A post I made in the Nova Centre thread about expanding the Downtown Halifax Link made me think of this idea.
Heated sidewalks while rare in Canada are used in some American communities as a way to remove snow, slush, and ice from Downtown sidewalks and streets. These systems use pipes to move heated water under sidewalks and road. In one of the more well-known systems (Holland, Michigan) this allows ~4 cm to be melted per hour in -9C weather. There are some problems with the system relating to drainage on flat sidewalks, and the environmental impact but there are plans to have some installed in Saskatoon and Edmonton.
In Halifax I believe that heated sidewalks could be a reality in some key areas Downtown. The system requires either a heat source (ie a power plant) or warm grey-water from adjacent buildings. In my vision for the first heated area a heat pump would be built in the basement of a municipal building (say Central Library or Old Library). This system would collect grey-water from the building and adjacent buildings and store them in a cistern during winter months to be used as required. After the water is pumped through the system it would flow into the municipal sewer. As for where this system could go it would depend on where grey water and a heat pump can be located so for these reasons I have only considered municipal buildings.
SYSTEM 1) Spring Garden Road - A heat pump and cistern under the Old Library. The first phase would heat the park paths out front, Grafton & Brunswick (south of Blowers) and the north half of Spring Garden Road to Queen Street. If more water can be added to the system Doyle Street and expansions along Spring Garden and Grafton could be installed.
SYSTEM 2) Central Downtown - A heat pump and cistern under City Hall. A pipe would pump this water under Duke Street to Granville. Phase 1 would be installed under Granville Mall as part of a revitalisation/streetscape project. Further expansions would see the system extend south along with future Granville Street projects.
If salt water could be used then the Ferry Terminal could also be the base for a waterfront version.
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