Commercial Architecture June 2018 - 26

PROJECT

geothermal

Above. The Evergreen geothermal system uses a borehole thermal-energy storage design that uses heat from 260 solar-thermal panels
pumped into the 40 boreholes.
Below. The Cupolex in-floor system provides insulation for the radiant in-floor heating and cooling, creates a void space below the
surface, and provides drainage for flood and ground water.

combustion must be eliminated. Everything on site must be powered
with electricity, and/or use renewable-energy technologies. The province of Ontario has recognized this and their Climate Change Action Plan provides education and endorsement for heat pumps, specifically geothermal heat pumps (GHPs).
Heating without combustion can require research into different
combinations of renewable energy (RE), and Evergreen Brick Works
personnel did their homework. The team has been working together
for quite some time to ensure that the 53,000-sq.-ft. historic kiln
building, which is surrounded by a window wall, could be preserved,
all the while making certain they could cool and heat without combustion and the resultant carbon emissions.
GEOTHERMAL AND INSULATION

Two big concerns with the geothermal system were the limited space
available to drill boreholes, and having to work with a building that
could not be insulated enough to effectively hold heat because one of
the restrictions is to preserve the look, inside and out. This resulted
in the need to use borehole thermal energy storage (BTES). The site
uses 260 solar-thermal panels to collect and pump heat into the 40
boreholes, each 605-ft. deep. Panel heat not needed for the boreholes
is used elsewhere at the Brick Works site.
The floor of the kiln building was one place insulation could be
provided without violating preservation regulations. The facility had
to be elevated above the 5-year/2-year floodplain, a difficult task to
do while maintaining the facility's historic integrity. According to
aimed at making it one of Canada's only carbon-neutral sites.

ronto (lga-ap.com), even with the floor raised and insulated, flooding

carbon-neutral facilities. Net-zero projects create or produce as much

will occur from time to time, so care was taken to ensure all equip-

energy as they use, but the net-zero approach does not take into ac-

ment was inside, elevated, and protected. Since geothermal systems

count the resulting carbon emissions from combustion heating with

need no outside condensers, they simply made certain that the GHPs

fossil fuels. This is the root of the challenge faced by our planet. The

were installed inside and above the main flood plain.

whole world could be operationally net zero, but GHG emissions
would skyrocket, further accelerating global warming.

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

JUNE 2018

Drew Adams, project architect with LGA Architectural Partners, To-

It's important to understand the differences between net-zero and

Raising the floor included installing a Cupolex in-floor system,
manufactured by Pontarolo Engineering Inc., Vaughan, Ontario (cu-

The answer is to follow the lead of projects that have chosen a

polex.ca), to provide insulation for the radiant in-floor heating and

carbon-neutral path, such as the Evergreen Brick Works. To be car-

cooling, create a void space below the surface, reduce the amount of

bon neutral, i.e., have net-zero emissions (NZE), on-site fossil-fuel

needed virgin granular, and provide an internal drainage system for

commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

http://www.lga-ap.com http://www.cupolex.ca http://www.commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture June 2018