No more electric bills for couple

A Longview couple hasn’t had to pay a single gas or electricity bill since they built their home over a year ago, and likely never will.

Kirk and Ann Davis heat and power their 1,536-square-foot bungalow using 50 solar panels that produce energy from the sun’s rays.

The solar panels not only produced enough energy to operate the couple’s lights, appliances, heat and electric car over the last year, but created an additional 5.5 megawatts of power worth about $800, said Kirk.

“It’s nice to have a house that I know going forward I don’t have to worry about the energy bill,” he said. “It’s nice to know you are being sustainable. It feels good.”

The couple designed the house to be as energy-efficient as possible. This included installing LED lights, purchasing high-efficiency appliances and low-flow toilets and heating the home with electric water heaters and their water with an electric boiler, rather than using natural gas.

“To use natural gas you have to pay $50 a month just to have it hooked up,” Kirk said. “It was important for us to move forward in the sense of proving that it works.”

The couple’s exterior walls were built with magnesium oxide boards, which serve as an air-tight insulation barrier that is water, fire and mould resistant.

The couple had their eaves troughs constructed to allow the sun to shine into their south-facing windows during the colder months and block it from shining in the windows in the hottest months when the sun is positioned higher.

While Kirk is sure the investment he paid into these green initiatives exceeds that of a typical home, he said it’s worth it considering the resulting minimal carbon footprint.

As for the solar panels, which cost the couple $40,000, Kirk said they increase the value of the home and prevent the expense of having to pay another electric and gas bill.

“The return on investment will take about 14 years, but that’s a pretty good investment in today’s terms,” he said.

Kirk said the solar panels come with a 25-year warranty, but are still good years later.

“At 25 years they will be about 85 per cent efficient,” he said. “The panels only lose 10 to 15 per cent efficiency after 25 years as they lose their ability to produce power slowly.”

Kirk said he wants to see more Foothills residents install solar panels on their roofs and find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, yet he finds many are fearful of the initial cost to purchase solar panels and that they assume they have to change their lifestyle to make it work.

“People think it’s so complex, but it’s so easy,” he said. “There is nothing we really do differently. They sit on the roof, collect power and you use it.”

The idea of going green began when the Davises built their previous home in High River and decided to invest in solar panels to reduce their energy costs.

“It started out sort of as a little bit of a hobby and the more I got into it the more it made sense,” he said.

The government bought out the Davis’ home following the 2013 flood due to it being located in the flood plane.

The house was not damaged in the flood and they were able to transport their solar panels to their new Longview home.

The move to Longview was an opportunity for the Davises to put their green initiatives into full force and they hope others will follow their lead.

“I want more people to be interested and get the conversation going on the subject,” said Kirk. “You have to make that financial commitment, but that carries on with the value of the house.

“It’s more tangible than if you spent $40,000 on granite countertops and hardwood flooring instead of laminate, those sorts of things.”