Brockville Climate Action Group

Toronto Star / Tyler Hamilton / 16 August 2008

Sales of energy-saving geothermal systems that heat and cool buildings are booming in Ontario, thanks to generous government incentives and concern over rising fuel and electricity prices.

But an industry association is warning homeowners and municipal governments to beware, this fall season, of fly-by-night contractors who falsely claim they're qualified to do installations.

Globe and Mail / Andrew Willis / 04 April 2008

Over the next four years, Ron Taylor plans to drop off the grid.

The oil-fired furnace is already gone, replaced by electric heat, and Mr. Taylor is collecting rainwater at the century-old, five-bedroom farmhouse he bought last year near Mushaboom, N.S., a seaside town immortalized by singer Feist. The next step is to put on a new roof with solar panels, then throw up a windmill on the two-acre property.

It sounds like a tree-hugging, back-to-nature renovation. Except Mr. Taylor is no hippie. He's a Toronto-based veteran real-estate developer with a high-end firm called Arcturus Realty. He has worked on monster projects such as London's Canary Wharf and the redevelopment of Halifax's harbourfront. And he is dropping big money to drop off the grid in Mushaboom. The project is budgeted at upward of $40,000.

Natural Resources Canada / Press Release / 04 April 2008

The Government of Canada has unveiled a new resource to help farmers reduce their dependence on conventional energy sources and improve farm sustainability. The Integration of Renewable Energy on the Farm (IREF) Web site is a complete repository of technical information and online tools for analyzing the potential for integrating renewable energy sources onto individual farms.

The Toronto Star / Tyler Hamilton / 11 February 2008

Natural gas is a cleaner fuel when compared to coal, but in the context of climate change, it's far from being our saviour. Once all of Ontario's coal plants are shut down – we're told by 2014 – then the next greenhouse gas emitter on the global warming hit list is, by default, natural gas.

"About 36 per cent of Toronto's carbon dioxide emissions come from natural gas," says Philip Jessup, executive director of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund.

This event will provide residents with information about the pros and cons of replacing their existing heating and air conditioning systems with geothermal systems, which leverage the natural heating and cooling properties of the earth beneath their homes.

Toronto Star / Tyler Hamilton / 24 December 2007

The year 1984 is more than just a George Orwell novel. It's also when the federal government packed in its geothermal energy program, more or less taking one of Canada's best renewable resources off the radar screen of the public and investors.