You Cannot Afford Alternative Energy – Or Can You?
By Peter Ronald – BCSEA
A recent Vancouver Sun story, featuring quotes from me as a BCSEA spokesperson, ran under the headline “Few B.C. homeowners eager to convert to solar electricity.”
The Victoria Times Colonist also ran the story under the headline “Alternate energy too expensive.” Ouch! You better believe I heard about it.
There is a line between journalism and public relations – or there should be. Similarly, we hope for a line between science and propaganda, and even between educated opinion and blog-speculation.
However, in the mainstream media, where much of the battle goes on for the hearts and minds of consumers and voters, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish these different forms of discourse.
Compounding the challenge are the media gatekeepers to these critical conversations: the reporters, editors and headline writers. Even when faithfully relating two-sides of a story, often what reaches the page or airwaves is, to quote a phrase, “all the news that fits.”
“Of course renewable energy is affordable,” I exclaimed, upon seeing the story in print, “in more ways than one!”
The reporter’s angle was a news release from TD Canada Trust about the slow take-up of solar photo-voltaic (PV) systems in Canada, and how TD’s financing services can help with that.
Was this news or marketing? In the reporter’s hands, it was a bit of both – compounded by an unfortunate headline.
The Ontario government’s recent green energy policy innovations are shaking up the market for small-scale renewable energy systems, making them very affordable. The situation in BC is very different however, both from Ontario and other North American jurisdictions.
In the news story, I stated the inconvenient truth that BC’s grid-delivered hydroelectricity is too cheap to justify many of us stepping up to install PV systems. Our clean, renewable, low-cost, publicly owned hydropower is the envy of the world. For now, in BC, the market for PV systems is primarily for off-grid and specialty applications.
Not so with solar thermal (hot water) or heat pumps and geothermal systems, I pointed out to the reporter. These are cost-effective and extremely well suited to BC homes. And regardless of one’s reasons for wanting to generate one’s own electricity, the conversation needs to start with reducing demand – with energy efficiency.
None of these comments made it into the final story.
The story also featured quotes from a renewable energy entrepreneur, correcting some of the commonly held misconceptions that he encounters in his efforts to sell solar electric systems to people who actually need them and can make an economic case for their investment.
Today, in the midst of shifts in both conventional and alternative energy costs (oil and gas going up; solar pricing coming down), and in the context of government policy innovations that could act to incent small scale renewable energy (see the story on BC’s proposed Feed-In Tariff), the economics of renewable energy systems are changing. Carbon pricing and technical innovation will accelerate this trend. Until these changes are real, however, the facts remain the facts.
BCSEA hosts monthly meetings in many communities. We offer a monthly webinar to share information and respond to questions and ideas from members and others. We maintain a news-feed and a discussion listserv on these topics. Everyone is welcome to participate in these conversations.
You can always count on BCSEA to give you informed and referenced information, as factually as possible. We exist to serve the public interest in transitioning British Columbia to a sustainable energy future. The better and more accurate the public information, the sooner we will get there.
Original Story on BC Sustainable Energy Association