12-09-11 Thinking about heat…

We are newcomers to Canada, and have yet to experience the loss of power caused by a severe weather event, but hearing about towns near us in South East Manitoba being without recently has given us pause for thought. 

Thinking practically, we have camping stoves to cook on and plenty of sleeping bags to keep us warm, and we have an emergency power pack to run the sump pump, but we would probably go and visit friends until the power was restored. 

But what if this was a glimpse into the future, as fossil fuels become more sparse and there is not enough to go around all of the time – how prepared are we for that? 

I know what you are thinking – well our power comes from hydro so we don’t need to worry about that. Well, what if demand for our hydro power from south of the border goes up, and at peak times demand outstrip supply?

 So this has got me thinking about the options for going off grid…

There are several ‘sustainable’ options for heating your home that eliminate or reduce your need for electricity or gas such as wood, solar, geothermal. For electricity your options include solar or wind. Whether you switch to using these options really depends on how deep your pockets is, but let’s talk about the option that seems the simplest – wood heat. 

Wood heat has been used for centuries and stoves are pretty efficient these days. But how practical is it? We don’t live on land with our own forest to cut our own wood, and even if we did, we would have to be smart and manage our woodlot to regenerate what we cut. Making journeys to the provincial forest to cut and collect wood or have it delivered involves vehicle journeys and the more of us that do this, the more unsustainable this option becomes. And then there is the increase in household insurance premium. Add to that the fire danger, the risk of injury cutting and hauling wood, the risk of a build up of carbon monoxide inside homes, not to mention the impact on air quality outside from individual houses burning wood, and it all sounds a lot more complicated, hard work, more risk and a lot less sustainable than at first thought. 

But what about community heat – local heat for local people generated from wood or biomass? The following clip is about a biomass heating scheme to heat an apartment block in Barnsley in UK.http://youtu.be/SWJfE5_nhhg

And there is the Green Heat Initiative in BC that is promoting biomass heat on a grand scale for remote northern communities.http://www.greenheatinitiative.com/userfiles/file/Final%20Step%20by%20Step%20Biomass%20guide%20web,%201MB.pdf There are schemes in Manitoba to fuel Hutterite colonies with cattails rather than coal. Surely this would fit in small communities, schools, community centres or churches in south eastern Manitoba.

 In addition to the renewable heat, the benefits would include local jobs and the utilization of local waste materials (eg cattails). Through good management the risk of injury and pollution would be reduced, and transportation and processing factors could be dealt with.

 To make it work in a community needs thought and discussion – are you ready to talk?

 Selena Randall