by
Jillian Dickens
The Westerly News
Dec. 1, 2004
The presentation on BC Hydro's triple bottom line: a balance of environmental, economical, and social implications, inspired Gord Johns of Tofino's Fiber Options to engage some energy saving initiatives.
Up-front, these initiatives are going to cost him money, but in the end they will save both money and energy - which he says is socially important. Johns calls this "Fiber Options' triple bottom line."
A BC Hydro representative was at the Raincoast Interpretive Centre to talk about how the company plans to meet future energy demand with supply, green energy, and initiatives for businesses and residents to climb aboard the energy-saving bandwagon.
One avenue is through Green Power Certificates (GPC's). Businesses buy GPCs to ensure that BC Hydro buys green power from green independent power producers (using generation methods such as wind or solar energy). According to BC Hydro, purchasing one 50-megawatt-hour GPC will provide green power to five average homes per year - the equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions of removing five cars from the road per year. On average, the rate for regular power is six cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh); when purchasing GPCs you pay two cents more per kWh. One GPC is 50,000 kWhs and costs $20.
"I first heard that residents in the Netherlands or Germany could pay more for green power, and over 50% of the people did it to support it," said Johns. "In turn the government funded green energy projects. After some time, green energy became as cheap, maybe cheaper, to produce. So it was really exciting to hear at the talk that BC Hydro had a similar opportunity for business customers."
Johns says that the GPC program will cost $1,000 more for the business per year in hydro bills, but he thinks it's worth it.
"I hope that someday wave, tidal and wind energy will be our power supply alternatives on the West Coast. For that I am willing to pay more," said Johns.
Another BC Hydro initiative that Johns has adopted is special LED Christmas lights that use 95% less energy than regular Christmas lights. Because less heat is produced, fire risks are minimal. The new lights cost about $12 per string of 70 lights ($18 for blue or white). BU Hydro offers a mail-in rebate of $3 per string to their customers, for up to three strings.
Johns already has his lights bought and strung up around the store.
"Anything we can do to reduce power and support green energy, we ar committed to," he said. "Plus, the LED lights are a major money-saver on the hydro bill."
One other business initiative Johns is revved up about has nothing to do with BC Hydro, but is in keeping with reducing waste of any kind. This is the use of 100% biodegradable bags.
Fiber Options did try to re-use bags that people would drop off at the store, but it was too random and too few bags were brought in. So the business went back to handing out regular, non-biodegradable bags. But now he's onto "bio-bags". These bags are more expensive for the business, but have the advantage that they completely degrade when triggered by heat and UV light. This degradation is enhanced by mechanical stress and moisture.
According to data released from the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 on US plastic bag, sack and wrap consumption, somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
Johns says anything that can be done to reduce that number, or get the bags out of the landfill, is a step forward that his business, and hopefully many more businesses, should do.
Information on BC
Hydro's Triple Bottom Line is on the web at www.bchydro.com. More info
on the bio-bags and other eco-friendly choices Fiber Options has made
can be found by calling the store.
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