HAY RIVER - When winter arrives, all Northerners turn to the same burning issue - how to keep warm.

Steve Anderson, a co-owner of Super A Foods in Hay River, climbed into the rafters to show the grocery store's heat reclamation equipment. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Some homes, businesses and government buildings are answering that question in non-traditional ways.

One of the most unique heating systems is a cold climate air-to-air heat pump being used in a pilot project at a territorial government records warehouse in Fort Smith.

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington, who owns Stand-Alone Energy Systems in Fort Smith, said the pump can take heat out of the air as cold as -30 C.

"It takes heat out of the air much like a refrigerator takes heat out of the refrigerator," he explained.

Bevington commended the territorial government for trying the unit, adding it takes a while to get used to the concept of taking heat out of cold air.

"I think it's an innovative idea," the MP said, explaining it's one of the first uses in Canada of the American-made device.

The pump is an efficient use of power if the cost of electricity is low enough, he added.

Maurice Evans, the superintendent for the Fort Smith region with Public Works and Services, said the department is fairly pleased with the first-year results of the pilot project.

Evans said the project, which uses two pumps on different sides of a records storage building, cut the use of fuel by 7,100 litres in its first year for a cost savings of $4,650, which takes into account the extra use of electricity.

"We still believe we have some fine tuning," he said, explaining more money is expected to be saved annually as the units become more efficient.

The air-to-air pumps were installed in the fall of 2008 at an initial investment of $71,800, including design. Evans said the system eliminated 19 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

In the summer, it can be adjusted to provide air conditioning. Evans said it is absolutely possible the air-to-air heat pumps could be used in other buildings.

"We're certainly looking at where they can be best utilized," he said, adding the units are designed for smaller buildings.

Bevington is a well-known expert on energy use in the NWT, having written a report on the subject before becoming an MP.

His own business has been using heat from an attached greenhouse for about a dozen years.

"It works quite well," he said. "It's a very simple setup."

Andrew Robinson, executive director of the Arctic Energy Alliance, is excited about wood pellets, a heat source which is growing in popularity in Yellowknife and the South Slave, areas with a highway connection to the South.

Wood pellets get people away from fossil fuels and save them money, he said. "Traditional or whatever, if it does those things, it's good."

Robinson said wood pellets have been popular in Europe for 20 years, but arrived in North America only a few years ago.

The wood pellets are produced at a sawmill in northern Alberta and delivered to the NWT by truck.

Robinson believes wood pellets are the way of the future to replace fossil fuels, especially in communities on the road system.

"The way things are going, pellets are taking off like crazy," he said.

Brian Lefebvre has been heating his Hay River home with wood pellets for three years, and is sold on the benefits of the system.

"I would never not have pellets," he said.

Lefebvre said he uses about $2,000 worth of pellets annually to heat his three-bedroom bungalow That is about four pallets a year.

The relatively inexpensive fuel allows him to heat his entire home, including the basement, something he said a person couldn't afford with traditional fuel.

In Hay River, a new grocery store - Super A Foods - reclaims heat produced by refrigeration units and coolers.

Steve Anderson, a co-owner of Super A Foods, said he is very pleased with the system.

"It certainly does help," he said. "When you feel the heat and it's not a major expense, God, it feels good."

Anderson said most grocery stores and certainly most new ones are moving in the direction of heat recovery.

"Anytime you're using energy, you're creating heat of one kind or another," said Lance Lindskog, a sales representative of National Refrigeration Heating Ltd., the Edmonton company which installed the reclamation system.

Normally, the excess heat would be rerouted outside a building.

Lindskog said a rough guess would be heat reclamation would save a business 15 to 20 per cent on its energy costs.

"When you consider that, that's a pretty good payback," he said.

There has also been some discussion over the years and even a few unsuccessful attempts to install ground source heat pumps in the NWT.

Bevington said he is not aware of any such system in the NWT, even though they are used elsewhere in Canada.

The MP said he would love to see such systems in NWT areas where the cost of electricity is low enough to make them feasible.