The May 22 Dunbar Neighbourhood Cafe will explore how more of us could benefit from increasing our use of clean renewable energy, such as the roof solar panels that generate electricity for this Dunbar home.
By Carol Volkart
Last summer, the 23 solar panels on the roof of Gary MacIsaac’s 1929 Dunbar home generated so much electricity that they supplied all his home and electric-vehicle needs, plus sent some extra to the grid.
For Dunbar residents facing heart-stopping gas-pump prices and other soaring fuel costs, MacIsaac’s venture is a glimpse into how they too may be able to tap into the growing future of clean renewable energy.
That will be a main topic at the May 22 Dunbar Neighbourhood Café, where two senior BC Utilities Commission officials will discuss, among other things, renewable energy and how residents can generate their own electricity, and even be compensated for any surpluses.
The Café will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, May 22, in Room 202 of the Dunbar Community Centre. Everyone is welcome.
MacIsaac, who wrote a Dunbar News story about the transition of his home and car away from fossil fuels and toward solar energy, has been instrumental in organizing this Café. He’s passionate about spreading the word to his neighbours that they too can make more use of the renewable energy that is getting progressively cheaper and easier to install and use.
He tracks with an eagle eye the latest news stories about the transformation of the energy world: the just-announced federal initiative to double electrification in this country; stories about the increased sales of electric vehicles, and the growing use of solar panels not just for roofs, but for balconies as well. It was MacIsaac who made sure that Vancouver City Council knew the highrises they were considering could cause shade problems that would reduce solar reliability.
“What are the consequences of this energy shift for the residents of British Columbia?” MacIsaac wrote in a Dunbar Mailist posting about the coming Café. “What are the impacts of local solar energy generation on the grid and the design of our neighbourhoods? How might neighbours participate in these moves to affordable clean energy and associated cost savings for home use and transportation?”
At the Café, BC Utilities Commission presenters Alex Baer and Charlene de Boer will discuss the role of renewable energy in the province’s supply mix, and how residents can produce their own electricity and earn compensation for surpluses sent to the grid. They’ll also explain the role of the commission, which among other things regulates public energy utilities like BC Hydro and FortisBC.
“I think it will be very useful for attendees to hear and understand what role the BC Utilities Commission plays in managing our energy systems in the province and the importance of their public hearings in providing a voice for members of the public—in an environment where at the civic level we see an erosion of public participation,” says MacIsaac.
He notes that since the Mideast war, there has been increased focus on the ways people can reduce the impact of skyrocketing fossil fuel costs —through heat pumps, EV adoption and solar PV additions, including balcony solar, which plays an expanding role in Europe and now in the U.S.
All of which raises the question of how B.C. will accommodate growth in electricity demand and added generation capacity.
“There have been claims made—generally on the Internet—that we need X number of Site C dams to support all of this electrification,” he says. “This is a question that can be discussed by our speakers who are closely involved in grid and capacity planning for the province. Attendees should come away with the actual facts about how the province and BC Hydro are addressing electricity demand and what this means for ratepayers and consumers of electricity.”
He concludes, as most energy discussions do, with a series of questions: “How can [balcony solar] be made readily available to neighbours in Vancouver? What are the community planning issues of widespread solar PV adoption? If solar energy access becomes a key resource in neighbourhoods, what does this mean for building shadowing, as now there is a measurable personal homeowner/renter energy cost to shading a solar PV site?
“I think there could be much discussion around these questions.”