Ground Source Heat Pump system more efficient than conventional heating.
Luxury homes on the site of the famous Rafts Boathouse at Eton overlooking the River Thames and Windsor Castle are all to be heated by an innovative system that makes use of the heat stored naturally underground.
Each of the 13 apartments being built by Bewley Homes on the site once owned by the world’s most famous public school, Eton, will have their heat supplied by a shared Ground Source Heat Pump system that will result in substantial savings in carbon emissions per year.
The £500,000 system is being installed and will be remotely monitored by GI Energy, the UK market leader in the design and installation of Ground Source Heat Pump systems, based in Coventry, UK.
GI Energy pioneered the use of this renewable energy in the UK and to date has completed more than 200MW of installations in schools, universities, hospitals, commercial developments, police headquarters and housing.
Andrew Corner, Business Development Director, GI Energy said: “The beauty of Ground Source Heat Pump systems is that they can be installed in almost any location – from countryside to inner city – and still deliver savings.
“By exploiting the heat stored naturally underground, Ground Source Heat Pump systems both save on energy bills and reduce carbon footprints. On average they are four times as efficient as conventional central heating.
“These are fantastic savings and the shrinking of carbon footprint is also impressive – all in a system that delivers heating in a clean format that can be individually controlled within each apartment.
”I am delighted that Bewley Homes has selected GI Energy to install the Ground Source Heat Pump system at Rafts Boathouse, and I am sure the future owners will enjoy their truly 21st century heating system.”
Andrew Brooks, MD of Bewley Homes, said “As a company we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and by installing a ground source heat pump system we dramatically reduce the running costs of the heating but also make substantial savings in a carbon footprint”. Eton Riverside adjoins the River Thames in the heart of Eton with uninterrupted views of Windsor Castle.
“With such a location, we at Bewley intend to create an outstanding development with cutting edge technology of a traditional appearance.
“The homes are to be released in October.”
Ground Source Heat Pumps consist of a network of pipes underground, called earth loops, attached to heat pumps. Liquid pumped through the loops extracts heat from the ground. Heat pumps then raise its temperature to a level that can be used for heating a building. For cooling, the process is reversed.
Traditionally loops have been buried either close to the surface in a horizontal array, or vertically in deep boreholes, but GI Energy has also buried loops in underground aquifers, lakes, reservoirs and even inside the piles that underpin many buildings in constrained urban sites.
GI Energy has developed sophisticated monitoring and control systems that can optimise the running of a Ground Source Heat Pump system. At the iconic One New Change building close to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, measurements taken throughout a whole year show that, on average, for every kilowatt of energy required to run the system, 4.1 kilowatts of heating and/or cooling was produced.
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