The Town of Gibsons is one step closer to having a cleaner and cheaper alternative when it comes to heating and cooling houses.
The Town was awarded $325,000 to build a District Energy Geo-Exchange system last Friday at an announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell at the innovative clean energy awards in Burnaby.
The funds cover about 33 per cent of the total $975,000 project, which would see pipes buried under new housing developments that can store the natural geothermal energy of the earth and pump it through the homes to heat them.
"It's the first step in creating a utility owned by a municipality that has the ability to offer the citizens an alternative, clean energy source that should be more affordable than the current systems out there," said Paul Gipps, chief administrative officer for the Town.
Gipps said this is the first geo-thermal energy project owned by a municipality in B.C.
Coun. Chris Koopmans was on hand for the premier's announcement and noticed a marked trend in the other groups being selected for grants."It was pretty well a lot of academics and private business that were there. I did not see one soul in the crowd from municipal politics other than myself," Koopmans said.
Before the project can begin, the Town must still secure more grant funding through the Island Coastal Economic Trust. It currently has an application in that would see another 25 per cent of the funding, if granted. Gipps said the Town would know if it is proceeding to the next level in the grant process by the end of April.
Gipps said the Town has enough money in the budget to finance the rest of the project, but there are still other grants that the Town can apply for.
Once installed, users would pay the Town for their heating bills, creating a permanent source of revenue for the public budget and heating homes at less cost to the consumer.
"Typically, geo-exchange is significantly cheaper than any other source," Gipps said.
Under the funding model of 52 per cent funding from grants and 48 per cent from the Gibsons budget, it would take about 15 years for the Town to turn a profit on the heating revenues, according to Gipps.
