Harry Quik grabs a long iron poker and opens the door of one of two large, cylindrical furnaces. The room is already hot, but when Quik rakes the poker through the coals, flames erupt and heat rushes through the tiny one-foot-wide door.
Harry Quik grabs a long iron poker and opens the door of one of two large, cylindrical furnaces. The room is already hot, but when Quik rakes the poker through
the coals, flames erupt and heat rushes through the tiny one-foot-wide
door.
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| Harry Quik surveys one of his greenhouses. (PHOTOS BY TYLER OLSEN) Advertisement
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For the last three years, the environmentally friendly heat generated
by this and another furnace has kept five-and-a-half acres of Quik’s
greenhouses warm through cold snaps and chilly nights.
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| Flower size and form have long made mums a cut flower favourite | |
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| Leo Quik, one of four sons and two daughters who help out in the family operation, stokes the furnace. |
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| Daisies are part of the product mix. | |
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| Employees hard at work taking care of the crop. | |
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| A large tank holds recycled water waiting to be pumped and heated by the adjacent biomass burner.
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Quik’s Farm – that’s the name of Harry Quik’s Chilliwack, B.C., flower operation – was one of many agri-cultural operations around the country that turned to alternative heating sources when natural gas prices began a rapid ascent at the start of the decade.
In 2004, Quik installed his first boiler. (While the setup henceforth
will be called a “boiler,” that isn’t technically correct. The furnace
heats recycled water to a temperature of 80ºC, 20º short of the boiling
point, before piping the water into the greenhouse along the ceiling
and between flower rows.) At the start, Quik burned coal and the
impetus was clearly economic.
“You have to be business-minded enough to say, ‘how can we prevent
getting pushed out?’” said Quik, who built his business from scratch
after immigrating to Canada from the Netherlands 20 years ago.
MAKING THE FUEL SWITCH WHEN NATURAL GAS PRICES SOARED
Early on, the decision was paying off quick – with natural gas prices at record levels.
But the cost of gas fell by half in 2007. After another wild jump in 2008, it is now down to the levels of several years ago.
And while the boiler is still saving him money, these days Quik advises
farmers looking to cut heating costs to consider “better heat retention
systems” before changing fuel sources.
But up-front costs are no longer the only things a farmer needs to consider.
Three years ago, with concern about global warming at its zenith, Quik
installed his second boiler and began burning wood pellets – a form of
biomass that burns cleaner, though not as hot. The wood pellet fuel
creates fewer ashes, making the boiler easier to maintain, and with
British Columbia still recovering from the devastation wrought by the
mountain pine beetle, there is plenty of scrap wood that is decaying
and will be releasing its carbon, one way or another.
Turning to biomass has dramatically reduced the environmental footprint
of Quik’s operation. An independent analysis verified that the farm
reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 90 per cent in nine
months after it began burning the pellets. Even better, Quik turned his
new green heating source into a revenue source by selling carbon
offsets to the Pacific Carbon Trust, a British Columbia crown
corporation that allows companies and municipalities to “offset” their carbon footprints by buying a stake in reduction programs.
ELIMINATING 8,000 TONNES OF CO2 EMISSIONS OVER FIVE YEARS
The conversion to biomass promises to stop 8,000 tonnes of CO2 from
entering the atmosphere over five years – the equivalent of more than
2,000 cars. And with Pacific Carbon Trust selling offsets for as much
as $20 per tonne, there is serious money to be made – at least in B.C.
Inside the furnace room, Quik points to a pyramid-shaped metal unit that scrubs the furnace’s output of particulate material before it is released skyward. The boiler, consequently, produces little to no pollution.
Politicians, he said, “don’t know that we try to filter our particulate matter as much as possible.”
A good neighbour, Quik and his family hosted an open house for those
interested in a closer look at the farm. If someone asks, he will
discuss his biomass boilers. But he’s not going to go out of his way to
place them in the spotlight.
For now, he’s happy growing his chrysanthemums and lilies greener than ever.
Tyler Olsen is a freelance writer and photographer in British Columbia.
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