Over 300 new homes in a neighbourhood just north of Toronto in Markham, Ontario, are about to become “the largest neighbourhood in Canada run on geothermal energy.” “The project will harness geothermal energy from beneath the earth to heat and cool 312 homes, aiming for a "net-zero" energy footprint. It functions like a refrigerator, absorbing underground heat in the winter and cooling homes in the summer, significantly enhancing energy efficiency—a critical advantage in Canada, where heating and cooling consume the most energy. Each house will be connected by a single pipe, similar to an electrical grid, effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a heat pump system that draws warmth from the earth's core.”
The project is “expected to lead to a 97 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for space heating and cooling, and a total GHG reduction of 1,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.” This is important to the Mayor of Markham because “Markham's population is projected to grow from 365,000 to 450,000 over the next 20 years” and it is far better to include such emission-lowering and cost-saving approaches in the first place rather than relying on costly retrofits later.
Hopefully this project is just the beginning of large scale developments taking advantage of geothermal energy.