go straight to ready-to-go projects.

"We've had to have that extra help to have the engineering portion done to calculate it. But a lot of the grants aren't for audits. They're done like the solar. The solar grant is a portion of what we paid to install solar panels on the roof of our outdoor rink."

He says he hopes the carbon tax sticks around, as it's a great way to improve town facilities that pay off with less cost to taxpayers.

 

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