Eric Thomas is a busy man. By day he works for the railroad but he and his wife also own Red Cup Espresso in the Junction and his newest venture is called Solar Epiphany, a solar contracting business.
Getting energy from the sun is a dream for many that until recently was either very expensive or very unlikely, especially in the Pacific Northwest, but Eric Thomas is out to change people's minds about solar power through education and demonstration.
At the moment Eric works for the rail road as a signal maintainer and he and his wife also own Red Cup Espresso in the Junction. But his dream is to get people excited about using the sun for energy.
He showed the westseattleherald.com a solar water heater that preheats ground water using an array of vacuum tubes filled with demineralized water. The system, which costs around $6,000 to be installed, heats enough water for two people's average use per day.
Over time it could save a lot of electricity by taking the load off a standard water heater, which is among the most power hungry devices in the average home.
Eric is clearly an entrepreneur, and is spreading the solar message through classes in West Seattle and Burien.
As if he wasn't busy enough with his day job, he said he was offered a chance to buy the Red Cup and, " We decided to step up and keep the community vibe going that the shop had established. We just leapt at the chance to be West Seattle Junction business owners."
Ultimately, Eric's dream is to create something completely sun driven.
"My solar dream would be to see a PV manufacturing plant on the Duwamish, that's actually powered by solar, creating solar panels for West Seattle," he said. "And wouldn't it be nice if it was community owned as well? A non-profit model would work well."
