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| NEWSLETTER # 33,
MARCH 2004 |
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TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE
When we escaped to the open country my wife immediately made some life style changes. For one thing, she no longer used the power hungry clothes dryer and instead dried all of our laundry either on the clothesline or on an indoor rack. After two years of non-use, my wife sold the dryer. It was that initiative that started us on our way to seriously consider the investment. Like most people our research consisted of government information packages, product brochures, internet web sites, and we took part in a couple home tours that featured alternative energy life styles. The home tours were the most beneficial because they provided many examples of alternative energy life styles. It showed us that moving to alternative energy does not have to drastically change your life. There were a few homes where we could say; "hey we can do that".
 
When we finally decided that yes, this is something we can and should do, our approach was a little different than what most literature and guidelines suggested. Instead of looking at our current energy consumption to size up a system, we decided to purchase a relatively small system that we could expand as we moved more and more electrical circuits off the grid and onto our energy system. The supplier that we bought from, Solar Power Systems in Owen Sound, help to simplify this, because they had a starter system called P.O.P.S. Although we did not buy that particular system, we did use the base system as a starting point and made some upgrades here and there. Our original purchase consisted of the following primary components; three 85W solar panels, one 400W wind turbine, one 3KW sinewave inverter, and a 1900Ahr battery bank. During the first year this system powered our water pump, Entertainment center (TV, Satellite Dish, Stereo), and the lights & outlets for 25% of our home. During the second year, we moved more light & outlets onto our system and thus the majority of highly used circuits are now on solar & wind energy. Our 2001 income tax went to expanding our solar array by three more solar panels, bringing the total to six. This provides plenty of extra power to keep our batteries topped up and it is doubtful that we will need to expand beyond this. We're not completely off the hydro grid, but we can be fully self sufficient if need be. To further twist the rules of conformity, we've decided to maintain the hydro grid as a backup to our solar/wind system and we are now where we wanted to be. We have the peace of mind knowing we are independent of what happens to energy prices and that we are doing our part to minimize our ecological footprint (our personal impact on the planet). The fun didn't stop there. Our new outlook on things inspired us to build a home made solar water heater, revive an old cistern hand pump, and convert our 30 minute workout energy into re-usable electrical power. Who knows what the future life style changes are in store for us, but what ever it is, it will be dictated by ourselves. Reprint from Private Power Magazine (with permission)
- Sunday, May 16, 2004 - YMCA Outdoors Centre, Paradise Lake,
PLEASE register early for this exciting event!
PLEASE NOTE: $ 10 pre-registration mail deposit required by May 8, 2004
Going into our 8th year we are very encouraged seeing our efforts for awareness of the benefits of clean and safe renewable energy starting to pay off. It helps to draw comparison with other jurisdictions like Germany where wind and solar energy already is in widespread use, not just in large, but very much in small residential and co-operative installations. Of course there the big difference is the degree of government support. The coordinator was fortunate in bringing back valuable information after spending the Holiday Season with relatives there. Our display at the January Organic Conference at Guelph University was focus of great interest. With help of 2 of our board members, Andrea and Vitold, we were able to sign up several new members. The coordinator was happy to follow invitations to speak to students at the Cobourg Collegiate Institute and the Park Manor Secondary School in Elmira. He also made a repeat visit to Guelph University to present at the Environmental Symposium there in March. CFRE displayed at a number of events like the OntarBio AGM in Formosa, Green Party nomination meeting in Caledon East and the Environmental Forum in Owen Sound. We were unable to staff our prepaid display space at the Eco-Festival in Oakville early April because of a winterstorm blocking the roads.We had better luck at the Dandelion Festival in Waterloo and the Federation of Naturalists AGM in Port Elgin in May. Our own Annual General Meeting(AGM) and workshop at the YMCA Paradise Lake Outdoors Centre, last Sunday in May, was well attended and the presentations well received. Our previous board member Hans Albarda travelled by train all the way from Nova Scotia to give us his wisdom of off-grid living. At the afternoon business session members heard of CFRE's sound financial status and a motion was tabled to set aside a portion of the budget to cover long-term membership commitments. It was passed and has been acted on in the meantime. We were happy to have the commitment from all our board members to serve again for the next term. Our thanks goes to Vitold, Andrea, Charlie and George for their help and dedication! More than 18 months after applying, our distinct "Happy Face" logo was finally registered as a Trademark! It is not that we are a business but we wanted to protect it from duplication by other sources. At the invitation of the World Council for Renewable Energy(WCRE), headquartered in Germany,we joined as member organization # 172. CFRE also became a full member of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association. In early June Peter Nelson and George Wright staffed a CFRE display at the Health Canada Environment Fair in Ottawa while the coordinator attended the Great Lakes United(GLU) AGM in Sault St. Marie. We also had our second micro-hydro workshop thanks to our generous hosts at the Trick Creek Mill near Clinton. Bill and Thea Trick had gone through a lot of preparation to make the workshop a success, expressing their hope that small-scale hydro will once again produce a substantial amount of Ontario's clean energy as it did long ago. We also were invited to display at the Wind-Fall Eco- Festival in Newmarket, the Toronto Smog Summit and the IICPH Symposium on Childrens' Health at the University of Toronto. After a quieter month of July CFRE was present at the Stadtlander Farm Organic Feast in August and the coordinator attended the Solar Energy Society 3-day Conference in Kingston taking place just after the big Blackout! In September he was fortunate to have help from a German university student, Nina Harsch, who came as a volunteer and provided much needed computer and office assistance. She also accompanied him to the International Joint Commission(IJC) Biennial in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he presented a resolution on "Nuclear Installation Safety and Security",sponsored by CFRE, to the Commission at a public hearing. Nina also supported the coordinator making 2 submissions to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission(CNSC) in Ottawa on the licence renewal of Bruce Power's A&B generating stations. Following an invitation the coordinator debated the president of the Canadian Nuclear Association(CNA) in an event dealing with a comparison of Renewables versus Clean Nuclear generation at Mohawk College in Hamilton. And then CFRE had their impressive display at the Green Power Trade Show of the Independent Power Producers Conference at the Metro Convention Centre. With the great help from Andrew and JP we were able to promote CFRE's vision to a prominent audience. Our quarterly newsletters #29-32 went out on schedule and we prepared an update to our May 2001 publication ‘CFRE: You asked us', which is now available. The large-scale membership survey, which went out in September , gave us an indication that our work had made a difference in the decisions for conservation and renewable energy applications of many members. We were encouraged to see a 96% approval rating of our work and are going with new dedication and inspiration into the new year 2004!
Looking out over the heavily snowcovered landscape of the Bruce Peninsula I'm being told that ‘we are just having an old-fashioned winter'(but with much below normal temperatures!). Have we been spoiled by some mild winters previously or is this just part of the extremes, scientists are talking about when forecasting the effects of climate change? Whatever it is, it is putting a heavy strain on Ontario's infrastructure and will result in escalating costs to ratepayers and gradually will be felt on our tax bills, too. The snow and road conditions restricted travel to planned events. Getting ready for the Guelph Organic Conference and loading parcels into the trunk I took a heavy spill on the slippery ground, cancelling my participation in this great event. Being ever so lucky after all, a dedicated local CFRE member, Tina Chladny, took over. With the help of board members Andrea and Vitold and previous board member Cindy she ran a great show. Thanks to all of them for a great effort! I was able to make it to Toronto the following weekend for a strategizing session on "Greening Ontario's Energy Future". It was sponsored by the Ontario Environment Network's Energy Caucus to develop a policy paper to be submitted to the Energy Minister as part of the public consultation drive. I had to cancel a trip to the CNSC hearing in Ottawa in early February because of treacherous road conditions, but was able to present CFRE's submission via a telephone link. It dealt with financial guarantees in the event of an unanticipated early shutdown of the Bruce nuclear reactors. Bruce Power, a profitable private operator, wants Ontario Power Generation, who is near bankruptcy, to cover a considerable portion of the financial guarantee for the shutdown. We also had to cancel the Feb. 7 Ferndale Windturbine Tour because of a winterstorm warning. It is now rescheduled for Saturday, April 24, in conjunction with an Earth Day tour of off-grid houses in the area. And then there is our great AGM workshop in May on the horizon, with a number of inspiring presentations as shown in the draft agenda(front page).There will also be a beautiful prize to be won, a handknit rug from reused material donated by Thea Trick. So bring some extra cash and go for this marvellous prize!! The coordinator will be going on his annual trip to Germany for a ‘working' holiday during the month of March. There will be only limited contact available til April 1st. In the meantime let's hope for an early Spring to contradict Wiarton Willie!!!
QUOTABLES... Jocelyn Cox-Dixon, Grade 3, Frankland Community School, Toronto.
Barney McCaffrey's off-grid house went up in flames on Boxing Day last year. He lives with his wife and 4 children in the upper Ottawa valley near Wilno. Their house had no electricity, running water or telephone. All their belongings were lost. We call on our members to help them rebuild - this time with electicity from the sun! Please send donations to the McCaffrey Rebuilding Fund, Box, 310, Killaloe, ON. K0J 2A0. For more info call Ish Theilheimer, 613-757-2004.
ANNOUNCEMENTWind-World / Solar-World Seminar
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![[House]](news33didhos.jpg)
My wife and I recently moved from Toronto to live further North on the Bruce Peninsula where we have a small farm on 6 acres. Living a self-sustained life has been a dream of ours for many years, but the grasp of conformity of living in the big city was something that always kept that dream an obscurity. Our reasons for wanting to pursue alternative energy was two fold, first we wanted to do our part in reducing energy demands thus reducing green house gases, and secondly, we wanted to eliminate our dependency on the government run, then privately run, then back to government subsidized-privately run hydro infrastructure.