Hutterite Culture’s Embrace Of Solar Power Makes Perfect Sense

It’s quite the sight. More than 7,600 solar modules, row upon row, all facing south. It’s a field of blue that just sits there, quietly harvesting the sun and powering the colony’s future. Thinking on this brings a smile to Jake Hofer’s face.

You’ve seen them before, though they don’t tend to stand out. Hutterites — women in bright coloured, identical dresses and men in somber, dark jackets and hats. They’re almost always at the farmer’s market on a Saturday morning selling fresh eggs, carrots and potatoes.

This quaint image of a quiet people is a stereotype many of us know, so it was with curiosity and anticipation that I made my way down the highway to Southeast Alberta to visit the largest solar farm in Western Canada at the Green Acres Hutterite colony.

The Hutterites are ambitious, industrial-scale farmers. The Green Acres colony farms 20,000 acres, runs a hog and chicken operation and operates Crowfoot Plastics, a one-of-a-kind plastics recycling plant, just outside Bassano, Alberta.

By David Dodge & Dylan Thompson

Full Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/david-dodge/green-acres-solar-farm_b_8577548.html