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March 13, 2008

Fairchild TV's Hwo discovers Power Smart's not just a photo opp

Kerry Gold
For bchydro.com

Winnie Hwo doesn't hesitate to admit that her initial motive for getting involved with Team Power Smart was one of professional obligation. However, it didn't take long for Fairchild TV's news and current events director to become a convert.

"[BC Hydro] asked me, and I said, 'Sure, it sounds fun and it's nothing that would be against my life principles,'" says Hwo, laughing. "It was one of these corporate obligations we have to do, that was the mentality.

"I was extremely skeptical because we were all invited to [Power Smart captain] Steve Nash's sports centre in downtown Vancouver for a function with Gordon Campbell, and I went there with a smiley face and all prepared for a photo opp," she admits. "But I came back with a big surprise, because they wanted us to participate."

Ms. Hwo, about your fireplace...

When Power Smart leader Brent Billey performed an energy audit on Hwo's house for more than three hours, she realized that energy conservation is more than switching out light bulbs.

She discovered that her gas fireplace was the biggest source of heat loss, and she has plans to have her carpenter build a shutter to close it off. She discovered the gaps in windows and under doors where cold air was getting in. And then there were the light bulbs that Billey replaced throughout her house with CFLs.

"I told Brent that I absolutely hate that light bulb in my kitchen," she says. "It took me about a month, and now I'm used to it to the extent that I don't notice the difference now," she says. "I'm going to give myself another month and I am thinking I should change the other two warm light bulbs to match the one that's Power Smart. So it's definitely working on me."

Team Power Smart – and beyond!

With the high price of gasoline, Hwo is even thinking of switching to a fuel-efficient car in the next couple of years – all because of the Power Smart visit. It's a drastic change for a woman who once matched her house paint to her old-fashioned light bulbs.

"It [the energy audit] was fabulous," she says. "It was a lot more detail than I expected, and I am really taking this involvement very seriously now."

Hwo even took the lessons she learned with her to work. She realized that the women's washroom lights and fan were constantly running, even when empty, so she made a point of turning off the switches before she left the room. She encouraged others to follow suit, and says that about 70 per cent of her fellow female employees have caught on.

Last in the family to go green

Her husband Joseph Chow and 11-year-old son Christian appreciated the newly enlightened Hwo, because they'd already been practising conservation and had long been trying to encourage her to join them.

"My husband reminds me that he's already been green a lot earlier than me," she laughs. "He kept reminding us that he's totally against waste, and it's just that I did not think it was an important thing.

"And now he's looking at me with this cynical look, like, 'Well, what did I tell you? Why is it when I tell you, you don't do it?'

"And [my son] had been nagging me for a long time because I'm really big on taking hot baths," she says.

Guilty pleasure? Time in the tub

Hwo spends a lot of time soaking in a hot tub – twice a day, in fact. It is her biggest energy conservation vice.

"I'm seriously thinking about this. I could go for walks, go hiking, do more exercise, and be serious with my tennis lessons, and those things could actually relax my muscles without me just soaking myself in hot water," says Hwo. "So instead of two a day I'll take one a day. That would work."

She might even take a bath on the days when she doesn't shower, she considers. She is determined to change her ways not just for herself, but for her son.

"It's actually all for him, because I wanted him to really believe it, because for me, I grew up most of my life not being conscious about this at all, so I'm just learning about this in my middle age.

"Because he's growing up with this, I think it's very positive."

Power Smart is wallet smart

To think, it was something so simple that led to her first 'ah-hah' moment. She had an epiphany when she realized that she could conserve energy by not leaving her cell phone plugged in after it had finished charging.

"That was the first time when I seriously stopped and thought, 'Maybe I'm doing the right thing – maybe it's not just a photo opp," says Hwo.

The importance of being Power Smart, she has realized, is twofold.

"In my own family unit, when you're Power Smart, it translates into wallet smart, so why not do that if you actually have more cash to do more fun things? That's one thing.

"And if everybody does that, then we're saving big money. When I look at the government, if we actually do this, then maybe there will be more money in the government coffers to do things that actually will benefit our lives. One day if this could translate into more money for health care, for preventive measures for other problems we face today in our society, I'm all for that.

"With Chinese culture, we're very practical and one of the things we constantly think is if you're doing this, you're definitely not hurting anybody – but on the upside, you're also benefiting yourself and other people. So the math simply makes sense."

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Kerry Gold is a Vancouver-based freelance writer who spent a decade covering music for the Vancouver Sun.