Thunder Bay’s NWO Well Services Ltd.’s geothermal heating and cooling systems pilot program will provide clean, renewable energy to houses, as gas and fuel prices continue to increase, and climate change awareness and conservation become an increasing priority to homeowners.
“It’s more of an environmental choice for most people, but it’s quickly becoming an economical one as well, relative to traditional electric heat for sure,” says NWO owner and president, Brett MacAskill. “Geothermal is already less expensive, operating cost wise, to traditional electric, fuel, oil and wood, and if carbon pricing keeps going up the way it is, it will soon be on par with natural gas and propane heating as well.”
The company focuses on vertical closed loop closed systems, where pipes are run vertically 100 to 400 feet deep and form an array of 3 to 5 bores for most homes. NWO’s background and expertise in drilling water wells is suited to installing geothermal systems.
NWO Wells Services Ltd. logo (Image: submitted)
“Something that we would have against most people starting up in geothermal, is we have a very good relationship with a veteran in the in the industry,” said MacAskill, adding they have brought in Keewatin/Kenora contractor Earth4U to be their HVAC and furnace experts.
MacAskill says that although geothermal systems have a heavy upfront cost, they are a long-term investment, especially when doing a new-home build and incorporating a heating alternative, in comparison to the long-term costs of traditional fuel.
Despite the cost, there is a growing demographic for geothermal systems in Thunder Bay. The demand is what led MacAskill to get into geothermal systems three years ago, as NWO was being contacted by homeowners of their own volition, asking for help with their systems and planning.
The federal government offers a $5000 incentive for green retrofits along with $600 to cover the initial evaluation. While the city of Thunder Bay is considering its options to incentivize homeowners towards carbon neutral heating alternatives, like geothermal.
“If we had the will and desire, we could easily convert all these buildings into geothermal heating easily nationwide,” he said, sharing that 18 per cent of the country’s carbon footprint comes from residential and institutional buildings. “The greater the amount of homes that convert to geothermal, the more the cost of geothermal systems would go down for everyone”
This story was sponsored by NWO Well Services Ltd.
