It’s been several years since I wrote a post on this site, but interestingly, I still get a substantial number of views. While I haven’t updated much, I have kept this site active and free of ads and plan to continue this practice. I also wish to get active again and start a YouTube channel to continue to bring interesting eco homes, ideas and product information.
Getting back into the site has awaken some of my beliefs that I take for granted. This is knowing what is in foods as well as sprayed onto them. Also health and exercise, chemicals, etc. I will expand these posts but also include more info on eco friendly tips, products and homes.
If you know this site, a few years ago, my husband Mark and I spent considerable time touring Western Canada and the US, interviewing homeowners who had installed or built eco-friendly elements in their homes with this in mind.
While we did a great job with the log home project, we also attempted to install solar panels in a rental property as well as our next home. To be honest, this was not successful. The problem is that the government runs an electricity grid that supplies our city (Calgary) and the province with electricity on demand. Solar panels are not consistent, as they produce varying amounts of power. I believe this is common for most cities.
So, to supply our electricity, we still have to pay for grid services and all of the city and government fees. Although the cost of electricity is very low, other fees are added to it. What it meant is that it was costly to have the panels. Eventually, we sold the properties with installed panels but found that the new homeowners eventually took them down.
I had this dream that if everyone had panels on their roofs, there could be real change, but practically, this wouldn’t work as the electricity grid wouldn’t be able to keep up with inconsistent power. So, the best way was to go off-grid and have a battery backup. It’s not great for city living and is not likely to change in the short term.
Mark and I continue to dream and haven’t given up our eco dreams. Our city home is currently for sale, and we’re unsure where our next home will be. We hope for a small acreage to build our eco-home using the years of built-up knowledge. Meanwhile, I am figuring out the best way to publish both here and on YouTube so stay tuned!
