Greensleeves Technologies Corp

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  • Borefield Rescue

    Borefield Rescue

    What do you do if your geothermal borefield is failing?

    Don’t panic; modern technology can help rescue your borefield.

    A properly designed borefield should give you years of indoor air comfort. Unaccounted for changes in building use, climate and global warming impacts and numerous unforseen events, however, can result in borefield temperature issues.
    Historically, engineers did not have the tools to help borefields evolve with the changes. The standard solutions were adding extra borefeet, oversized cooling towers and/or redundant boilers. These fixes may have worked, but they came with an expensive price tag. At least they were better than totally abandoning the borefield.

    Modern technology takes into account previous and future unexpected changes and makes your borefield good as new. Actual historical building data should be analyzed to determine the appropriate size cooling tower or boiler needed to bring the borefield into normal temperature range. Once properly sized equipment is installed, software will use this historical data in conjunction with real time data to optimize the equipment to maintain proper borefield temperatures going forward. Additionally, by using Controls software to optimize the system, energy costs and CO2 emissions are reduced, water consumption is lowered, and unexpected future changes are automatically accounted for.

    Don’t abandon your borefield or add oversized equipment when a better solution is readily available.
    Rescue your borefield, optimize your system, and stay cool for years to come.

  • Geothermal Optimization Software vs BAS static software.

    Geothermal Optimization Software vs BAS static software.

    Does your building use a Building Automation System? Many BAS systems have static geothermal controls that allow the technician to run equipment on a timed schedule allowing you to save on energy and lower your utility bills.

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  • Optimizing your hybrid geothermal system

    Optimizing your hybrid geothermal system

    Hybrid geothermal systems use GSHPs to satisfy base building load needs and conventional equipment to address peak demands.

    These systems improve the overall performance of your heating and cooling equipment and reduce capital costs, energy use, and carbon emissions.

    As with all heating and cooling, the key to a well-designed and properly installed geothermal system, especially a hybrid system, is the addition of geothermal optimization software that pro-actively monitors, controls and optimizes all of your equipment.

    Fortunately, there are geothermal optimization software packages that are inexpensive supplements to your BAS system and pay for themselves in short order.

    Unlike traditional BAS systems, geothermal optimization software pro-actively balances the ground thermal loads, maintains the appropriate GSHP temperatures, and manages the supplemental equipment to address your building’s heating and cooling needs while dramatically reducing your overall costs, energy use, and carbon emissions.

    These geothermal optimization software programs use artificial intelligence to maximize your investment in ways your BAS never imagined. For example, they can redirect heat exchange fluid to your cooling tower at night when electricity rates are low or inject heat through the boiler and into the building loop when the GSHP temperature drops below design temperatures.

    The fact is that BAS systems were designed for buildings with traditional HVAC systems.  Geothermal optimization software packages were designed to assist BAS systems with geothermal and hybrid heating and cooling systems.

    When it comes to optimizing a building with a geothermal or hybrid system, simply download these geothermal specific optimization programs into your BAS and let the artificial intelligence and predictive controls constantly review your building’s energy usage, historical and real–time weather data and occupancy schedules, and fully optimize your system to deliver consistent indoor climate comfort at the lowest cost with the least carbon emissions.

    BAS and geothermal optimization software: two great systems that work great together. Are they working for you?

  • Happy Independence Day.

    Happy Independence Day.

  • Save Money with Hybrid Geothermal.

    Save Money with Hybrid Geothermal.

    One of the big decisions when constructing a new building is how to heat and cool it. If you want a solution that is environmentally friendly and can lower your energy costs, you should consider installing a hybrid geothermal system. This type of system reduces upfront capital costs, emits fewer greenhouse gases and lowers energy costs.
    Using the Greensleeves’ Solutions Tool, we modeled a hypothetical 74,000 ft² school in Memphis, TN. In this model, the school could incur an initial capital cost of $1.16M, and have annual energy expenditures of $91k, using a conventional HVAC system.
    That same school could incur an initial capital cost of $1.78M, and have annual energy expenditures of $62k, using a traditional geothermal system. This system has additional capital costs but reduces the energy costs by approximately 32% annually.
    If this same school used a hybrid geothermal system, the model shows that the initial capital cost could be $1.48M and the annual energy expenditures would be $53k.
    In this scenario, a hybrid geothermal system uses approximately 42% less energy than a conventional system, and the installation cost is $300k less than a traditional geothermal system. Running the lifecycle cost analysis in this Solutions Tool, a hybrid geothermal system has a $2.6M savings when compared to a conventional system, creating a 7.7-year payback.
    Every new construction project should consider a hybrid geothermal system as cost effective alternative to conventional HVAC systems. Save your money, while saving our planet.
    We invite you to visit the Greensleeves’ Solutions Tool to explore the possibilities.

  • Resiliency based on Catastrophic Events.

    Resiliency based on Catastrophic Events.

    On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. Experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $128 billion in damage. On October 24, 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck Kingston, Jamaica – then headed North making landfall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 29th. In New York and New Jersey, storm surges were 14 feet above the average low tide. It is estimated that Hurricane Sandy caused $70 billion in damage in the United States.

    Both of these catastrophic events devastated the area’s population and the energy infrastructure. Some of this was due to the fact that the sources of energy used have parts that can be severely affected by weather. HVAC equipment, solar panels and wind turbines can get blown or swept away. Geothermal heating and cooling infrastructure can help return simple comforts after such devastating events. The source system is contained in the ground and is rarely affected by weather; making it immediately available – now and into the future. This can be life-changing when a hurricane rolls through.

    It’s an unfortunate fact that natural disasters cannot be prevented. Geothermal systems, however, can help make our world a little more resilient when disaster strikes.

  • Are You Wasting Resources You Already Pay For?

    Are You Wasting Resources You Already Pay For?

    The movement of heat energy to and from a building is important in the heating and cooling process. A properly engineered geothermal system takes into account the entire building from the standpoint of heat sources and sinks, and efficiently moves heat that already exists throughout the building.
    It is commonly understood that geothermal systems move heat from the earth to the building when there is a heating need and from the building to the ground during cooling. However, there are other ways heat can be moved around that maximize energy savings and often reduce the overall system’s capital costs. Do you know how that’s done?
    Most commercial buildings are cooling dominant. This means that over the course of a year there will be more heat energy rejected than absorbed. If the amount of heat rejected can be balanced with what will be needed later, the size and cost of the outside heat exchanger can be greatly reduced.
    How can this excess heat energy be used? Many commercial buildings have a significant need for domestic hot water – including bathrooms, locker rooms, kitchens, and laundry. Geothermal heat pumps can use the heat absorbed from space conditioning to generate nearly free hot water. Why buy more energy to produce hot water when excess heat energy is being wasted?
    Additionally, excess building heat energy can be used to generate the hot water needed for radiant and snow melt systems. With radiant systems, heat can be moved from the core areas of a building, where cooling may be required year-round, to the perimeter areas of the building where there may be heat loss through walls and windows. With snow melt systems, the excess heat energy can be used to melt snow and ice on sidewalks and driveways.
    In situations where a building is heating dominant, there may be additional opportunities to capture heat and move it to the building for space conditioning or hot water generation.
    When excess heat energy is generated, but not immediately needed, it can be moved to the ground and stored for later use. What kinds of heat movement does your building need? Are you taking advantage of this free resource?

  • Carbon Emissions: What Are You Doing To Eliminate Them?

    Carbon Emissions: What Are You Doing To Eliminate Them?

     

    The use of geothermal technology helps positively impact the health of the environment through the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

    Geothermal systems do not use the combustion process for heating and cooling, dramatically reducing the chance of carbon monoxide poisoning. Consequently, most geothermal systems emit close to zero carbon emissions, helping all of us move closer to a sustainable society and a cleaner tomorrow

  • Mother Nature, Energy the Way it was Intended

    Mother Nature, Energy the Way it was Intended

    When it comes to heating and cooling a building, you want the best system for you, your company, your community and the planet. The best system is the one that utilizes the resources Mother Nature already provided.

    Geothermal heating and cooling systems take advantage of the energy we already have in the ground. These systems maximize the energy, conserve our resources, and lower the costs.

    Using this preexisting and natural occurring renewable energy source reduces our use and dependence on fossil fuels. When properly leveraged, geothermal energy provides a far more stable and cost-effective source of energy.

    Why squander funds for environmentally hazardous fossil fuels when you are standing on a naturally existing and sustainable energy source? Invest wisely and move this energy from the ground to your building.

    Sit back, relax and let Mother Nature provide your heating and cooling the way she intended – with geothermal.

  • Clean, renewable, and cost-effective: the geothermal advantage.

    Clean, renewable, and cost-effective: the geothermal advantage.