Energy Revolutionary: Neighbourhood pioneers solar power

The plaque was given to Ron by Greenpeace for participating in its Solar Pioneers program in 1999. The aim then was to create a critical mass of homeowners to purchase solar photovoltaic systems to produce electricity in bulk to reduce costs. Ron heard about it on the radio and his interest was piqued.

At that time, he had recently had a life changing epiphany. His first child Fiona, now 13, was born, and it was her birth that made him "rediscover how very important the natural environment is and what we risk losing."

The Solar Pioneers was a modest project involving the installation of only a 200 watt system, enough to power just two 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. It was a simple supplementary system that would never recoup the initial investment, but Ron knew that it never pays to be on the cutting edge.

Nevertheless, he took exception to an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario of high end, futuristic technology presented as "triumphing over nature" to solve environmental problems. An artist himself, he responded with a multimedia show of his own. Its theme was that nothing would be solved without a change in core human values and people’s attitudes.  This led him to think about the practical application of those values. He then took a page out of the book of Greenpeace and resurrected the Solar Pioneer project but on a more ambitious scale.

His efforts were rewarded and earlier this year, the Riverdale Initiative for Solar Energy, www.ourpower.ca which he helped found, won the Green Toronto Award for Energy Conservation. It started by word of mouth, a couple of neighbours got involved, they told their friends about it, and in total, 180 households expressed interest. In the end, 70 households undertook site inspections to determine the suitability of their homes and 35 families eventually installed the solar panels.

Most were motivated by their concern for the environment and that for the east-enders included opposition to a proposed gas plant and new transmission lines in the neighbourhood. As well, says Ron, everyone is aware of global warming and the dire consequences predicted for the future. Moreover, he says, solar technology is improving “in leaps and bounds.”

To cut down on costs, a single system was chosen that could be reconfigured for different roofs and which could generate either one or two kilowatts of electricity. As his roof is quite small, Ron chose to install the smaller version and because of the bulk purchase, got a 20 per cent discount for a total investment of $10,000. The system is still supplementary requiring Ron to draw power from the provincial electrical grid. But on a sunny summer day (and Toronto has more sunny days than Miami even in winter) his metre runs backwards as he is producing more energy than he is consuming. In the evening the system shuts down and he draws from the grid.

“Our house has become in effect a power generating station,” says Ron. “We are banking electricity on the grid during the day and taking it back at night time.” His electricity bill has gone down by a third, and this system will eventually pay for itself.

But there is a much bigger payoff in Ron’s mind: “Instead of a mega plant that takes huge resources to build and run and which, if it fails, would cause a catastrophe, you have a decentralized system over thousands of roofs. That way if there is a breakdown, any blackouts are isolated. As well, you don’t have belching smokestacks or have to worry about storing radioactive waste.”

The Riverdale Initiative has spawned offspring in other neighbourhoods of Toronto and in other cities where solar seems to make a lot of sense at least to some, but not to the politicians. Such grassroots efforts contrast with the Ontario government’s current policy to spend over $40 billion to resuscitate the province aging nuclear power plants. Not only is this a poor investment in a dirty, and dangerous technology, but it leaves little left to invest in local power generation and conservation.

For solar to really take off, Ron believes big subsidies to the oil companies have to be stopped and the price of fossil fuels must reflect their true cost otherwise there is no incentive for people to conserve.

But for Fiona, a teenager with other interests, solar hasn’t made any difference to her life. She would much rather talk to her friends about boys and music than solar power, which so preoccupies her father. And he concedes that while solar power may change the world, his family’s standard of living hasn’t changed at all.

“We are just living like everyone else. We have a refrigerator; we have a computer; we have a TV.” Only the small brass plaque on the door and the panels, out of sight on the roof, tell the difference.