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Sustainaville – the approach to use geothermal to grow a community in BC, Canada

Sustainaville – the approach to use geothermal to grow a community in BC, Canada Valemount, BC/ Canada (source: flickr/ Matt Howry, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 3 Sep 2017

Sustainavillle is a demonstration project in Valemount, a small community in British Columbia, Canada that aims to utilise geothermal not only for power but also for a wide variety of possible heat applications that could help transform the local economy.

We have reported before on the efforts in Valemount in the province of British Columbia in Canada to utilise geothermal up to its complete potential for power generation and direct use applications for heat.

The goal is to transform the village of  Valemount “by providing locally grown food using geothermal greenhouses, micro-power for commercial uses, and heat for eco-tourism attractions such as Hot Pools, all with minimal carbon footprint. In the third phase of the development, the project will generate 15 MW of power for the community and to the grid, eliminating the current and constant issue of brownouts in the community.”, so a recent article on Energy Future Labs.

The Sustainaville GeoPark has been designed to build on the success of world class projects in Iceland, USA and Kenya which are using geothermal systems to support industrial processes, commercial applications and households.

“The geothermal energy industry in Canada has had a slow start and as a country we are decades behind the global leaders yet we have world leading geology,” says Alison Thompson, Principal of Borealis GeoPower and Energy Futures Lab Fellow. Borealis was recently recognized by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna as Canada’s leading geothermal companies.

The Sustainaville GeoPark concept goes beyond merely using geothermal energy for heating and energy.

“Warm geothermal water can support greenhouses but can also support initiatives like a brewery or shrimp farm. This fully renewable resource can serve several tiers of need in the community before being recycled to do it again!”, Alison Thompson.

For more see link below.

Source: Energy Futures Lab