Edge_March9_07_ON 3/7/07 11:44 AM Page 16 Page 16 March 9, 2007 From cabins to castles, and everything in between - Page 15 Geothermal energy delivering big savings pumps, fans and heat exchang- a c h i eve 60-per-cent energy Ground-source ers. savings over the model national Geothermal systems can even energy code for buildings.” heating attracts be found in oil- and gas-rich He acknowledges the irony Alberta. of heating buildings geother- interest despite Bill Temple, a former partner mally in Alberta when gas is with Keen Engineering, which traditional, plentiful and nearby, initial costs is now a part of the engineering but interest is growing. and architectural firm Stantec “Using ground source for By James Bow Inc., has experience with geo- heat re q u i res a supplemental Business Edge thermal heating and cooling, heat source,” says Temple.“This having overseen three commer- requires electricity. In this part or Eric Lange, geother- cial systems in major projects of the world, electricity is more mal heating and cool- across the province. expensive than gas, but that gap ing was like finding “Ground source works best if is closing. The closer your gas buried treasure. your building re q u i res both costs come to electricity, the FIn only two months last year, heating and cooling,” s ay s more appealing ground source his company, Lange Tr a n s - Temple, “so you take heat out is.” p o r tation and Storage Ltd. of the ground during winter Geothermal power is not for found $12,000 in energy sav- and reverse that cycle in the eve r y bu i l d i n g , s ays Te m p l e. ings beneath his company ’s summer. An imbalanced system The initial capital costs are an 70,000-sq.-ft. Mississauga ware- can deplete the heat sink.” obstacle. house after installing such a Established in 1954, Stantec “If you we re to compare system. employs 6,900 workers in more ground source to a traditional Lange Tr a n s p o r tation and than 80 offices across North heat/cool system using pure Storage moves heavy and America, and has designed a construction capital costs, you e x p e n s ive equipment on number of buildings that meet wo u l d n ’t decide on gro u n d - demand. It specializes in deliv- LEED (leadership in energy source system.You have to look ering and setting up tradeshow and env i ronmental design) at the life cycle and the cost of displays across the country, but standards. energy over a number of years.” it also delive r s “ h i g h - va l u e ” Not all of Stantec’s sustain- It also costs less to install a products including CAT scan a ble projects use geotherm a l system as a building is being and lotto machines, s e c u re l y power, but it is part of the com- built. and to critical deadlines. pany’s repertoire when it comes The challenge of retrofitting The company, located just to designing new energy-effi- Lange’s 30-year-old warehouse west of Toronto and employing cient buildings or rehabilitating made for an even more expen- 50 full-time staff, needed more old ones. s i ve pro j e c t , but Lange is space, so it purchased the ware- “LEED is the accepted stan- pleased with the results. “We house last July. dard for sustainable and energy- expect a payback after 81/2 years Almost immediately, L a n g e efficient buildings in Nort h based on today’s energy costs,” realized he had a problem. A m e r i c a ,” s ays Te m p l e. “ I t ’s he says. “I opened my first electrical been adopted by the federal One of the challenges in bill, and it was for $3,800,” says government, the government of re t rofitting geothermal tech- Lange. “We hadn’t even moved Alberta, Calgary,Vancouver and nology was finding space, says in. We hadn’t even turned on others.They mandate that their Lange. the air conditioning.All we had buildings at a minimum meet “Twenty-eight holes had to we re the lights on for the the LEED Silver standard as be drilled, each six inches in painters.” relates to energy efficiency. diameter and 10 feet apart. Our Lange contacted Select- “The Alberta Urban Mun- property is three acres, but the p owe r, a hy d ro e l e c t r ic com- icipalities Association head- building uses much of that. pany owned by the City of quarters, in Edmonton, was the Then we realized one of the Guelph, to do an energy audit. first LEED project in Alberta,” driveways needed to be repaved It confirmed his fears. he adds. “Ground source kept anyway. It was over 300 feet “We had a glutton for energy things warm in winter and cool long and 24 feet wide, a perfect use,” says Lange. “The air con- in summer for this 8,000-sq.-ft. space to drill the bore field.” ditioning was old; the windows administrative building.” Because geothermal heating weren’t insulating enough.A lot Photo courtesy of Lange Transportation and Storage Two other projects followed and cooling is still rare, some of things needed to be replaced. Refitting the Lange Transportation and Storage warehouse for in the province, including the construction companies, lend- Fo r t u n a t e l y, we had a few geothermal power required the use of two drilling rigs. Ye l l owhead County A d m i n - ing agencies and governments months before we had to move istration building in Edson, two aren’t prepared for it, although in, so I decided to renovate bridge engineered it and Main s o u rce heating and cooling, hours west of Edmonton, and that wo r ked out in Lange’s the building to make it more Air Systems was the mechanical works most places on the the Boreal Centre for Birds in favour. energy efficient. contractor.” planet. Slave Lake, three hours north of “ We went to Mississauga “In September, I hire d When Guelph Hydro phased A hundred metres below the Edmonton, the latter of which City Hall and asked them about S e l e c t p ower to ove r see the out its Selectpower operations surface, the Earth’s temperature re c e ived a sustainable design p e r m i t s , and they looked at project,” he adds. “In total, we in October, G e o S m a r t took is a constant 13°C, regardless of awa rd from the Consulting us like deer caught in the spent $600,000 on the renova- over the oversight role for the the conditions on the surface. Engineers for Alberta. headlights,” says Lange. “Even tions. project. This is a good source of heat in “It was almost completely off though we wanted to drill 360 “The changes included dou- The geothermal installation winter and an effective heat the gri d ,” s ays Te m p l e. “ N o feet down in the earth 28 times, ble-glazed windows and rubber was active in November. sink in summer. sewer line, water line or gas we didn’t need a permit. Other liners on the loading docks to Geothermal energy conjures Pipes drilled down to this l i n e. With the exception of than checking that there was no reduce heat loss, but the big up images of homes heated by layer are filled with water or electricity, it had no utility con- electrical or gas pipelines below item was the geothermal heat- volcanic hot springs in Iceland another heat-conductive fluid, nections. We find that, in the us, we were free to go.” ing and cooling system. or Japan, but the system Lange which transfers heat between buildings that we’ve designed G e o S m a r t Energy of Cam- installed, referred to as ground- the Earth and the surface using using ground source, we can See PERMITS Page 17 Edge_March9_07_ON 3/7/07 11:44 AM Page 17 March 9, 2007 Page 17 Air carrier rising above turbulent takeoff Porter Airlines looks to strengths in business model, management By David Hatton “(A downtown businessper- Business Edge son) can go from the office to sitting in the actual aircraft fter less than six in about 35 minu t e s ,” s a i d months of flights, Erickson. “This poses a distinct C a n a d a ’s newe s t advantage for the niche they are regional airline has a targeting, which is the business nAumber of things going against traveller.” i t : P ro t e s t e r s showed up to Soon after that firs t picket the first day of opera- a n n o u n c e m e n t , Po r ter had tions; it has limited potential for more surprises up its sleeve. growth at its tiny It had negotiated island airport; and an agreement with the industry is the To ronto Po r t known for a long A u t h o r ity to list of companies severely restrict Air that have failed. Canada’s Jazz divi- But a stro n g sion, Porter’s main business model and c o m p e t i t o r, f ro m solid management using the airp o r t B rennan O’Connor, Business Edge team should put terminal.