LiveSmart BC Community Hero
LiveSmart BC Community Hero: Paradise Controls
Geoff Thompson of Paradise Controls in Kaleden innovatively utilizes geothermal, hydronics and digital controls to provide heating and cooling systems for residential construction.
Each installation is custom designed by combining ground coupled heat exchange technology (geothermal energy) and several different methods to move warm or cool air (radiant flooring, forced air, heat transfer). Paradise systems are greener than conventional methods because they produce less greenhouse gas, they are adaptable to local power generation technologies, and they produce less manufacturing greenhouse gases.
The techniques themselves are a catalyst for other green construction techniques because they provide motivation to the owner through increased interest and awareness.
Paradise is made up of six owners who use several sub contractors. Their backgrounds include mechanical engineering, electrical, gas fitting, refrigeration, hydronics, plumbing, instrumentation, and boiler technology, and the group works throughout southern BC and the Lower Mainland.
Geoff Thompson was born and raised in Penticton and Naramata, and currently resides in Kaleden. He studied Mechanical Engineering for two year at UBC and worked in Edmonton for ten years working in power engineering, refrigeration, and building operations.
The ‘micro utility model’ was first utilized while Geoff was in Edmonton. The idea behind this was that a contractor would fund a project in exchange for the resulting energy savings on a fixed time contract. Work with commercial controls led to a redesign of typical systems with the intention of improving efficiency, comfort and the total cost of ownership.
Most geothermal contractors advertise a 2400 square foot house with operating costs of $1500. With Paradise, a 4600 square foot house cost $316 to heat and cool for a full year with implementation of the company’s ‘low exergy’ design.
Low exergy design means a system is planned around very low differences in temperature for the mechanical systems, thereby increasing the efficiencies of the individual components. With the increased efficiencies, smaller equipment is able to provide a larger amount of usable energy in the house with less consumption of utility supplied energy such as electricity or natural gas.
With less consumed energy there is significant monetary savings and reduced carbon emissions. With less installed components (and smaller equipment replacing larger equipment) the carbon footprint is reduced in a major way since the manufacturing of the equipment also consumes considerable energy and produces a huge amount of carbon emissions from start to finish.
