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New green school will have huge underground heat exchanger

Posted: 17/09/2008

A new school in Dorset is to install a massive ground to air heat exchanger, which makes use of the constant temperature of the earth to warm air in the winter, and cool it in the summer. The technology can add as much as nine degrees centigrade to cold winter air, and cool the heat of summer by up to fourteen degrees. The system will be supplied by renewable energy specialist REHAU, who say this is the largest project to make use of their AWADUKT Thermo heat exchanger system.

The renewable source of controlled ventilation will be installed at the end of this month at the new Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne, Dorset, which is being built as part of the DfES Building Schools for the Future (BSF) One School Pathfinder programme.

Dorset County Council has secured additional funding for the school to become a Demonstration Project for Sustainable Schools and the AWADUKT system, which will deliver substantial energy savings on both heating and cooling, has been specified in line with that. Its performance will be data-logged by the school and the ongoing savings analysed into the future.

Around 3,500m of 250mm diameter polypropylene pipework will shortly be installed in grids 1.5m below ground underneath three of the school’s blocks and will use the natural temperature of the ground at that depth to pre-heat or pre-cool ventilation air before it is delivered into the school.

The specially designed polypropylene pipe material ensures the most efficient heat transfer between the ground and the air, while an integrated silver antimicrobial layer inside the solid walled pipes prevents microbial growth.

The temperature of the air drawn through the network of pipes will be increased by the warmth in the ground in winter and reduced by its relative coolness in summer, providing not only a more comfortable internal environment for the staff and pupils during the warm summer months but also reducing the energy required for space heating in winter.

The main contractor for the project is Carillion, concept architects are Feildon Clegg Bradley and consultant engineers and architects are Mouchel. The AWADUKT Thermo ground - air heat exchanger has won several awards - the HVAC&R innovation prize for 2007 awarded by the Italian newspaper Costruire Impiante, as well as a gold medal at the BUDMA international construction trade fair in Poland in January 2007 and a prize at France’s specialist trade fair ‘Salon des énergies renouvelables’ in February 2007.

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