Quote:
Originally Posted by milomilo
The way that conversations go, I would be fooled into thinking that there is some vast source of geothermal electricity out there just waiting to be tapped.
Very interesting - thanks!
I'm fairly skeptical that 'community' type heating sources like that one will ever provide a meaningful contribution in Alberta. We just don't have the socialisty attitude neccesary that any builders would have to possess to implement it in new communities. And retrofitting old communities I guess would be near impossible.
Is there much information on the economics of this?
Also - how does the glycol get to 80C? The sun can't possibly heat it up that much, can it?
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As Airboy noted a similar project is currently under construction for the old city centre airport land here in Edmonton. I can't speak to the economics, I guess it'll all depend on how many people are willing to buy into that community and at what cost. It's certainly ambitious but not unheard-of. Definitely challenges retrofitting existing neighborhoods as it'd require both the installation of the infrastructure and retrofit of the heating systems in each individual home. I don't think it'd be viable to try this.
No problem getting fluid that hot in solar collectors though. they're different than solar panels in that they concentrate solar radiation and focus that energy to heat fluid. You can get crazy hot water out of a solar collector if it's positioned right and it's sunny out.