Taking geothermal into extreme with a simultaneous heating and cooling configuration.
This 7,500 sqft piece of contemporary art is situated right on the Elbow River.
When we first saw the design of the house, we knew we could do something very special here. Geothermal heating and cooling is all about energy transfer. We set up the geothermal system in such a way that it actually transfers energy within the house first, before using the geothermal ground loop.
As a result, during the shoulder seasons, the homeowners can actually have cooling in the bedrooms and using that same energy to heat the basement.
While this configuration is more common nowadays in commercial geothermal applications, back in 2012 this was a novelty set up.
Not so much interesting, but rather sad. The house took many years to build and finally when the owners took possession, in the Spring of 2013, the Calgary Flood of 2013 hit literally months after moving in.
Thankfully, there was no damage to any of the underground geothermal infrastructure, but the entire mechanical room had to be re-done.
During the second iteration of the mechanical room, we placed a lot of the key equipment on higher platforms in case of a future flood.
