Iqaluit (Feb 10/03) - Weather's wonky behaviour has affected power consumption more in smaller communities this year.

Changes in temperatures affect where the finger pushes the thermostat.

"Fuel consumption (to create heat) has been smaller than predicted in smaller communities and that could be weather related," says Mac Maidens, Baffin area superintendent for Nunavut Power Corp.

"Warm months in a smaller community have a larger effect overall," Maidens says.

Two reasons for this are probably that homeowners are more likely to swing the thermostat in tune to the prevailing temperatures outside, while government and private business-owned buildings keep interior temperatures steady no matter what goes on outside.

Larger centres like Iqaluit have been right on target for fuel use.

"Overall it's up in Iqaluit by five per cent over last year due to growth in town," Maidens says. "We forecast a growth of 5.25 per cent so we're pretty well exactly where we should be."

Nunavut Power burns 45 to 50 million litres of diesel oil a year for its coverage area.

Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin) region accounts for 25-million litres, with Iqaluit heat eating 13 million of that in total.

But in years to come, new systems that recycle heat will create impressive fuel savings for Nunavut.

The future is called "residual heating," as far as Nunavut Power sees it.

Once the water-into-steam powers a turbine, it has to be cooled before it can go through the process again.

"We used to push that heat into the atmosphere, but by piping it through buildings, excess heat is striped off and returns to the generating station as cooler water," Maidens explains.

Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet will see some of those "pros" in the next couple of years.

Baker Lake is getting a new power plant that should start going online by Christmas this year, says Axel Have, vice-president of operations and chief engineer.

By 2004 or 2005, Baker Lake will have hooked up nine to 10 buildings to a residual heat system, too, Have says. Rankin Inlet will get an upgraded residual heating system to two government buildings over this year and next, Have says.

"An old system was installed many years ago, but the system is capable of providing a lot more heat," Have says.

The system upgrade will cost $2.5 million to be paid back over six or seven years. The payment plan is faster than most projects that see a 10 years-plus plan -- Pangnirtung's is 17 years -- because the "buyer" is large enough to afford it.

But once paid off, heating savings are huge, Have says.

"Certainly it's the right thing to do: it displaces use of a non-renewable fuel and cuts down on emissions," Have says.