This Small Alberta Town is Eyeing Geothermal
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Alberta's shift to renewable energy is full of surprises
A small town with deep oil and gas industry roots is turning its eye to geothermal energy. It's long been known that traditional oil and gas wells can be a source of underground heat. But it has taken a very long time to get new rules in place to allow producers to tap that heat for geothermal energy.
Alberta, like most jurisdictions in Canada, has no framework for geothermal energy — which can be used to heat homes and greenhouses, melt ice on sidewalks and create electrical power.
But now Hinton, Alberta, has received a $1.2 million grant from the federal and provincial governments to explore the geothermal option.
Dewly Nelson, one of the town's newly elected town councillors, was at first skeptical about the project. But after he was tasked with researching the idea on behalf of Hinton, he's sold.
"I'm a bit of an evangelist," he laughed.
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Read on for what else you need to know this week.
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