Blatchford residents concerned natural gas heating could undermine net-zero vision

Many residents moved to Blatchford because they believed in the vision of a carbon-neutral community but a recent city administration recommendation to heat some homes with natural gas has some concerned that may never become a reality.

Blatchford residents currently heat and cool their homes with geothermal energy from a city-owned utility. To accommodate the growing population — the neighbourhood is expected to house 30,000 people — the city plans to build a renewable sewer heat exchanger in 2026, which would recover heat from wastewater.

In 2015, city council approved a plan to use natural gas boilers for "peaking" or high-demand times.

An administrative report heading to the city's utility committee next Friday recommends building one of the natural gas energy centres earlier than planned and delaying the sewer exchanger, likely until the 2027–2030 budget cycle. 

According to the report, this would save the city some money in the short-term. But some Blatchford residents don't support the recommendation.

"I moved in because I wanted to be in a green community," said Michele Wilson McCune, who moved from Spruce Grove to Blatchford about a year ago.

Wilson McCune and others fear relying on natural gas now could be a slippery slope to abandoning Blatchford's 100 per cent renewable energy goal.

Heather MacKenzie, an administrator for a Blatchford Facebook group, said neighbours are planning to voice their displeasure at council's utility meeting. She said residents are also concerned about rate increases.

Godo Stoyke, whose company Carbon Busters has built net-zero homes in Blatchford, said the city should not be falling back on natural gas.

"Why are we not looking at solutions that are 100 per cent renewable?" he said, mentioning sand-based thermal energy storage in Finland and an electric-vehicle-to-grid system in the United Kingdom.

According to the report, the city is revisiting Blatchford utility plans because Epcor predicts there won't be as much sewer water flowing in the future. As the city grows, Epcor expects sewer flows from north Edmonton will be redirected and that water usage will continue to trend downward, making the exchanger less efficient.

There's also a gap between the amount of money the city needs to build Blatchford's utility infrastructure and what it can currently recoup from rate-payers. The report says the city has applied for grants from other levels of government but hasn't yet received any.

"We need to be operationally and financially very nimble in terms of how we grow," said Christian Felske, the director of renewable energy systems with the city's integrated infrastructure services department.

The report says building a peaking energy centre earlier would be cheaper now than building a sewer exchanger or geothermal system and it would give the city more flexibility as development progresses.