Ahhh, Alberta in the fall. Summer may have taken her last breath, but with ample sunshine taking the chill off the odd frosty morning, surely this is no time to be worrying about the pending arrival of winter's sub-zero temperatures.

Yeah, right. Unless you're paying the bills to heat the space you live in, which most of us are.

And that's precisely why interest in one of the Alberta Research Council's (ARC) latest inventions is running so high, says research scientist Kaz Szymocha of the ARC's advanced materials business unit.

These days, the Edmonton-based Szymocha is wrapping up an internal review of a pilot project that tested a new solar-heating system on three one-room test modules at the ARC site in Edmonton. Early results says the technology will knock the cold-weather slippers off solar-heat technology currently on the market.

Photo courtesy Alberta Research Council
ARC research scientist Kaz Szymocha checks out out solar-heating panels on the pilot project.

Using direct solar collection and heat storage technology with existing structural insulated panel systems (known in the home-building industry by its acronym, SIPS), the new technology could cut energy consumption for space heating by 48 per cent.

Better yet, the technology's not that expensive and Szymocha insists it can be used to retrofit existing homes.

While the product is more than a year from commercialization, Szymocha estimates it will cost around $5,000 for the average Alberta home. If it actually does cut the natural gas consumption used for space heating by close to half, the initial cash outlay equals an early payback.

(Applied to my own suburban home, I'd be looking at a payback of about six years, without calculating an increase in the price of natural gas. That figure also assumes the new invention will generate space heat and not be used to heat water. Space heat consumes about 65 per cent of the total energy consumed by a Canadian home, whereas hot-water generation contributes another 20 per cent of the bill. With numbers like that, it's little wonder the ARC routinely fields questions from consumers volunteering to test the product!)

The downside? You need to hang panels on three sides of your house - and they're kind of ugly, admits Raymond Off, director of ARC's new ventures division.

These days, he and Szymocha are shopping around the second phase of the project to potential investors. As a prerequisite of accessing government funds from new technology development grant programs, funding is contingent on a three-way deal between ARC, a federal technology initiative called Sustainable Technology Development Canada, and private industry. Everyone chips in one-third, or the project stalls.

Off expects the industry funds to come from a partner interested in manufacturing the panels, but no deal has yet been signed.

He's confident, however, that a three-way deal for $2-$2.5 million will be struck in the coming weeks. The consortium will then launch the second phase of product development, bringing a product to market in the next 12 to 16 months.

Product development will likely include more demonstrations and could involve field testing in buildings where people live or work.

Off expects the technology to find a quick fit with commercial-type buildings less restricted by design criteria. These include farm buildings used for storage and livestock production, as well as remote buildings that contain oil and gas instrumentation.

Alberta's new-home industry is definitely interested in the product too, says David Bengert, president of Built Green, an environmental initiative driven by Alberta's new-home industry.

Bengert, director of purchasing for Jayman MasterBuilt in Edmonton and Calgary, says his company, a founding sponsor of Built Green, may even be interested in piloting the product.

Bengert says it sounds like the kind of technology builders are looking for, especially since the application of existing solar heat technology can be cost-prohibitive.

Alberta's new-home building industry has a reputation for innovation and for educating consumers about the benefits of environmentally sound construction choices, notes Bengert. He expects technology that improves energy efficiency will be an easier sell if gas prices keep rising. "Obviously as energy costs go up, consumers are more interested," notes Bengert.

There are a lot of different applications for this technology," adds Simon Knight, vice-president of Alberta's Climate Change Central, a public-private partnership interested in initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the province.

He says consumers need an affordable product. Besides that, saved energy "is energy that we can export somewhere else."

Off agrees. Enthusiasm for the new made-in-Alberta solar technology aside, the demand for partners means he's got his fall work cut out for him.

"Excitement is free," says Off. But commitment? That's another issue.

"Commitment costs. And we're looking for commitment."

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)