V Brooklynu nastaja ogromen geotermalni apartmajski kompleks, prvi te vrste

On the edge of the East River in Brooklyn, the cranes haven’t arrived at the construction site yet. Instead, massive drills are scattered across the full city block, drilling 320 boreholes nearly 500 feet into the ground. When construction is completed in 2025, the site will house the largest residential apartment complex in the U.S. to be heated by geothermal energy.

Geotermalno ogrevanje in hlajenje obstaja že nekaj časa, vendar se na splošno uporablja samo v posameznih hišah ali majhnih zgradbah. Geotermalni sistem pogosto ni na isti lokaciji kot stavba. Toda Lendlease, razvijalec s sedežem v Avstraliji, zdaj preizkuša geotermalno energijo v velikem obsegu v Brooklynu v testu, ki bi se lahko končal kot načrt za neto ničelno življenje.

“We will be using it for everything from a swimming pool that will be heated through geothermal. We will be using it for all the domestic hot water in the building and also for heating and cooling, which will be heat pumps in every apartment,” explained Scott Walsh, director of development for Lendlease.

Here’s how it works: Water below the frost line is at a constant temperature. By drilling down to it and creating a loop system of pipes, the water is brought up through heat exchanges, which can heat or cool the building all year long.

 “It’s approximately 55 degrees once you get below the frost line, and we are using that constant to cool in the summer and to be warmer in the winter,” explained Walsh. “Akin to your heart and the arteries and the veins in your body.”

Projekt na ulici Java 1 bo imel 834 najemnih enot v 5 stavbah, vključno s 37-nadstropno in 20-nadstropno stolpnico. Uporaba geotermalne energije bo zmanjšala emisije toplogrednih plinov za približno 53 %, vendar bo gradnja stala približno 6 % več. V 20-letnem obdobju, je dejal Walsh, bo Lendlease to več kot povrnil.

 “So as a long-term owner of an apartment building, we view this as in addition to its sustainability a financially sustainable practice,” he added.

 Tovrstne inovacije hitro postajajo potrebne, ker ima New York nove standarde trajnosti emisij za velike zgradbe, ki bodo začeli veljati prihodnje leto in zahtevajo zmanjšanje emisij za 40 % do leta 2030 in 80 % do leta 2050. Naknadno opremljanje starejših stavb, da bodo skladne, bo neverjetno drago. Ta kompleks bo ob odprtju popolnoma ničel.