Michael Pastore dreams of the day his hydro meter will start running backwards. For the last two years, Pastore and his wife have been working evenings, weekends and holidays to transform their house into an energy-efficient home. Soon, Pastore says, that will include solar.
“My wife and I are committed to it,” he says. “We’re both staunchly anti-nuclear.” Once they’re conserving as much as possible, the couple is eager to “go to the next step.” That will take their Toronto two-storey from a pleasant downtown renovation to a model of the solar home of the future. At least, the solar home that is most likely to become common as the prices of natural gas, oil and electricity continue to rise.
First on Pastore’s wish list are roof-top photovoltaic (solar) panels. Decent panels cost about $1,200 each, and a satisfactory system for a typical Canadian house will come with a price tag of $12,000 to $20,000, according to Tyler Moore, CEO of Permanent Power Solutions, a solar and wind company based in Woodstock, Ont. The panels will power the hot-water heater, fridge and compact fluorescent lights. The house has an unobstructed roof and exposed south-facing wall on the second storey, which also make it a good candidate for a new solar unit that will reduce heating costs.
In Canada, space heating is the single biggest use of energy in a house, by far (59.3 percent). Pastore has his eye on a simple system called the RA 240 Solar Max, manufactured in Newfoundland by Cansolair. The 2.6-square-metre unit is available from numerous companies, including Enviro-Energy Technologies Inc. in Markham, Ont., for about $2,600. Mounted on a south-facing wall, it can heat 93 square metres (1,000 square feet) with just 15 minutes of sunlight per hour. These inexpensive systems don’t burn anything and won’t end up pumping carbon monoxide into the basement.
Green Living Network
