Neat!
A new IKEA store in the Denver area will employ 500-foot-deepholes in its cooling and heating system. The 130 holes will be
just below the store's parking garage. Temperatures in the holes
hover around 55 degrees year round, so air inside them can be
pumped up into the cooling and heating system to reduce energy
costs by up to fifty percent. Nationwide, geothermal has the
potential for saving billions of dollars in energy costs.
Opening in 2011, the new Denver store has the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory as a partner in the design and construction of
the geothermal energy components. The system works basically as a
series of pipes placed in the holes containing a liquid like
water, which takes on the temperature of the soil walls of the
holes and then is transported back up to surface level. If the
temperature at the surface is hot during summer, the 55-degree
water is used for cooling, and if it is winter, it is used for
warming.
Erin Anderson, geothermal analyst said, "We're trying to
determine what the temperature is all the way down as a way to
achieve a comfortable temperature in the store. We have this
ground that is pretty steadily cooler in the summer when you want
cool air and warmer in the winter when you want warm air."
Digging the 500-foot holes requires four to five hours at a time,
if everything goes well. If there are difficulties, one hole can
take all day. The cost of drilling should be offset by energy
savings fairly early in the store's life and the geothermal
energy system is expected to function well for as long as the
building is in use. The hope for the Denver area store is that it
will be a model for other commercial geothermal projects.
posted by LifeChanger Blog @ 10:01 AM
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