Whale Huys Oceanside Eco Villa Goes Solar
Our mission at Whale Huys Oceanside Eco Villa, in De Kelders just outside Gansbaai, is to run our business in harmony with nature. To do so we explored all we could do to reduce our negative impact on the environment. At the same time, as luxury accommodation, we did not want to compromise on comfort and reliability.
Some of the steps we took to go solar are easier than you might think and provide other benefits, such as not being affected by load-shedding and power outages.
We did quite a bit of research before we took the different steps and decided to share our experience.
Solar geysers are by far the best first investment in solar
• The heat is used directly, rather than being converted into electricity
• The electric backup heating element ensures guests don't run out of hot water even on cloudy days
• They usually have a payback time of less than a year
Energy efficiency is a good place to start
• We replaced all the lighting with LED (6-watt LED bulb gives the equivalent amount of light to a 60-watt bulb)
• We opted for A-grade appliances whenever anything needed to be replaced.
Solar panels have dropped in price
• In the past installing solar panels on a roof with northern exposure was almost essential, now it is viable to have panels on east and west-facing roofs as this balances the loads evenly.
Battery storage allows you to avoid load-shedding
• Batteries are still the big-ticket item, and it extends your pay-back time considerably
• Battery storage means our guests won’t experience load-shedding and power outages if they don't run heavy appliances during downtime.
• We also opted to remain tied to the grid, this means that we don't have to worry about our batteries running empty when heavy use appliances (like heaters) are used
Smart homes come with an APP
• Modern systems come with a convenient App so you can monitor your consumption and production in real-time.
If you have a home or guesthouse you would like to turn into an eco-friendly living space contact Whale Huys Oceanfront Eco Villa for a few friendly tips and some sunny solar advice.
