Beam-catcher George Ingham is building a tower to the alternative energy cause.

TOWER OF POWER

BACK IN 1980, GEORGE INGHAM DESIGNED a solar-powered street light. It worked, but at roughly $10,000 versus $2,500 for a conventional light, its commercial prospects were dim. Ingham's street light hit the same hurdle that has kept solar power stumbling at the back of the energy race for decades: cost. But 14 years later, Ingham - electrical contractor, alternative energy booster and fulltime entrepreneur - says the time to harness the sun's energy has finally come.

Over the past two decades, Ingham maintains, advances in technology, environmental concerns and various government initiatives have combined to make solar energy affordable. In Germany and Japan, companies like Seimens and Hitachi are spending millions to research, sell and manufacture solar goods. Some office buildings in Frankfurt and Tokyo are clad with faux-marble photovoltaic (light-powered) panels, which heat the building and feed surplus energy back into existing electrical grids.

Enter Ingham, BCIT 's School of Electrical & Electronic Technology and a plan to make cloud-prone Vancouver a bright light on the alternative energy horizon. A 15-metre state-of-the-art solar tower is about to take root on the BCIT campus. It will incorporate solar panels and many of the same principles Ingham used for his street light. Besides producing energy, the tower will, in theory, become a model for an emerging industry: fitted with exact controls, it will allow contractors and architects to assess the solar potential of their own site or project. In building and designing it, BCIT and the province will develop a pool of skilled, solar-conscious, workers. And it will be a prototype for future commercial models.

The Electrical Contractors Association of B.C. has thrown $5,000 into the pot to get the project going; donations, including design assistance from Simon Fraser's faculty of engineering, labor and expertise from BCIT students, and material from sympathetic suppliers, are expected to round out the project's estimated $200,000 cost. Design is well underway, with construction expected to start by mid-summer.

"As a school, we want to be: as close to where the market is going as possible," says BCIT associate dean Dennis Duffy. "The technology is obviously going to have some effect in the future." For Ingham, building the tower is an opportunity to put B.C. on the solar map, guide the way to a cleaner future and make solar power as predictable as a light bulb. "It will provide a method where if someone says, 'We want to know what we'll get with this particular installation,' we can tell them. With absolute certainty."

For quotations and information, please contact us at:

United Power Ltd.
198 Pemberton Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. Canada V7P 2R5
Phone: (604)983-2819 Fax: (604)983-2869 Email: unitedpower@telus.net

Copyright 1998 United Power Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from United Power Ltd.