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saturday aug 10 2002 economist sun stouffville tribune business 19 staff photossjoerd witteveen switching to solar cuts costs mike adler staff writer devinder minhas already ran one of the busiest car washes in canada now he has the only one with thermal solar technology to cut its power costs i did 1565 car washes in one day thats a record mr minhas said this week standing on the roof of his sunoco station in markham around him are banks of black plastic panels warming water pumped to the roof and dropped down to a collection tank the added warmth is applied through a heat exchanger to water for the car wash its not commercially viable at this stage each car running through mr minhas nozzles and rollers at mccowan road and 14th avenue receives 260 litres of water the amount an average household uses in a day and each year canadas 1500 car washes use more than two million gigajoules of energy to heat their water based on solar poolheating technology the system will be off from midoctober to midapril still the station owner said it would cut the car washs summer energy bills by 15 to 20 per cent and could be paid off in six years so far however suncor energy products formerly sunoco inc isnt convinced the thermal solar heating designed by kitcheners arise technologies should be stan dard for its new car washes its not commercially viable at this stage suncors marketing director steve douglas explained after a car from natural resources canada a federal agency that gave suncor 15000 for the project drove through the wash to inaugurate the ther mal system last week it doesnt meet the corporate hurdle rates that you would want for a project he said eventually companies will be adding thermal systems because it makes business sense mr douglas said until then extra costs from solar power would be passed to the consumer and thats not what you want to see happen suncor has committed how ever to spend 100 million devel- brian moore of natural resources canada with ian maclellan of arise technologies corporation in the passenger seat drives a car through the solar thermal car wash at top during its grand opening at the sunoco gas station on mccowan road at 14th avenue in markham solar thermal panels above line the roof of the car wash oping alternative and renewable energy you have to crawl before you can walk mr douglas sug gested the same technology installed in mr minhass station can give home or cottage owners waterheating cost savings of 40 to 60 per cent which can proba bly pay off their system in three to five years thats the word from shon sorensen in charge of renewable energy programs at the kortright centre for conservation in vaughan kortright which offers a work shop each year on solar thermal power and others on combining solar electric with wind power demonstrates solar thermal heat ing at its alternative energy cot tage there the pump operating the heat exchanger is run by a single solar electric panel simcoe shoreline likely spot for turbines a local cooperative says it will soon be prospecting in york region for wind power to sell windfall energy coop based in newmarket decided this week to hire an expert for the job the expert will determine where one and possibly two windmeasuring devices called anometers will be placed at hub level for a wind turbine 300 feet off the ground to test wind at local locations if substantial wind resources are found here its pretty darn likely that were going to see a wind farm develop in our region coop spokesperson brent kopperson predicted thursday locally lake simcoes shoreline is believed to be the most likely place to have winds that could power turbines placement of anometers will begin next year in late winter or spring said mr kopperson also director of a nonprof it company that audits home energy use windfall eco works the coop will eventually approach the community that has the most worthwhile wind turbine locations eachturbine rotating at 21 times a minute could supply power to 250 homes ontarios deregulated electricity market has seen several similar coop ventures emerge recendy all intending to offer a package that includes wind power to local consumers the windfall energy coop formed earlier this year several cooperatives have also con sidered pooling their investments into a larger project called lakewind the lake simcoe area is thought to be a possible location for lakewind as is kingston and goderich the ontario sustainable energy association representing nonprofit groups promoting green energy has been relocated from toronto to the windfall ecology centre newmarkets former hydro building the same building houses the windfall coop mikeadler iksj3ssotissasaase3bm 2ilva3283s8l585s er 25 26 and 27th markham fairgrounds the home show with a difference featuring fl pet pavilion in the kitchenhealthy lifestyle centre kidsmart building renovation interior design decor chouinard bros call today to secure prime exhibit space at this sales building event wwwmarkhamhomeshowc6m ftwntt mamigtment homes garden basket markville ford fordljrmcouesjsvt fwvrv roofmg auihinuh wndows 905 6424908 ext 232 1 8882 11 7288 ext 232 publ8hno group