ICAX’s Interseasonal Heat Transfer system has been running for over a year in the new Greenfield Tesco superstore, Oldham and initial results indicate it’s providing a significant step towards building low carbon supermarkets.
The 25,400 sq ft building is the first supermarket in the world to be heated and cooled by Interseasonal Heat Transfer. As part of Tesco’s commitment to halve carbon emissions by 2020, it aims for new stores built between 2007 and 2020 to emit half the CO2 of a 2006 new store. The Greenfield store was fitted with the ICAX Interseasonal Heat Transfer system designed to reduce emissions from heating and cooling by 41% compared to a conventional store.
Twelve months after completion the system is reporting a coefficient of performance rating of 8.5 compared to a straightforward ground source return of 3.5 This means for every 1kW of electricity the system is producing 8.5 kW of heat.
ICAX provides turnkey heating and cooling to buildings based on Interseasonal Heat Transfer. It came into being in 1999 following a research programme that was conducted by Mark Hewitt and Andy Ford, who were providing a course in the University of North London on the efficient use of energy in buildings. That was the origin of the idea behind interseasonal heat transfer.
The ICAX design for IHT uses the ICAX Skid to collect heat from heat recovery within the building in summer, stores the heat in ThermalBanks in the ground, and releases heat back to the supermarket in winter using ground source heat pumps.
This process works by capturing heat energy from the sun via a collection pipe network just beneath the surface of black tarmac roads (or car parks or school playgrounds). It then stores the energy in computer-controlled Thermal Banks in the ground under the foundation of buildings, and releases it to heat the buildings in winter via heat pumps linked to underfloor heating.
ICAX is currently completing an installation of Interseasonal heat transfer at the Civic Centre redevelopment at Wellington in Shropshire for Telford & Wrekin Council. This innovative project includes providing heating to council offices and a sports centre swimming pool. The primary source of heat is from solar energy captured from a Solex pitched roof solar collector installed by AST Roofing.
In this case the ICAX Skid collects heat from the most efficient source available – which will be the solar collector in fine conditions, an air source heat pump when the external air temperature is high or the Thermal Bank when air temperatures are low. When surplus heat is available in summer the ICAX Skid charges the ground with heat in order to be able to be able to provide heat more efficiently in winter. The ICAX Skid also stores the heat extracted from cooling the building in summer in the Thermal Bank, instead of throwing it all away via a roof mounted chiller like a standard wasteful air conditioning system.
ICAX has also presented a strong case to various airports for the use of interseasonal heat transfer systems to keep runways ice-free clear through the wintery months – something Heathrow Airport’s airlines and passengers would have been very thankful for during last winter’s big freeze.
For more information tel: 020 7253 2240 or visit their website: www.icax.co.uk.
