Rob Steves
2008-02-26 by RobIf you’d like to contact me privately, you may do so by email at rob (at) iwilltry.org.
Who am I?
I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I’m an electrical and mechanical engineer by trade. I’ve been pondering the issue of global climate change for a long time. It’s easy to feel like the situation is hopeless. After all, what can any one individual do? If I reduce my impact to zero, it will still not have any significant effect on a global scale. Clearly many people must act together to make a difference. I created this website to help inform and inspire people.
There are so many simple things people can do to reduce their impact and save money if only they know what to do. The hardest part is getting the word out. If you influence just one other person to reduce their impact then you have doubled any effect that you might have alone. If they in turn influence someone else… you get the idea.
I really enjoyed reading about your stove, in fact so much i built one very similar to yours and it works great . i am planning on making another with a bigger tube and i will try to get it to burn wood pellets i want to thank you for inspiring me to do this. will let you know how new project comes out dave
Hi Rob,
Would be interested to get your views on the recent Smart Meter deployment in BC
and whether it would impact the electrical vs natural gas cost argument going forward.
This winter I am using electrical heating as a test, turning down the natural gas thermostat.
Using oil space heaters for certain rooms. Thanks!
Hi Joe,
I am hugely in favor of the Smart Meter program in BC, primarily for environmental reasons. It will make everyone more aware of their energy usage which will result in people using less. It is also a step towards time of day billing which will even out energy use throughout the day and reduce peak demand which means less power plants needed to produce more energy overall. That makes it cheaper for BC hydro to produce the energy and *hopefully* their savings will get passed on to the end user.
In my opinion concerns about health risks are completely unfounded. Cell phones are much worse. I don’t get people’s privacy concerns either.
Switching from natural gas to electric space heating is currently only cost effective if you have an old inefficient gas furnace. If your gas furnace is 80% efficient or better, it’s probably cheaper to stick with it. I don’t think that’s likely to change as a result of Smart Meters.