Vancouver Island band plans to heat town using ocean energy – The Province
SOOKE — A southern Vancouver Island aboriginal band wants to heat a resort town on its land by extracting thermal energy from the ocean.
The Beecher Bay First Nation is looking at heating its 40-acre Spirit Bay development in east Sooke by putting heat exchangers and pumps into the ocean to draw heat from the water.
The band has received $40,000 from a clean-energy business fund for the First Nations to research the possibility.
Beecher Bay Chief Russell Chipps says the ocean was traditionally a life source for his people and so it makes sense to gather energy from it as well.
