Hyer on the Hill – Tapping Our Geothermal Potential
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer
As Canadians, we are blessed with vast natural resources. We have the ability to be a global energy leader, if we are smart in investing in and developing our resources. Being smart doesn’t just mean digging minerals out of the ground and shipping them abroad. It means getting the maximum out of our resources, and leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding ways to do that. One plentiful resource that is all too often overlooked in Canada has huge potential: geothermal energy and geothermal heating & cooling. Many Canadians haven’t heard much about it, and it is a vastly underdeveloped resource in our country.
Geothermal power is energy that comes from heat stored in the Earth. By drilling wells to tap into the earth’s natural heat, we can harness this energy to act as an environmentally friendly, sustainable and cost-effective power source. This energy can be drawn from the ground, or from water sources, like the hot springs found around Canada’s Rocky Mountains.
More promising still is geothermal heating & cooling. Below 10 feet underground, the ground temperature under much of populated Canada is a constant 10 degrees Celsius (even in winter), and it gets warmer the deeper you go. In the cold winter, heat pumps installed in homes transfer the heat from underground into the house, lowering home heating costs dramatically. In the summer when it is warmer above ground, the house is cooled in the same way, often eliminating the need for air conditioning. It’s very cost-effective: geothermal heat pumps can extract heat from below 30 feet underground more efficiently than it can be generated by conventional furnaces.
The surprising thing is that most residential, commercial, and industrial buildings is Canada are built on top of ground that could easily provide most of their heating and cooling needs. The one downside is the high up-front cost of installing a geothermal system, even though these systems tend to pay for themselves many times over in time.
Geothermal is the most reliable and consistent power & heating source among all renewable technologies. There are also fewer complications with geothermal power than with other forms of renewable power that currently get much more attention. Wind farms, for example, have faced opposition from nearby residents. Hydroelectric dams often flood vast areas and impact aquatic ecosystems. Etc.
A few years ago, I was very pleased to be able to host the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) for their first talk and exhibition on Parliament Hillmp
