I received a press release by e-mail today from Selectpower Inc., the retail affiliate of Guelph Hydro Inc., detailing the deployment of a new geothermal “geoexchange” system installed at the new and expanded headquarters of Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc., or GHESI. (Sorry, couldn’t find a link to the press release).

“The geothermal system installed by Selectpower uses a series of buried loops to capture this energy (from the ground) to heat and cool the rooms inside the 36,426 square foot building addition,” according to the release. “The initial cost of the new geothermal system is higher than a traditional heating and cooling system, but it is estimated that the energy savings cover the higher cost in just 5 years. Annual operating costs will be substantially lower than those of a traditional system, and GHESI won’t have to worry about future natural gas rates.”

The company goes on to say that electricity consumption of the geothermal system is also lower than a traditional system. Selectpower energy services manager Leslie Thomas said the company’s natural gas bill has been completely eliminated. “That will save about $50,000 annually. The building will be comfortable and uses about 500,000 kilowatt hours less energy each year than a building with a traditional natural gas heating and electric air conditioning system.”

You can extrapolate from that comment that the premium on the system was roughly $250,000.

Now, wouldn’t it be nice if the province set up a residential fund that would offer no- or low-interest loans to pay for the premium on geo-exchange systems? The loan could be paid back in five or however many years it takes for the energy savings to recoup the premium. After that, everybody wins. The province has fewer residences sucking electricity. There’s less greenhouse gas emissions. And the homeowner gets to reap the savings beyond the payback period. Same thinking goes for businesses looking to go this route.

Now, obviously this couldn’t work for everybody — i.e. retrofits or places where land space is scarce – but for new residential or subdivision builds or businesses with enough property this seems like a no-brainer.

I’m still waiting for someone to tell me why geo-exchange or ground-source energy systems haven’t taken off in Canada…