“I see renewable energy as being an important part of the solution to many of the big problems we are faced with as a society,” said Eric Youngren. “I am into ‘solar empowerment.’ I think that everyone should try to reduce their ecological footprint by using energy and resources wisely.”

Youngren’s new company, Island Energy Systems, LLC of Orcas Island, is providing solutions for customers seeking to become independent of the electric grid. They supply solar, wind and micro-hydroelectric system packages for homeowners and contractors to install themselves.

Youngren is a 1988 graduate of Orcas High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. As an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School in the 1990s, Youngren taught the “leave no trace” minimum impact backcountry ethic in Baja, Calif., the Chilean Patagonia, British Columbia and Alaska. “I tried to instill in my students the idea that they could transfer that ethic into their everyday lives by trying to live as lightly on the planet as possible.”

Tired of the nomadic lifestyle, Youngren returned to the northwest to attend graduate school at Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington State College to pursue graduate degrees in human ecology and geography.

On his return to Orcas Island after two months trekking in Nepal, he was the manager at the salmon hatchery and a captain on a whale watching boat. In 2001, he joined Rainshadow Solar.

“I am excited and lucky to have found a career here on Orcas that I truly believe is helping to make the world a better place for our children,” said Youngren. “Being a father has made my interests in sustainability and the environment more personal and my concern for the future more heightened.”

Island Energy Systems specializes in complete systems for the do-it-yourself who wants to provide off-grid power for clients uses. “Whether you need a simple setup for a few lights and a laptop or enough off-grid power to run a large home or an industrial shop, we’ve got a solution that will meet your needs,” says Youngren. His business will manufacture and sell pre-wired solar power centers for “plug and play” installation.

Youngren practices what he preaches. His home is off-the-grid. The electricity comes from a micro-hydro and a photovoltaic system. Heat and hot water are produced by a wood boiler and solar thermal energy system. He drives a biodiesel work van.

“An island is a powerful metaphor for a self-contained system.” In a self-regulating system, energy is conserved and materials are cycled,” said Youngren. “I believe that a sustainable future for our island will require a transition to a local living economy based, not on consumption of imported resources, but of renewal and restoration of land and natural resources.”

Island Energy Systems will help clients design and size a system to meet their individual power and energy requirements. “We make it easy,” says Youngren. “The core of each of our energy systems is a custom built pre-wired power center enclosure containing all the state of the art components you need to generate, store, and use clean, efficient power from the sun.”

For more information, contact Island Energy Systems, at www.islandenergysystems.com or call Eric Youngen at 376-6842.