Economical and environmentally friendly

Clover Creek is to be among the first communities in the Lower Mainland to utilize the economical and environmentally friendly Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) to heat and cool the homes.

A GSHP uses the ground to provide heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that GSHPs are the most energy efficient and environmentally clean space-conditioning systems available.

There are currently approximately 30,000 residential Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) in Canada. An estimated 1,000 residential GSHPs are installed in Canada per year. Local examples of GSHPs include the Oakridge Shopping Centre, the Vancouver International Airport terminal, as well as residential communities like Sunrivers in Kamloops and Van Maren's recently completed Halcyon Meadows project.

A typical residential system has one heat pump unit with a capacity of ten kilowatts, or three tons, of refrigeration. A heat pump is a device that moves (pumps) heat from one area to another. In the case of a ground source heat pump, heat is removed from the indoor air and rejected to the ground in the summer. In the winter, heat is removed from the ground and added to the indoor air. The main advantage to this system is that the heat and cool are provided by the ground, and therefore do not have to be generated by the mechanical equipment. This allows the system to run more efficiently and means that a GSHP requires less electricity and gas input to produce the same amount of heat and cooling as a standard heating and air conditioning system.

Description of Proposed System for Clover Creek

Clover Creek II Limited Partnership will construct an open-loop geothermal system for Clover Creek.

Generally, the system will include:
• One ground water well and pumping station to supply geothermal groundwater to the entire complex.
• An underground piping network distributing geothermal ground water to each home.
• The geothermal groundwater, after going through the heat pump, will be discharged to a soak-away (or infiltration) trench located behind the homes. Returning the geothermal water to the ground will allow the cycle to repeat itself, as the groundwater picks up or releases energy from the earth

How the Clover Creek Geothermal Systems Benefits our Homeowners:

Central Air-conditioning: All Clover Creek homes will come with built-in central air-conditioning. No noisy compressors will be installed outside your home.

Lower Operating Cost: More than two thirds of the energy supplied by a GSHP is renewable energy taken from the ground. The other third comes from the electricity used to power the system.

The capital cost for a GSHP is usually significantly higher than for a conventional system and that is the case at Clover Creek as well. Rather than increasing the cost of the homes, the developer has chosen to recover the additional capital costs by increasing the lease payment by an amount which is less than the estimated energy savings. This will allow the homeowner the benefits of geothermal energy, including central air-conditioning, at an energy cost similar to a gas-fired system, and knowing that the heating/cooling component of their energy cost will rise only at the rate of inflation.

Low-Maintenance and Long Service Life: Several studies have shown that a GSHP lasts much longer than a conventional fossil fuel furnace and air-conditioning system, as the GSHP is not exposed to rain, snow and extreme outdoor temperature changes.

Good for the Environment: Unlike gas or oil wells, earth energy does not run out. As energy is withdrawn to heat a building, it is replenished by the sun, all without burning fossil fuels or dumping harmful gases to the atmosphere. The average home in Canada can reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to climate change problems, by 2.5 to 5 tonnes annually by using earth energy instead of electric heat or burning fossil fuels.

For more information on geothermal heating and cooling follow the links below

BC Hydro

CGC (Canada)

CHPC (USA)