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Ralph Ross
Electrical Construction, 1969 - Owner/Operator, Ross Refrigeration
You could say Ralph Ross has made quite a name for himself. The so-called "Father of Geothermal Energy" was one of the first people in Canada to explore and harness the energy from warm water deep below the Earth's surface.
Ralph's interest in energy started before he finished high school. In 1969, he enrolled in the electrical program at Springhill's Vocational school. At the same time Ralph was interested in refrigeration, but because a course in refrigeration didn't exist at that time, he studied it on his own on the side. Not long after graduating with an electrical diploma, Ralph also wrote and passed the exam to become a certified refrigeration technician.
Then in the early 1980s, Ralph took an idea he had been mulling over and put it to the test. For years he'd seen people struggle to heat their homes in the winter, and Ralph thought he might have a solution. When the mines in Springhill were closed down, the mine shafts were filled with water.
"Those shafts went fairly deep into the ground," he says. "I figured the water must have been heated by the Earth's core," he said. "I just needed to figure out a way to capture that heat and use it to heat people's homes."
After appealing to the provincial government for permission, Ralph got to work and tested his theory at an old mine shaft, and lo and behold, he was right. Before he knew it he found himself explaining his discovery to some of Canada's top scientists in Ottawa.
Today, this innovator and inventor is the owner of Ross Refrigeration, serving Cumberland County and surrounding areas. The company provides a variety of services in refrigeration, heating and cooling systems. And the father of geothermal energy says he credits all of his success to his post-secondary path.
"I gravitated towards the trades very early on because I was mechanically inclined and I knew university was not what I wanted," he says. "I wish more students coming out of high school today would make the same decision, based not on what they think they should do, but on what they love to do."
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