December 2013
| Business World Magazine | 83
months) to help meet air conditioning needs.
It is projected that the Alderney 5 vault will
save $350,000 per year in energy costs and
avoid $800,000 in future replacement costs.
Although the Alderney 5 Vault is the first
of its kind to use geothermal storage on such
a grand scale, multiple offices in downtown
Halifax take water from the harbor and use it
in their air conditioning systems, says Duncan.
In this, and many other ways, Duncan is proud
that Halifax has focused so intently on miti-
gating environmental impact while decreasing
utility cost. At the most fundamental level,
such initiatives are more prudent in terms of
public dollars, ultimately costing less for the
taxpayer, which allows the government to di-
rect the savings into other programs that will
benefit residents. “Solar City”, for example, is
a new program offered by the HRM whereby
they facilitate loans to homeowners who want
to convert to solar water heating systems. The
loans have either very low or no interest, and
are financed over a 10-year period. This simple
strategy has caught on in the home building
market, meaning that new homes are already
being marketed as solar ready.
As a city nestled on the coast of the Atlan-
tic, these sustainable initiatives are not merely
environmental glad-handing. Sea level rise,
says Duncan, is a very real threat to Halifax’s
