Wow, we are over the moon!
When you live (or host guest experiences) off-the-grid and on Solar Power, you quickly learn the impact of almost every decision related to your energy consumption.
Over the years, we’ve carefully considered each and every upgrade we’ve made to the Edge, knowing that we were inching towards more and more power use but recognizing that those decisions were being made to create better guest experiences. From adding on Dreamer’s Hill, our log cabin with 5 guest bedrooms and private en-suite showers, to adding lights and electricity to our Canopy Cabins. We installed beautiful fans and sound systems in Radiance, and even put motion-activated lanterns for guests walking up or down the hill at night. Each and every one of these decisions was made with great intention, and with calculations about our energy conservation. The most energy-efficient light bulbs, fans, sound systems, and more were chosen – sometimes at high cost – because at the end of the day even an ounce of saved power is worth it.
Every day, there are leaps and bounds in technological advancement – and it is wonderful! When you live on solar power, however, you know these new features and increased conveniences often come at the cost of increased energy consumption. There have been a few standout improvements over the years: LED lightbulbs, for example, have come very far in the last twenty years and switching out for the latest models has been tremendously helpful. Our new fans in Radiance are an outstandingly efficient model, especially compared to the rest of the fans that are available. The drawer-refrigerator in Points North, where we leave milk and cream and have space for guests’ to store their personal snacks, is incredibly well-insulated – meaning it doesn’t need as much power to keep cool.
This June, we completed a technical upgrade that blows the socks off of all of these improvements:
We’ve added on some newer models of solar panels, and replaced our battery.
Our new system features 32 panels producing up to 17.5 kW of power. Before this upgrade we had about 4kW produced by 14 panels. In addition to producing more power, the new panels even produce power on cloudy days! Although not as much power as full sun, our capacity to produce power even when it’s raining is mind-blowing. Our new inverter outputs 14.4 kW compared to the 4kW max output of our previous system. Fully charged, our new Lithium Ion batteries will store 800 amp hours of power at 48 volts. Stunning.
While we will continue to encourage our guests to walk lightly, expanding awareness of eco-conscious and power-saving practices and the value of unplugging, this does mean we can all appreciate longer showers and our guests are much less likely to hear the back-up generator kick on when it is cloudy or dark. Wahoo! Less generator time is a win-win-win.
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Just wondering if there are any shamanic retreats happening any more and if not why these were discontinued? Also we used to get invitations for alumni to pay-as-you can weekends or e.g. solstice celebrations ( as well as to conference calls) and these too seem to have been discontinued ( unless I am mistakenly not on that type of mailing list). Thanks for any clarification you wish to provide.