The
Hermitage, a 300-hectare master-planned community at Gledswood Hills in
Sydney’s south-west will feature geothermal heating and cooling infrastructure
to help residents save significantly on energy costs.
Developed
by global residential property developer, Sekisui House, The Hermitage will be
the first in the New South Wales housing market to feature geothermal technology.
Sekisui House has already installed the technology at its $500 million
development, Ecco Ripley in Queensland’s Ipswich.
Explaining
the benefits of geothermal technology, Sekisui House Project Director Craig
D’Costa said the most important advantage was the savings on electricity costs
for homeowners, enabling them to save up to 60 percent on electricity bills by
using the geothermal heating and cooling system.
Sekisui
House has partnered with Brisbane-based company, QPS Geothermal to implement
the geothermal system at The Hermitage.
QPS
Geothermal Director Mark Langdon said the core benefit of the geothermal system
was energy efficiency. Energy savings from a geothermal system could even go up
to 70-80% during more extreme weather patterns. Even a 60% saving on the energy
bill equates to around $1,000 a year. Quiet operation is also another benefit,
especially in urban areas.
The
Hermitage is currently trialling the Geo-Air system with a view to making it
available to all new homes.
Geo-Air
uses world-leading technology to draw from the constant temperature of the
earth to heat or cool spaces, reducing the typical effort and energy load of
conventional systems required to reach a similar temperature within the home. A
geothermal ground loop is installed into the ground at depths of about 80m and
the constant temperature of the earth is used to cool or absorb the heat.
The
system distributes refrigerants into closed ground loops where excess heat is
naturally absorbed by the much cooler subsurface temperature, following which the
refrigerant condenses into a liquid and is returned to the internal fan coil to
cool the space. In winter, the refrigerant is circulated through the geothermal
ground loops and absorbs the heat from the ground, with the resulting hot
vapour circulated through the internal fan coil to heat the space.
According
to Mr Langdon, geothermal technology is highly popular in various parts of the
world and is perfect for Australian conditions. About 40% of households and
businesses across Europe use geothermal heating and cooling.
Geo-Air’s
efficiencies have independent confirmation from the American Heating and
Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). The geothermal system is also simple and comparatively
inexpensive to install, and is almost invisible since most of the equipment is
buried below the ground.
Sekisui
House’s Mr D’Costa said homeowners at The Hermitage will very soon be able to choose
geothermal heating and cooling in their homes. Once Sekisui House understood the
cost savings and the environmental benefits offered by Geo-Air, they were
confident the technology would be welcomed by their existing and future residents.