On Saturday, while Buddy was showing the Chevy Bolt at the annual Gibsons Home and Garden Expo, I attended the presentation by Scott from Alternative Power Solutions on solar panels.
I have followed the news stories of the growth and development of the solar industry for years with fascination. I remember a number of years ago lamenting when I heard that a Canadian firm that was leading innovations had moved to Germany. In fact the proposal from Germany had been a lifeline for the company who was wondering how they would make payroll. They were successful in Germany and so my lament had been when would Canadians embrace solar?
As Scott went through his power point showing the many different homes and buildings on the Sunshine Coast, I can see that we are finally seeing the benefits of adopting solar.
Solar is not a luxury item instead it is a very practical addition to any home or building. Feeding energy into the grid can reduce your hydro wills with net-metering. For those wanting to add value to their homes a typical 6KW solar system installed on your roof can instantly increase the resell value of your home by $24,000.
The technology that supports solar installation means there is little guess work to determine the best location for solar panels on a building or the energy collection. Scott showed a very interesting shading modelling assessment that is used pre-installation to determine how the sun rays hit the roof throughout the year. In another picture he explained that inverters allow for monitoring the performance of the individual panels as well as the arrays. Technology now allows you to monitor the energy the sun is creating for you.
Clean energy supplies nearly a third of Germany’s electricity. Here on the coast a solar installation at Langdale Elementary will produce about half of the power consumed in daily operations.
APS is an offshoot of Olsen Electric here on the Sunshine Coast. The 27 year old company was an early adopter of renewable energy solutions and electric vehicles. They are certified to work on and install Tesla products. They anticipate they will be installing lots of Tesla power walls in the future.
In Germany the solar industry has created over 370,000 jobs, solar will also create jobs here on the Sunshine Coast and throughout Canada as Canadians reduce our carbon footprint and help the planet.
Building a social movement in favour of clean energy is critical. Solar it is your time to shine.
