With greater emphasis being placed on green technology, an Augusta Township company is focused on providing renewable energy products for home comfort and reducing electricity costs.

Susie and Greg Kinghorn, proprietors of Nature’s Powers, know the value of the products they sell because they have them in operation in their own home and adjacent shop building. Using solar and wind power, the Kinghorns have reduced what they spend on electricity and fossil fuels while providing heat and power to their business and residence.

Being involved in providing home comfort products is not new for the couple. Susie Kinghorn operated Susair Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning for seven years. Greg, who assisted with that business, had also operated a flooring installation enterprise for over 25 years before they merged the two operations into G&S Kinghorn Enterprises in 2003, and opening Nature’s Powers in 2005.

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This shift to renewable “green” alternatives was taken by the Kinghorns in part because of the growing interest in renewable energies. The Kinghorns have been attending seminars in renewable energies regularly since starting Nature’s Powers.

“Our current business is just a natural extension to what I was doing previously,” said Susie Kinghorn.
At their rural home on Hall Road east of North Augusta, the couple has installed and operates several examples of renewable energy equipment. They have a one kilowatt Lakota wind generator on a 75-foot high tilt tower. On their shop roof, is a 1,664-watt generating solar Photovoltaic system with a 7,000-watt Outback Grid Tied inverter. The shop also has a 90 Apricus Vacuum Tubes for creating solar hot water. This system is tied to in-floor heating in the shop, heating for the house, hot tub water heating and domestic hot water demands.

“It is a supplemental heating system and the amount of heat generated depends on the outside temperature and the amount of sun,” said Greg Kinghorn.
But he has found that under good conditions, the system will easily provide comfortable temperatures in his 1,500-square-foot shop “instead of having to fire up the fireplace.”

Much of the Nature’s Powers system at the Kinghorn’s business and residence is tied to a net metering arrangement with Hydro One. A bi-directional meter calculates the electricity consumption of the Kinghorn operation, and also the amount of power being produced by their energy equipment.
“We pay the difference between the electricity we use and the power we produce,” said Susie Kinghorn.
Through the various systems, the Kinghorns estimate they pay about half of the normal cost of power.

All of the systems offered by Nature’s Powers have been installed and are maintained by the Kinghorns. They have been certified by several manufacturers for the installation of renewable energy products .

Nature’s Powers also can install an “off-grid” power generation system using solar, wind-generated or geothermal (groundwater) systems. These systems are not connected to the Ontario Hydro power transmission systems. They are ideal for remote residential properties, including cottages, where the cost of installing poles and power lines is prohibitive.

An off-grid generation system may also be advantageous to a couple nearing retirement who must consider living on a fixed income in the future.
“Like any good mechanical system, you pay more up front but will pay less for power over the long term,” said Greg Kinghorn.
Any of the renewable energy systems will pay for themselves in power cost savings within a decade according to the Kinghorns.

The couple is also enthused about their current development of a 10-kilowatt Microfit System in which they will be paid by Hydro One for the generation of power from solar panels. The Kinghorns have installed four pole-mounteds, with 12 solar panels to collect sunlight and produce electricity. Through a contract with the Ontario Power Authority, the Kinghorns will be part of the Feed In Tariff (FIT) program and be paid 80.2-cents for each kilowatt hour they sell back to Ontario Hydro. They anticipate once they have paid off the capital costs of the system and they will earn approximately $10,000 per year from power they sell to Ontario Hydro.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for anyone wanting to invest in renewable energies, particularly in solar in Ontario,” said Susie Kinghorn.
More information about Nature’s Powers is available on their business website at www.naturespowers.ca or by calling Susie or Greg Kinghorn at 926-5500.