Neighborhood geothermal experiment

When Douglas Worts learned that the City of Toronto was going to fix the pavement on his street, he knew what he had to do: he called his councilor to get it stopped.

Worts has nothing against good roads. But he looks at his street – Laurier Ave. in the Parliament-Wellesley area – as more than a roadway.

He thinks it has the potential to heat and cool his house and others, by providing the footings for a geothermal heating system.

Now the city is interested in the idea, and has given $25,000 to Worts and his neighbours, through the Don Vale Cabbagetown Residents Association, to carry out a feasibility study.

Worts had never thought much about geothermal heating and cooling until he happened to hear that it was being considered for the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa.

He talked up the idea at the Laurier street party in 2007, and some neighbours expressed interest.

He explained that down past the frost line, the Earth keeps a temperature that’s warmer than winter air and cooler than summer air.

Geothermal systems take advantage of that by pumping fluid through underground pipes to carry the seasonal warmth or coolness to the surface.

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