From oil to carrots: makeover eyed for Alberta's old wells

Disused oil and gas wells dotting Canada's energy heartland may bear fruit for Alberta's farmers under a proposal to use waste heat from the idle facilities to allow crops to grow, even in the country's harsh winter conditions.

Provincial legislator Shaye Anderson wants the Alberta government to allow an old well to be converted to geothermal energy to heat an 750 square-meter greenhouse.

Currently the wells can only be used for extracting hydrocarbons.