Can renewable energy help us prepare for the next blackout?
Originally published September 09, 2015 at www.greatclimaterace.org.
The power in our apartment went out for about 24 hours during the recent blackouts in Vancouver as the result of that wacky windstorm. It was a pain to deal with and highlighted how fragile we all are in an age so dependent on electricity and increasingly impacted by a destabilized climate. The blackout reminded me of something I saw while out for a run about a year ago that has stuck in my head. It was a lawn sign that said, “Never Be Powerless Again”. The ad was for a company selling backup generators to large family homes in Toronto. The Toronto blackouts, the result of an ice storm, had left about a million people without electricity. This lawn sign used a clever play on words to sell on site electricity generation. What they were selling was empowerment. They were playing off people’s frustration from past experience and their fear of it happening again. This of course was particularly effective in an affluent neighbourhood where people were accustomed to feeling powerful and were eager to pay to ensure that wouldn’t change.
The ironic thing about relying on backup diesel generators is that homeowners would ultimately remain dependent of deliveries of diesel to their homes. The ice storm shut down all kinds of business like gas stations and made getting around the city very difficult. What crossed my mind at the time was that batteries and solar power would actually do much more to empower people when the grid goes down. You could store power in batteries and never have to store that nasty stuff in your home. You could also refill those batteries with solar power without relying on fuel delivery. Given that more extreme weather events are happening due to climate change it, stands to reason that reducing our dependence on fossil fuels would actually make all of us far more secure.
Solar power is increasingly becoming a tool for empowerment because costs for panels are more affordable. Now in Ontario panels pay for themselves quickly and then generate electricity for free for years to come. In BC we are blessed with inexpensive electricity thanks to an abundance of hydropower and a publicly-owned utility company with a mandate to keep prices low. Even still solar panels can pay for themselves. According to Vancouver-based solar company Novo Solar (a new sponsor for the Great Climate Race) solar installations can pay for themselves within the first 9–15 years of their 30–50 year lifespan. That is still a smart investment and banks like VanCity are offering homeowners loans to help cover upfront costs.
If you want to go off-grid, batteries can still be cost-prohibitive. Especially the lightweight and efficient lithium ion batteries. This is the challenge Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors is trying to address with his so-called GigaFactory. It’s a massive battery manufacturing facility that aims to drastically reduce the price of batteries in the same way mass manufacturing has reduced the per unit price of solar panels in recent years..
Many of us rent our homes and don’t have access to a lot of extra cash to buy solar panels and batteries or generators. The answer for many of us has been focusing on systemic change and pushing for better policies from our governments. Governments can definitely do a lot more to support local renewable energy technology and more resilient microgrids which are less vulnerable. We’re in a race against time to address climate change. I’m impatient waiting for governments and industry to change. It’s why I’m excited about the Great Climate Race. We organized this running event series to raise money for solar energy projects to be donated to local good causes.
Reducing or eliminating local non-profits’ electricity bills empowers them to free up funds to do more of what they do best: serve their communities. They can reallocate the funds for decades into the future and be more autonomous the next time the power goes out. Ultimately I’m excited about what it means in terms of giving thousands of people a first hand connection to renewable energy technology. I want everyone to have a sense of what is possible today. We don’t need to expand our dependence on fossil fuels, we can shrink it. In fact we can (and must) transition away from fossil fuels within our lifetime.
I personally am going to invest in a few small back up batteries and solar panels to go along with my candles mostly because I am addicted to my laptop and various devices. If you want to check out what technology is available these days you should check out the cool folks at Novo Solar. They are a sponsor of the Great Climate Race and they are publishing lots of cool stuff on their blog.
It’s good if we all are reminded how precious electricity is. Just like the water shortages have made us all more aware of our water consumption we are can do a lot more to reduce our energy consumption. This is all part of the new energy paradigm. I hope you can join us at the party and get involved in The Great Climate Race. Everyone has a role to play.
Originally published at www.greatclimaterace.org.
