Garry Meadows remembers being greeted with skepticism when promoting geothermal heating systems at trade shows several years ago.
People had a hard time believing that pipes buried in the ground could draw heat out of the earth and into a building, or vice versa.
“They were scared of it,” said Meadows, an area representative for Next-Energy Solutions, a company that distributes equipment for geothermal heating and cooling in Canada.
“They didn’t understand the concept.”
He and others who are marketing and installing geothermal technology say a lot has changed in the past few years. Interest in the technology is climbing as more of the systems get installed and people discover their merits, including the potential energy savings.
Read Also
First annual Ag in Motion Junior Cattle Show kicks off with a bang
Ag in Motion 2025 had its first annual junior cattle show on July 15. The show hosted more than 20…
Much of the interest is from rural areas, particularly for use in houses, workshops and commercial buildings. Thousands of geothermal units are being used across the Prairies.
“I think a lot of people are fed up with the volatility of the fossil fuel market right now,” said Dwight Hayter, owner of Dwight’s Drilling and Geothermal in Watrous, Sask.
With a typical geothermal heating and cooling system, a heat pump is connected to high-density polyethylene pipe buried in the ground either vertically or horizontally. The pipe contains a heat transfer fluid.
A geothermal heat pump moves heat from the pipe into the house in winter and out of the house in summer, eliminating the need for a separate air conditioning system.
Hayter said there is almost no limit to the kinds of buildings in which geothermal technology can be installed.
However, neither he nor Meadows have yet installed such technology in a prairie greenhouse. They do not rule out that possibility, but suggest it would be more of a challenge, partly because of the amount of heat that can be lost from greenhouses in winter.
“Anything will work if it’s designed properly,” Meadows said.
Savings on heating costs with a geothermal system can be 20 to 50 percent, Hayter said, comparing the costs to other alternatives.
Geothermal can be installed for in-floor heating or set up as a forced air system. Hayter said the preference has been forced air, because that system can then also provide air conditioning.
However, customers can also have a combination. In the case of a house, there could be in-floor heating in the garage and basement, and forced air for the rest of the home.
Geothermal technology is promoted as a clean, environmentally friendly source of heating. Meadows said it fits well with the commitment made by the federal government under the Kyoto Accord to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Because of the environmental benefits, he thinks there should be more effort by government to encourage geothermal technology through such methods as homeowner grants.
“The government needs to look at this and make a commitment.”
Meadows foresees a time when people will be using geothermal technology in tandem with solar or wind energy to become self-sufficient at heating their homes and other buildings. Solar power or a wind turbine could generate the electricity to run the geothermal systems, he added.
