F.W. Webb’s newest branch facility is set to be located in Waterford, CT, and feature a showroom, office, self-serve areas and a warehouse.JM Coull Inc.is building the project with Design Science architects to finish the facility by April 2011.
An important feature of the project is the closed loop hybrid solar-geothermal system, to be used for heating and cooling the facility and for hot water. The state-of-the-art system combines geothermal and solar technologies to handle 85% of the heating and cooling load for the building. Built-in efficiencies maximize system performance, saving energy and reducing operating costs.
JM Coull hired Turner Building Science & Design to advise F.W. Webb on the selection and engineering of the hybrid system.Jeffrey Harrison, Turner’s senior vice president and the engineer who designed the system, says F.W. Webb can expect to save $24,000 to $60,000 annually, depending upon fluctuations in the cost of propane.
Other features include:
- Twelve 500-foot earth coupled boreholes - each
of which contains a closed-loop, U-tube heat exchanger - will allow the
building to make use of the relatively constant temperatures below the earth’s
surface, which is warmer than the surface in winter and cooler in summer.
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Variable-frequency-driven (VFD) pumps will circulate water through the system,
saving energy by matching the pump speed to the fluctuations in demand.
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Fifty roof-mounted thermal solar panels will harness solar energy and feed it
into the 10,000-gallon underground solar storage tank.
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High efficiency and lower environmental risk- features include the use of a
solar panel drain-back configuration using plain water instead of glycol, which
eliminates the need for efficiency-robbing heat exchangers or glycol additives.
- A single evacuated tube, high-temperature thermal solar panel will provide domestic hot water.
F.W. Webb will also be able to showcase the equipment they sell for geothermal and solar heating and cooling systems. The Waterford project will include a training room for demonstrating the company’s products. Also, an area in the warehouse near the training room will afford an open view of the operational geothermal system.
Source: F.W. Webb
