At the beginning of the Benny Farm project, it was very difficult for us to get funds from the three levels of government. We had money from the federal government but not the provincial government, or from the municipal government but not the federal government. It took us about fifteen years to be able to get the three levels of government to contribute. However, it necessary for us to get funds from the three levels of government but not because renovations cost more since we were able to demonstrate that renovating could ensure better quality at less cost. However, there are many barriers to getting funds from the three levels of government. That has been one of our biggest issues.
Starting a pilot project is rather complicated. However, Mr. Murray did raise an excellent point when he said that density at Benny Farm was not high enough. We have always insisted on keeping all the existing buildings and we wanted to add more. In that way, we would be able to fill more needs than if we stuck to one type of housing only. One should not think of young families only. Three-story buildings without elevator are not for everyone. So our idea was to integrate several different types of housing on the same site and to include other uses, such as a sports arena or a CLSC. That would give us the opportunity to use residual energy by storing it in a central system in order to redistribute it for other uses. However, this is still very problematic. We find that there is still not enough support for connecting clients.
We worked with Alex on the legal issues and tried to see how several different non-profit cooperatives or organizations could share geothermal wells. It is not easy. Even those who support this system fight about it.
Legal issues are one of our barriers. We need grants as much for legal matters as for technical issues.