Off-grid energy

Imagine a future where kilometre-wide solar arrays orbit the planet, beaming the sun’s energy to transmission stations on Earth.

In October 2007 the U.S. Pentagon’s National Security Space Office announced it was interested in exploring just such a concept. While the Pentagon’s interest is related to supporting global military operations remotely, the development of solar space technology could change the way the world uses energy.

There is just one problem: even if future studies and funding are forthcoming, the launch of the first satellite could be as far away as 2030, or more realistically, 2050. Finding abundant, non-polluting energy by tapping into space-based solar panels is just one of many promising ideas popularized by the mass media each year.

There are ubiquitous and glowing stories about fuel cells, wind farms, geothermal energy and solar technology. But more often than not, the technologies in question are decades away from practical implementation.
 

Infographic: Hydro costs across Canada
Video: Three weird wind turbines

So what alternatives are available right now to homeowners seeking to wean themselves from the communal power grid? British Columbians enjoy some of the lowest energy prices on the continent, and as a result, the financial incentive is practically non-existent. That said, real incentives do exist. We currently rely on importing some of our energy from polluting sources, and the province’s goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2016 depends on small hydro projects, whose effect on the environment is subject to debate, and includes coal and natural gas as fuel sources.

A few local energy pioneers make it clear that the answer involves experimenting with new ways to produce heat and electricity at home, and more importantly, making our homes less reliant on power of any kind in the first place.

A visit to the semi-rural Highlands area, just north of Victoria, provides an early glimpse of what alternative energy might look like one day in Vancouver. The nearly completed home of Gordon and Ann Baird sits on three acres. Within a cob structure of their own design, the Bairds are experimenting with future energy alternatives that are so novel that the couple have struggled to get local electrical and plumbing inspectors to recognize them as legal.

The floor is earthen, and the walls are made from an insulating mixture of straw, clay and sand. The family’s grey water is recycled, all rainwater is collected, and the composting toilet literally digests its own waste. Handling 85 per cent of the work themselves, the Bairds expect their home to cost $258,000 (including labour) by the time it is completed in May this year.

Yet these features are secondary to the combination of solar and wind energy technologies that have been incorporated into the design. For at least eight months a year, solar energy will power their appliances and heat their house and water. Twelve solar photovoltaic panels on their roof feed into an inverter, at which point a small battery bank ties in to the BC Hydro electrical grid.

The solar panel feeds the batteries until they are full, after which point the excess solar energy is fed to BC Hydro, which will buy any power the Bairds do not use as part of Hydro’s Net Metering program. During cloudy winter months, the couple will be able to draw on the BC hydro grid as they need to.
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