30 Fairmont Park Lane S
Lethbridge, AB
T1K 7H7
Phone: (403) 328-1804
Sunday, February 06, 2005
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge, AB, T1J 3Z7
Re: Five Tonne Challenge
Dear Editor,
It’s interesting to see that the McCarthy’s are actually taking on a five tonne greenhouse gas challenge. They are installing a system that uses electricity in a very efficient way to heat their home in place of the usual natural gas furnace. (Geothermal house works with nature, 05/01/29, A3)
Avoiding the use of natural gas to heat a large house could reduce household greenhouse gas emissions by about ten tonnes - equivalent to taking two cars off the road. However, the electricity bill to run a geothermal heat pump system will be substantial. Electricity in Alberta comes primarily from coal fuelled generators. Personal savings in greenhouse gas emissions from a geothermal system will likely be offset by increased emissions from Alberta’s “Large Industrial Emitters” - in the jargon of Canada’s Kyoto compliance planning.
Still, the McCarthy’s initiative points to the future should greenhouse gases need to be controlled. The technology they are installing concentrates the release of greenhouse gases, and pollutants, into a few large sources, making it easier to control them. Alternatively, electricity can be produced from emission free energy sources. Geothermal heating and electricity can thus conceptually work together to heat our homes with essentially no greenhouse gas emissions.
Herald readers can find more information on this technology at the website of the Earth Energy Society of Canada (www.earthenergy.ca). The site gives comparative information on home heating system energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions which provides the basis for this letter.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast