The Sunshine Coast’s SPCA branch is now even more energy efficient, thanks to the Sunshine Coast Community Solar Association, two summer students and community funding — including the fundraising done by 12-year-old Cody Kelso.
Emma Fischer of the University of British Columbia and Graham Atkinson of the University of Victoria are spending most of their summer working with the Sunshine Coast Community Solar Association. This month, the two summer students funded through the Canada Summer Jobs program helped install the SPCA’s new heat pump. On the roof of the building — not far from the solar array installed last August — are the 32 vacuum tubes of the solar thermal grid.
(Besides this installation, the students are conducting an energy audit of the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s buildings.)
As he was given a tour of the new equipment on July 21, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country’s Member of Parliament, Patrick Weiler, said such a project is “exactly what Canada Summer Jobs is about.”
The SCCSA’s board chair Gordon Bishop and director Gerry Pageau proudly showed Weiler how the system works, and shared their thoughts on energy policy, “arbitrary” restrictions, and how to reduce barriers to available benefit programs.
The heat pump is 300 per cent efficient and will chop the SPCA’s cost of power consumption by at least 50 per cent, Bishop said. The boiler previously used on site to heat domestic water is gone and, with it, half of the facility’s use of natural gas. Soon, the SCCSA hopes to be able to collect data from the solar units to analyze the generation and power consumption. They’d also like to replace the remaining floor heating system with a renewable energy option.
“We eliminated their hydro [bill] last year, and we have now cut their natural gas in half,” Pageau told Weiler.
When asked what he thought of the install, Weiler said, “I’d love to see more of this on the Sunshine Coast.”
“It’s a game changer [for the SPCA] because now they’re not paying for electricity,” Weiler said. “For an organization that does such tremendous work, and especially given the amount of animals that are being orphaned these days, I think we have to do everything we can to support, particularly with the shortage of veterinarians. So I think it's fantastic that this work’s been installed, the fundraising that was done by Cody and Megan, and just all the people that came together to support a really well-loved organization.”
Weiler also asked the two men about their thoughts on the federal government’s support programs for residential retrofits. There’s the $5,000 greenhouse grant launched last year and the green homes loan, a $40,000 no-interest loan. Both shared the restrictions and limitations for homes with baseboard heating, the requirement and cost of an audit and shortage of certified contractors. Weiler thanked them for their feedback.
Funding for the new heat pump system came from the Credit Union and Community Forests — and a pre-teen.
Cody Kelso, now 12 years old, is the youngest member of the SCCSA. In 2021, he raised more than $33,000 by walking the length of the lower Sunshine Coast. More than $20,000 of those funds went towards the new solar panel array on the Sunshine Coast SPCA branch (the rest of the donations went to the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association’s Cool It program for children).
“When Megan and Cody got on board [and] said, ‘We can do some fundraising,’ that opened up this door,” Bishop said.
During Weiler’s visit to the SPCA, the MP heard about Kelso’s most recent environmentally-minded fundraiser. In April this year, Kelso and his mother Megan spent 100 hours in a scissor lift and raised $5,201.34 for an energy upgrade project for the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse. The Gibsons Rotary Club pitched in an additional $3,000 and the Credit Union awarded a grant, bringing the total funds up to $12,771.34, Megan Kelso told Coast Reporter. (Another $4,778.66 from the scissor lift fundraiser went to the Nature Trust of BC.)
“That’s impressive,” Weiler told Kelso. “Keep up the good work.”
The next project on the SCCSA’s radar is upgrading the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse stage lighting and heating/air conditioning system. A new heat pump for the Playhouse, Pageau told Weiler, could cut A/C costs in half and replace multiple pieces of aging equipment with one unit.
Pageau said that project is estimated to cost $40,000. The current funding has made a dent, but more donations are needed (and can be directly sent to the Heritage Playhouse).
“I think it’s really cool that everything’s going as planned and everything’s working out,” Cody said.
