It is definitely possible to live in a solar powered house during Manitoba's cold winters....a local couple has done it it! Will and Beverley Eert of Portage la Prairie live in an off-the-grid house near Portage that is powered completely by solar energy. The Eert's presented a talk on their house this past Wednesday at the Portage Library. The Eert's moved to Manitoba after living in BC for a number of years and Will explains why.

"We chose Manitoba because of the solar resource. Southern Manitoba, along with southern Saskatchewan, has the best solar resource in all of Canada so it's definitely the place to be if you want to live with the sun. Land is also less expensive here compared to other parts of Canada. This is a great place to be, the lifestyle is slower and the people are great."

Beverley Eert explains why they thought it was important to them to build the house.

"We embarked on this plan to reduce our carbon footprint to as close to zero as we possibly could. The house has been extremely successful and I'm very pleased with how it's performing and how it performed this past winter. I've learned a great deal living in this house. I've learned about what the climate in Manitoba requires in the way of insulation and mass and what we have to have to create a house that will almost heat itself."

Eert says living in the off-the-grid house doesn't actually save them a lot of money, but notes helping out the environment is more important anyway. She says the house took just under 4 years to build, and says it's been an awesome experience living in the house.