A case for decentralized residential rooftop solar: Opportunities and obstacles
Matthew Britt
Switch Energy, Canada
: Expert Opin Environ Biol
Abstract
We have an opportunity that is currently laying hidden beneath red tape, old rules and ways of doing things and potentially stranded assets. Decentralized residential rooftop solar provides a clear road map to meeting our growing energy demands while simultaneously reducing the demands on the existing energy grid. We know that the electrification of transportation is going to add tremendous stress to the current energy grid and that in order for us to be able to keep up with that growing demand we’ll need additional sources for energy supply. We need to look up to our roofs on our homes and capitalize on this currently vacant space. Every day, home owners are buying their first EV and beginning to experience the value that freedom from gasoline can provide yet their missing the value of being able to charge that EV with energy from the sun captured from a rooftop solar array on their own home. We at Switch Energy believe that it is the right of everyone to be able to produce their own energy taking advantage of solar energy systems. We’re also aware that costs of energy are going to continually increase with costs required to maintain and improve the current system as well as to refurbish the sources that supply our grid. With these rising costs we again believe now is the best time to start looking towards how do we get a power plant on the roof of every home across Canada in all major cities and then putting the strategy and execution plans in place to make that a reality. Switch Energy believes and we’ll help you to see this tremendous opportunity as well.
Biography
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Britt is an experienced entrepreneur who started several businesses prior to Switch Energy. Matthew's goal was always to be job free before his 30th birthday and that was successfully achieved at 29 years old when he resigned from being a personal trainer with GoodLife Fitness. After bringing a solar referral company called Powur to Canada in early 2017, Matt found that there was a need for home and business owners to take control of their energy from how it's made to where it comes from. This was one of the reasons why Switch was co-founded by Matt, and his connections really pulled through. Matt is the ultimate networking machine, and the guy who knows a guy, and another guy, and another guy... and another guy. Matt's vision and natural leadership have lead Switch Energy to where it is today and will guide it into the future. As CEO, Matt oversees all company operations alongside COO Forrest Vetter-Wilson and utilizes his connections to continually establish partnerships.
E-mail: matt@maketheswitch.ca
