Peter Robinson and Elena Westers

"We really wanted to reduce our carbon footprint. What clinched the decision for us, was putting on a documentary showing of the film FUEL with the local chapter of the BC Sustainable Energy Association," says Peter.

"And also attending the Fresh Outlook Foundation’s REEL CHANGE Sustainability Film Fest. After watching all those documentaries, we really felt like we could not delay making this decision any longer, and that we had to do whatever we could to reduce our carbon footprint as soon as possible. It’s just as well watching those documentaries and agreeing with everything, but now it’s time to actually do something about it. And although we grow a lot of our own organic food, installing solar hot water is also a great thing to do right now. Later we will hopefully get an electric car, or be able to buy environmentally-friendly biofuels for our car."

Peter is a Community Energy Planner with the Community Energy Association in BC. Peter works with local governments in BC advising them on energy sustainability matters, including helping them to install solar hot water systems on their own buildings. Peter has considerable prior UK work experience in sustainable energy, and a Master of Science degree in Renewable Energy and the Environment from the University of Reading (UK) with a Distinction and an award for best presentation in the year group. Peter also volunteers with the local chapter of the BC Sustainable Energy Association.

Elana's consultancy company, Sustainworks Ventures, offers project coordination services for local businesses with an environmental focus. Elana has a degree in Sustainable Product Design from the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in the UK, work experience in the renewable energy sector as a project manager, and as an events coordinator for the UK’s largest solar photovoltaic installation company, Solarcentury. Elana is currently the project manager for the Okanagan-Kootenay Solar Project; a partnership initiative by Tigress Ventures, FortisBC and NRCan to provide incentives for the installation of solar hot water panels on single-family homes. Elana is also a passionate local food advocate and is part of the Central Okanagan Healthy Food Council. She is currently teaching courses on producing sustainable local food and writes about her passion for cooking on her blog ‘Garden to Ganache’.