Greensleeves Technologies Corp

Tag: Geothermal

  • Lowering grow house energy costs

    Lowering grow house energy costs

    The main task of grow houses is to provide optimized conditions for plant development at the least cost.

    Although most modern grow houses are exceptional at managing energy from the sun, they have been forced to use unnecessarily expensive supplemental energy from natural gas, fossil fuel, space heaters, forced air, hot water, steam, and electricity.

    Until recently, there has not been efficient technology that allows grow houses to cost-effectively use geothermal energy, in conjunction with the sun or other light source, to provide heating and cooling for optimal plant development.

    Today, however, there are software products to help design, monitor, control and optimize the geothermal or hybrid system. This is achieved by using predictive algorithms to create optimal grow house conditions and reduce installation and energy costs by up to fifty percent. The energy savings pays for the initial capital costs and the annual energy savings continues for the lifetime of every grow house using the geothermal energy source for the next fifty to hundred years.

    Optimized geothermal grow houses are sustainable, renewable and year-round climate control systems that both heat and cool grow houses at a fraction of the economic and environmental costs of traditional systems. These systems simply use less energy by maximizing their own naturally occurring and renewable constant year-round heating and cooling supply.

    Greener optimized grow houses make better plants at less cost for greater profit. Why settle for less?

  • 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.

  • Storing Heat

    Storing Heat

    It’s no secret that geothermal heating and cooling systems are good for your building, your budget, and the environment by utilizing thermal energy storage.

    Thermal energy storage is a system where the battery is always charged, so to speak. It captures heat energy from the building to use when cooling is needed and returns heat to the building when warmth is required.

  • Geothermal Advantages

    Geothermal Advantages

    There are many advantages to using modern geothermal systems as an alternative to conventional HVAC.  The geothermal systems of today are simple, highly effective and will last decades when designed, installed and maintained properly. Advances in design simulation and modeling software have made it possible to accurately “right – size” ground loop heat exchangers keeping initial capital costs minimized while optimizing building performance. 

     Geothermal heat pumps have an average 20 to 25 year life expectancy while the ground loop infrastructure will reliably perform for 50 to 100 years. The piping network, located in the ground, is constructed of robust high–density polyethylene (HDPE) or cross-linked PEXa material and is not exposed to the elements. Other system components are located inside the building, protected from adverse weather, and require minimal maintenance compared to conventional equipment. Ground loop systems are specifically configured to accommodate the space available, the building requirements and the local climate. Geothermal systems provide owners with extended equipment life cycles that drastically reduce replacement schedules and minimize operational costs. Proper design, periodic maintenance and continual monitoring ensure that the system continues to operate at peak efficiency and provide the performance expected by owners. 

     It is advantageous to have a system that can be relied on for decades that is environmentally friendly, economical and provides a comfortable building environment. 

  • Closed-Loop Source Heat Exchangers

    Closed-Loop Source Heat Exchangers

    Closing the Loop 

    Geothermal heat pump systems can be designed using a variety of configurations.  The most common configuration, a closed-loop system, consists of underground, continuous piping loops. These plastic pipes are filled with an anti-freeze-type liquid that helps transfer the ground temperature to the geothermal heat pump. The most common closed-loop systems feature vertical and horizontal ground loops.  

     In urban areas, where space is limited, vertical ground loops can accommodate the installation of geothermal heat pumps. First, boreholes are drilled down into the earth to a depth between 100 and 600 feet, depending on the building’s projected thermal loads. These boreholes vary in diameter between 3⅝” and 6”.  

     Next, two plastic piping lengths are inserted into the borehole with a 180[Symbol] “U”-bend joining the piping at the bottom of the borehole. Center-to-center spacing of boreholes varies, but usually measure 20 feet. Boreholes are grouted from the bottom to the top to provide a mechanical connection between the plastic piping and the surrounding earth, and a seal between aquifers.  

     Borefields can consist of one or two boreholes for residential applications and several thousand for large commercial systems. Since vertical ground loops require minimal space, they are used more frequently than horizontal ground loops. 

     A horizontal ground loop is the next most common installation option for geothermal heat pump systems. A horizontal ground loop field installation typically occurs in rural areas that have a lot of space. These pipes are buried on a horizontal plane approximately six to 10 feet below the ground. In some cases, horizontal ground loop fields can cost less than vertical ground loops because they require no drilling. Horizontal systems can be installed using excavators or other ground moving machines.  

     Staying in the Loop 

     Horizontal systems can also be used in retro-fit situations by utilizing adjacent spaces such as parking lots. In these systems, directionally drilling can expand existing borefields into adjacent spaces without interfering with the existing surface area. 

     Geographic location and available land are two of the most important factors to consider when choosing a geothermal system. Fortunately, technology provides installation options to accommodate any property. The common goal: to provide an ideal, cost-effective living environment while remaining environmentally friendly.