13 December 2005

Very efficient school with ground source heat pump system in a cold climate

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In 2003, one of the largest Scool Boards located on the south shore of Montreal, in collaboration with a well known consulting engineering firm and Hydro-Quebec´s Energy Utilization Service and LTE Laboratory, constructed a new all-electric school with the intent of becoming a “green” and very energy-efficient building in the context of a cold climate. An indirect, closed-loop ground source heat pump system with a vertical ground heat exchanger, exhaust air and solar energy heat recovery and advanced control strategies was constructed at the DU TOURNANT school. The main characteristic of this GSHP system is its simplicity in terms of design, which minimizes construction and maintenance costs in addition to providing some of the well-known advantages of institutional GSHP systems such as a smaller plant room, indoor location of equipment, lack of noise and outdoor disturbances, and longer technical life of the heat pumps versus traditional roof-top units.