Last month the Maritime Geothermal team gathered for our annual holiday party to celebrate the achievements of 2014 and to prepare for what will surely be a busy year ahead. When I looked around the table at this group that has grown substantially in the past few years, I was reminded of how far Maritime Geothermal has come since our founding 30 years ago. I couldn’t help but take this moment to reflect on our accomplishments in 2014. Keep reading to see some of our big wins in 2014 and future plans for 2015:
New Products
Our design department, headed by the immensely talented Dan Rheault, turned out some gems this year. At the top of this list (and everyone’s minds) is the air-to-water heat pump. Our geothermal installers have long awaited the Nordic ATW Series and I’m pleased that we were able to pull together in 2014 and take this machine from concept to reality. The first units are being installed as I write this, and I expect huge success from this new product in 2015.
We’ve also been working on the release of our redesigned commercial water-to-water heat pump. The Nordic Commercial W has been completely reconfigured within an upright cabinet instead of the short rectangular version we’ve manufactured in the past. This will allow the machines to be lined up side by side instead of stacked vertically, which will make them easier to install and service.
Finally, I shouldn’t forget about the high temperature heat pump. We designed this heat pump to serve the burgeoning waste heat recovery industry. It will take a clean incoming liquid with a minimum entering temperature of between 50°F (10°C) and 122°F (50°C) and will heat it to as high as 160°F (71°C).
New Site
We also made some changes to our public face in 2014. Our Marketing Manager Jordann spearheaded our launch onto social media and oversaw the rebuild of our website. A website redesign of this magnitude is no small undertaking, so we took the opportunity to add a fully-fledged information centre and dozens of resources including eBooks about geothermal and case studies to help both homeowners and professionals interested in geothermal heat pumps obtain accurate information about the capabilities and limitations of this technology.
Looking Forward to 2015
We introduced several great new products in 2014, but we’re not stopping there. We’ve got big plans for 2015:
New Products
Once the Nordic ATW Series is fully online, the next step is to design three additional complimentary products: an air-to-air and water heat pump, an air-to-water energy module (similar to our geothermal EMW Series), and an air-to-air heat pump. All of these new heat pumps will operate on the same basic principal as the ATW Series, but will offer more options for ducted systems and combination systems.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Dan is also tackling a cascade heat pump design. This heat pump will use two refrigeration circuits within a single heat pump to generate hot side temperatures up to 150°F (65°C) or more, for domestic hot water or hydronic baseboard space heating, using regular geothermal sources (open or closed loop).
The Team
Although we were sad to see her leave the head office in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, we’re excited for the possibilities presented by Jordann’s move to Halifax. She’ll be opening a mini Maritime Geothermal office there, bringing our total number of locations across Canada to three.
We’ve come a long way since our beginnings over 30 years ago. We started out in a 1,500 square foot facility and have expanded our operations to over 35,000 square feet of state of the art manufacturing space. It’s amazing how fast the time can go. I have no doubt that 2015 will be a strong year for us as our new products are released and the Canadian geothermal market continues to stabilize.
I’d like to thank our team for the hard work they’ve put into elevating Nordic heat pumps to the next level, and I want to thank our many installers, dealers, homeowners and commercial building owners who have supported us over the years – your loyalty and business are valued, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without you.