ecoENERGY

RETScreen (transcript)

Narrator:
Energy planners need clean and lean ways to power our world, to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The questions always are how much does it cost and how do we start? The solution is just a few clicks away. It's called RETScreen International.

Greg Leng, RETScreen Manager
"What RETScreen does is it helps you basically make a decision. Should I put in this solar wall or not? And RETScreen, in a nutshell, will help you determine that. Does it make sense."

RETScreen is a series of powerful data bases that tell decision-makers how much energy is produced by a wind turbine, a solar panel, a more efficient gas burner or a small capacity hydro plant. And it can also provide what those systems will cost.

RETScreen was developed out of need. The Natural Resources Canada lab at Varennes, Quebec wanted to know if installing a solar wall would cut heating costs – and greenhouse gas emissions. A Solar Wall traps fresh air through tiny perforations, heats it with the sun's energy and moves the air through a ventilation system into the building.

Greg Leng, RETScreen Manager
"We use that tool to determine how much solar energy is actually hitting the building, how much energy we can get out of that wall and save in our conventional energy bill throughout the year."

Narrator:
RETScreen has been applied to analyze projects such as the latest wind turbines and upgrades to small capacity hydro plants. It looks at traditional heating and cooling too – from houses right up to pulp and paper mills.

This powerful software has saved $600 million dollars so far and is used in mroe than 210 countries. Best of all – you can download it for free at RETScreen.net.

To learn more about RETScreen and energy conservation, go to http://nrcan.gc.ca/cleantech.