KSUT Regional
(2008-11-24)
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A drill rig has been parked outside Smiley Building for more than a month drilling ten wells to help heat the building.
(Photo: Victor Locke, KSUT)KSUT's Victor Locke reports.
VICTOR: Relaxing on his sun drenched third floor patio at the Smiley building in downtown Durango, Charles Shaw smiles cautiously as he talks about his conversion of a former Junior High School building, into one of the greenest, if not the greenest building in the nation.
SHAW: NOTHING LIKE THIS EXISTS ANYWHERE. THERE ARE NO VERY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS IN THE UNITED STATES, NONE! AND SO, THERE'S NO LARGE BUILDINGS THAT PRODUCE ALL THEIR ENERGY, ON SITE, FROM THE SUN. SO WE'RE TRYING TO GET AS CLOSE TO THAT AS WE CAN WITHOUT GOING TOO OVERBOARD.
Over the past several years, Shaw has retrofitted the 45-thousand square foot building with new windows and doors, better insulation, more efficient gas and woodburning boilers, covered the buildings roofs with photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, and more.
SHAW: REALLY WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO HERE IS TAKE AN OLD 1930'S BUILDING AND SHOW THAT THIS THING CAN RUN ENTIRELY ON SOLAR ENERGY AND TO DO THAT WE NEED THE HEAT PUMPS, THERE'S NO OTHER WAY.
For the past five weeks or so, a drill rig has sat next to the Smiley building, boring holes in the ground to accomodate Shaw's system of heat pumps he says will eventually provide 60-70 percent of the buildings heating needs.
The pumps will be attached to the ten wells being drilled.
SHAW: EACH WELL'S 400 FEET DEEP AND THERE'S A LOOP OF INCH AND A QUARTER PIPE IN EACH WELL. IT'S ESSENTIALLY A HUGE IN FLOOR HEATING SYSTEM IN THE EARTH EXCEPT WE'RE TAKING HEAT OUT OF THE EARTH INSTEAD OF PUTTING HEAT IN. AND THEN THE HEAT PUMPS IN THE BUILDING WILL CONDITION THAT HEAT UP TO A TEMPERATURE THAT WE CAN USE TO HEAT THE BUILDING.
Eric Ballew, with Can America Drilling of Simla, Colorado says drilling those ten wells in a tight, urban environment, has been no easy task.
BALLEW: WE'RE DRILLING THROUGH GRAVEL ON TOP AND THEN THE REST IS MANCOS SHALE. 65-FOOT OF GRAVEL ON TOP WHICH MAKES THAT TOUGH SO I'M RUNNING CASING IN THE GROUND TO SEAL THAT OUT.
Ballew's drilled a lot of wells for what's commonly referred to as ground source thermal heating.
BALLEW: PUT THE LOOP IN THE GROUND, AND THEN YOU RUN GROUT AND THEN THE EXCHANGERS USE THE CONSTANT TEMPERATURE OF THE GROUND WHICH IS 52 TO 56 DEGREES, INSTEAD OF ON AN AIR TO AIR SYSTEM WHERE YOU'RE PULLING IN THE HOT OR COLD AIR YOU'RE USING CONSTANT TEMPERATURE.
Shaw is also adding more solar panels to his building, to help provide the electricity the heat pumps will require.
SHAW: BASICALLY HEAT PUMPS, IF THEY'RE INSTALLED PROPERLY YOU CAN GET, IF YOU PUT IN ONE UNIT OF ELECTRICITY FOR THE PUMPS YOU CAN GET FOUR TO FIVE UNITS BACK, SO YOU CAN SAY IT'S FOUR OR FIVE TIMES AS EFFICIENT AS ELECTRIC HEAT.
The cost of the heat pump system is estimated at about 75-thousand dollars.
Shaw says cost, and cost recovery, aren't the issues though.
His goal is to create an example of what can be done with alternative energy.
As gas, electricity and other utility prices rise, Shaw says he's starting to get a lot of inquiries about what's going on at Smiley.
It's a project he says is ever evolving through the use of off shelf inexpensive, do it yourself technology.
From KSUT, Four Corners Public Radio, I'm Victor Locke.
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