Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Home Grown Innovation

Was over at Stanhope Airport near Haliburton the other day and got a real feast of Canadian ingenuity and individualism.

Lorne Heise operates his Heat-Line company from the south side of the airport on the Green Lake Road. Heat-Line is Lorne’s wonderfully practical heated water line used for winter water at cottages, houses, farms and many other places. He invented it more than 20 years ago as an alternative to heated water lines that sucked up a lot of electricity and sometimes overheated.

I went to see Lorne for some info on cottages and Heat-Line for a new book. It’s about cottaging and will be published by Dundurn/Natural Heritage in December or January. Watch for it.

During my visit I was introduced to Limnion Lima-1 geothermal transfer system. This is Lorne’s new invention for drawing energy from a lake, river, ocean or pond and using it to heat your house, cottage or other facility. Lorne’s Lima-1 is small, easily put into a lake by two people. Also can be used to save electricity, a key point considering the banditry of our new Smart Meters. It has a major future.

Lorne was a local electrician who became an inventor and serious entrepreneur. His shop tingles with positive attitude and innovation. I took away two lessons:

1. The centre of the world is not Toronto. Great things happen in unexpected places.
2. This country needs more enterprising individuals like Lorne Heise, and less dependence on Big Government.

Lorne's Limnion Lima 1

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