The Eco Living and Home Tour is grateful to have Bearfoot Renewables as one of its Presenting Sponsors. We connected with owner Jeff Chamberland by phone to ask him some questions about his business.
Jeff’s journey to being a Salt Spring Island business owner with three electricians on staff began with becoming a journeyman electrician in Victoria, BC. His path started to become greener, literally, during a hike on Northern Vancouver Island. A wind turbine site was going to be built in Port Hardy, and seeing opportunity, he headed to Lethbridge, Alberta, for wind turbine studies. He spent 4 years building 80 m tall wind turbines in Alberta. This is where his interest in green technology took flight.
He thought that maybe British Columbia would increasingly adopt wind as an alternative energy source, which it hasn’t. But during a trip to California, he saw another opportunity — solar panels on roofs. Many of them! Realizing that he hadn’t seen rooftop solar panels on BC’s Coast, he came back to BC to help move us in that direction.
What sorts of green energy projects are people interested in? Mainly, Jeff installs residential, grid-tie solar on people’s homes. They are connected to the grid and supplementing their hydro use. Jeff says that “solar has gotten so affordable, and very low maintenance, that it has risen to the top [of green energy sources].” He also does a lot of off-grid installations in Clayoquot Sound.
What kinds of trends are you seeing in the green energy industry and what are people asking you about? “I answer a lot of questions about the home battery — the lithium battery pack, mainly the Powerwall, Tesla’s Powerwall. It’s a battery back-up system.”
What kinds of changes in energy technology or building codes affect what people want you to do for them? Jeff wanted to correct any misleading information about the changes that BC Hydro has made. “People would say that BC Hydro isn’t buying back the power any more. This is technically true.” Then he added that “anyone with a solar system can offset all of their electricity usage, but if they return power to the grid beyond what they use, BC Hydro isn’t paying for that. This is to stop people from putting in excessive solar systems and basically waiting for a cheque from BC Hydro.”
What other renewable energies do you promote? “My favourite is just being energy efficient. It is the cheapest green energy that anyone can do. Everyone can participate. It can be as simple as changing your light bulbs or putting in a heat pump, which are good investments for people. They need to get control of their hydro bill or understand how much power they’re actually using. For example, it doesn’t make sense to put solar panels on your roof if you haven’t made changes to become more energy efficient.”
Buy your tickets for the Eco Living Tour at Salt Spring Books or online at Eventbrite. The Tour takes place on July 28th from 10am to 4pm. Maps will be available at Salt Spring Books in the week before the Tour.