Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
Air conditioning of buildings thanks to body heat
New concepts are seldom discussed in the field of air conditioning of premises and warehouses, or rather, of new ideas of capturing heat to produce energy.
In a few years, air conditioning has taken a qualitative leap in technology, super efficient appliances! But we continue to miss a multitude of situations where the waste of Energy it is palpable.
A well-known, studied and well-known example is the subject of the subway and trains, with their movement and braking can produce large amounts of energy that is wasted every day.
Now… What if we catch the human warmth of the attendees when the club is full? Capture that residual heat to produce energy and be able to cool or heat the premises or warehouse, whenever we want.
What if, channel energy from the dance floor will be the insignia of multidisciplinary space SWG3, in Glasgow. Nightclub on weekends, offices and showroom on weekdays.
So that we have a perspective of the project, we simplify how the heat will be obtained. We would have something like the following scheme …
The SWG3 room is going to undergo a radical reform in the next two months that will it will allow to absorb the heat generated in the disco space (It has capacity for 6,000 people), store it in the depths of the ground and return it to the premises, when it is not full, that simple!
The concept is framed in the BODYHEAT project. Promoted by the company TownRock Energy specializing in geothermal heating and cooling technologies, and energy efficiency and engineering consultants Harley Haddow.
The The objective of the project is to cover the heating and cooling demand of the SWG3 building with heat pumps attached to the ground, for capture and store waste heat produced by attendees the weekend, and extract it from the ground, to heat the place, during the week.
According to the company, the energy of the people will be enough to heat the building during the colder months.
First, we have to understand that body heat is lost in several ways; radiation, convection, conduction and evaporation (If you want to find out more about the mechanisms of heat loss HERE).
Second, the traditional in a geothermal heat pump is to drill the ground where coils are inserted. Long tubes filled with liquid that act as a conduit between the relatively constant 50 degree temperature of the rocks in the ground and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning of a building.
The stable temperature of the Earth's interior it can be literally channeled to balance temperature fluctuations during winter or summeror.
The TownRock Energy idea goes a bit further. Using existing technology, with air collectors on the roof of the premises. They will suck in the hot air expelled by the attendees to transfer it to the ground.
On the ground, there will be 17 huge holes, each one of them drilled into the ground between 150 and 200 meters. The heat that has been captured will heat the surrounding rocks by acting as "heat batteries".
Later, during the week, when the building is used as office space and art, it is usually necessary to have the heating turned on. At those times, heat can be pumped from the rocks into the building above.
As the founder of TownRock Energy comments… “the system can quickly switch modes, even allowing the building to heat up until 4pm on a Friday, at which point the cooling system kicks in when guests arrive. People's energy will be enough to heat the building during the colder monthswhen Glasgow is around 40 degrees Fahrenheit on average. '
And in case you're interested, the BODYHEAT launch party will take place during COP26 on Sunday, November 7, during the acquisition of the New York Times Climate Hub at SWG3.
If you liked the article, rate and share!
