News
May 2009
Colt International wins Environmental Initiative of the Year Award 2009
Colt and Geothermal have received the prestigious H&V News Environmental Initiative of the Year Award 2009 for developing the UK's first hybrid system that combines air and ground source heat pump technologies. The award recognises individuals or companies in the HVAC sector that have taken meaningful steps to safeguard or improve the environment.
Specialist in Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) technology
The
hybrid system developed by Colt in partnership with Geothermal International, the specialist in Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) technology and joint winner of the award, provides a highly energy efficient way of heating and cooling buildings at much reduced levels of CO2 emissions, with low installation and running costs.
Developed during 2007, the new system was installed in 2008 in two London-based projects, at the
Ramada Hotel in Heathrow and at the new Hatchcroft building at
Middlesex University.
"It is the first fully cohesive source-to-delivery solution that combines air and ground source heat pump technology to run an HVAC system," commented Darren Civil, Colt International Marketing Manager, who received the award at the ceremony held in London on 30 April 2009. "The interface between the two technologies is seamless, the degree of control unmatched and the configuration unique. The Colt/Geothermal team has developed a workable and practical solution that is more environmentally friendly than any other comparable system attempting to do the same job."
Dual heat sources for maximum energy efficiency
The system is based on the Colt Caloris WRF Heat Pump system, which uses water instead of a refrigerant as the main energy transfer medium and air source heat pumps to generate the heat energy, complemented with a ground source heat pump.
It combines the two heat sources into a common system, which runs them together at times of peak load and switches between the two, automatically selecting the most effective heat source, depending on the air and ground temperatures, every 30 minutes.
The pumps need to run less time to provide the required heat, as they make the most efficient use of the energy sources, resulting in lower power consumption.
The hybrid system combines the Colt Caloris WRF CoP of 5 with Geothermal International's GSHP system Cop of 4 to 6, resulting in a significant increase in overall energy efficiency and reduction in power consumption.
Low installation and running costs
This unique solution combines air and ground source systems within a common water-based system. Installation costs are lower than those for a system based on GSHP alone. The dual system is more energy efficient than one using air source alone, and running costs are lower than those of comparable renewable energy HVAC systems. In addition, the use of water as refrigerant eliminates the need for costly leak detection systems in each space and regular pipe inspections as required by F-gas regulations.
One solution, easy to specify
The new system offers architects, contractors and clients the great advantage that they can procure the system as a total package from a single source, as it is configured as a complete solution, with consequent savings in time and costs.
Environmental initiative
"We are very proud of this award," added Darren Civil. "Everything we do at Colt is about contributing to a healthy, safe and sustainable built environment. We believe that we have made a breakthrough with this new technology, and we hope that this award will help us and our partner Geothermal International raise awareness within the industry about new ways of achieving energy efficiency."
