| Canadians have recently become actively interested in conserving energy and protecting the environment, but Elgin County and its businesses have been doing this for a long time. A case in point is Koolen Electric.
Operated by the husband-and-wife team of Peter and Gayle Koolen along with Sons, Andy and Tim, near the town of Aylmer in the Township of Malahide, the company has been installing and maintaining geothermal heating systems since 1980.
Geothermal systems are energy-saving ways to heat or cool buildings. The systems use liquid-filled plastic pipes buried in the ground as radiators connected to a building’s heating system.
Geothermal systems operate like normal furnaces in a home but because they can absorb or distribute heat underground, they produce surprising energy savings. A variety of rebates and incentives from the federal and Ontario governments are available to purchasers.
The systems that Koolen Electric installs are made by a Canadian company, Water Furnace International Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana and distributed by Eden Energy Equipment Ltd. in Guelph. www.waterfurnace.ca They can deliver $4 of free earth energy for every $1 of electrical energy used. Peter Koolen reports that demand for them is high and growing – 2008 was the company’s busiest year yet.
Koolen Electric looks after new installations, warranty work, retrofits and maintenance for the WaterFurnace systems. Koolen is proud of the company’s long-time reputation for reliability and high quality from licensed and insured master electricians, including himself and his sons Andy and Tim.
“We have been serving some customers for 36 years so I feel we are doing something right,” Koolen says. “Gayle and I have worked side by side since we started the business in 1973. We can’t separate it from our life, 24 by 7.”
Electrical contracting was the Koolens’ original business and still accounts for many entries on their work-order list, along with geothermal installations and street-light maintenance for some municipalities in the Elgin area. Lately, however, Koolen has been looking at expansion opportunities, such as solar-panel installations, as demand for environmental products grows.
“There is a constantly growing percentage of the population who are aware of the need for energy-efficient light bulbs, appliances and electrical and geothermal systems,” he says.
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