Real Dream Workshops: Making hydro with Otto Bloemen

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Are you planning to build a new farm workshop? How will you power and heat it? Do you want a crane?

In episode 3 of Real Dream Workshops, Peter Johnson visits his neighbour Otto Bloemen at Lucan, Ontario-based OJB Industries. Bloeman tells Johnson how he set out to build a cost-effective wood-frame building with high insulation value. Then inside the 24-foot-high shop he added a separate crane structure, which eliminated the need for a steel building.

Bloemen took the same innovative approach to heating the building. He generates his own hydro using a natural gas generator. It costs $1,300 a month to produce the power required to operate and heat the shop – or about 9 cents per kilowatt hour.


If you have some cool features in your workshop, let Peter Johnson know. We may visit your shop and feature you in the series. Connect with him on Twitter: @WheatPete or via email: [email protected].

Check out: Real Dream Workshops, Ep. 1 — Shawn Schill

Johnson will also be presenting a mash-up of all the great ideas and insights from the series at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference at Ridgetown College, Jan. 3 and 4, 2018. Don’t miss it.

Check out: Real Dream Workshops, Ep. 2 — Barry and Tyler McBlain

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Categories: Ag Business / Eastern Canada / Machinery / Podcasts / Real Dream Workshops / Video / Western Canada
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Bernard Tobin

Bernard Tobin is RealAgriculture's Ontario Field Editor. A Ryerson University journalism grad, @AgBern was raised on a dairy farm near St. John's, Newfoundland. For more than two decades, he has specialized in agricultural communications, working for numerous farm media outlets, communications agencies and ag consulting companies. He is based in Georgetown, Ontario.

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