I read with great disappointment that the Whistle Bend subdivision will not feature a sustainable heating option.
It is a clear lack of forward thinking to justify not installing a geoexchange district heat system.
Let’s look closer at the numbers: $34 million to install the system for phases one and two, providing 918 residential units with clean efficient heat for the lifetime of the buildings. Without the system, let’s assume individual oil furnaces are installed and each burns roughly 800 litres of oil a year.
At $1.065 (current price) a litre, that adds up to $39,106,800 over 50 years. Of course, we won’t be able to get oil at that price even a year from now.
Burning all that oil will also release about 110,160,000 kilograms of CO2 (at three kilograms/litre).
With global CO2 emissions expected to increase by 56 per cent from 2004 to 2030 (International Energy Agency), it is up to everyone to reduce their carbon emissions. With a project such as Whistle Bend we are leaving it up to our government leaders to decide on our children’s futures.
I believe the decision to not install the geoexchange system should be looked at closer, and perhaps it makes sense to delay the project in order to provide more time to get the subdivision a “most sustainable subdivision” label that will be a benchmark for other developments in Canada.
Andy Lera, CEO, Rising Sun Innovations Incorporated
Whitehorse