The roof of the Fernie Fox Hotel is now home to 137 solar panels in what is a $104,000 investment in green energy, in a bid to become British Columbia’s most sustainable hotel.
Owner of the hotel, Jeremiah Pauw said the panels passed inspection and were all good to go as of Dec. 6.
“I really think it’s our responsibility to do as much as we can to fight climate change,” he said.
“”I’m able to do it, so I should do it.”
The 62.4KW system on the hotel provides enough power to run the entire hotel during slow periods.
”All the energy we don’t use during the day will go back into the grid,” said Pauw.
He said he hoped that the system would be able to provide on average about 45 percent of the hotels power needs on a day-to-day basis.
The Fernie Fox Hotel has 43 rooms and an outdoor hot-tub. The new solar array on the roof and facade of the building it set to be one of the largest on a commercial building in the province.
The Fernie Fox hotel already has two electric car chargers on site for guests, and Pauw himself likes to hum around town in a Tesla Model 3.
Pauw said the hotel is leaning into its sustainable environmental policy, and they intended to be fully sustainable by 2025.
“Our goal it to provide our guests with a net-zero stay when they choose the Fox.”
The panels were installed by Edmonton-based company, Dandelion Renewables, which has worked on projects throughout British Columbia and Alberta.
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scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
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