Sustainability
Ground source heat pump heating system
A
new extension, East Hallsannery, was built in 2002 to provide
additional
accommodation and meeting facilities for the field centre. To make the
building
more sustainable it was decided to go for a heating
system which used a renewable resource. The ground
acts as a huge store of heat (with the input principally
from
solar heat) and can this can be extracted using a heat exchanger.
This type of system is used widely in Europe though has yet to
catch on in
this country despite the many advantages:
Technical:
Greatly reduced CO2 emissions
De-centralisation
of power supply: no need to supply fuel nation-wide
Economic:
Greatly reduced transportation risks and costs
Short to medium
term pay back time
Low
operating costs (no oil or gas purchase)
Reduction
of carbon tax for domestic and industrial property
Affordable
and efficient (1 kW in, up to 4 kW out)
At
Hallsannery we have placed 'slinky' coils in three trenches in
the fields adjoining the house, these
have water pumped around them which absorbs ground heat.
This is
transported back to the ‘GeoKitten’ heat exchanger (
Kensa Engineering,
Falmouth, Cornwall)
This
extracts the heat and this is linked to an
underfloor heating
system to heat the house.
The system does require some electricity to
drive the
pumps and the heat exchanger but
this is offset by the heat energy gained.
The
system does work and provides a lovely warm house
For
every 1 kW electrical energy used to run the system,
between 2 and 4 kW heat transferred into the domestic
heating
Supplies
Local
produce is used wherever possible. The policy of the Centre is to
avoid the use of GM foods.
Field
site use
The Centre attempts to minimise it's
impact on the local environment by using sensitively e.g. by
rotating use of field sites to avoid excess trampling, leaving no
litter.
Recycling
The
Centre recycles drinks cans, food cans, plastics and paper and
composts vegetable waste where appropriate. Recycling bins are
placed at strategic locations in the Centre.
Lighting
:
Low energy light bulbs
used throughout the Centre. Electricity supplies are on an EDF
Green tariff sourced from renewables.
Light tubes
The new building has two
light tubes which bring light through mirrored tubes to
potentially dark corridors and kitchen areas
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