THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240221
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 30 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
With nearly 500 wells drilled around its foundation, Great Bridge Middle School South will become the first school in Chesapeake to use a new heating and cooling system that officials say could yield savings of up to 45 percent.
The new temperature-control system employs a geothermal heat pump, which uses the earth's constant temperature to heat and cool the two-story building by pumping water from the school into the ground and back.
Construction of the $1.4 million project is nearly complete and the renovated system should be implemented by late December, said Clifton Randolph, the school's principal.
The geothermal system should be much more cost effective and energy efficient, said Steven Gilbert, director of school plans and purchases. But to be sure of exactly how much, officials are planning to closely compare utilities costs between Great Bridge Middle School South and Crestwood Middle School, a school similar in size and dimension.
The system, which costs about $200,000 more than the conventional one to install, will make up for the difference in cost in about five or six years, Gilbert said. And after that, the school will see a savings in utility costs of between 35 to 45 percent.
``The reason (Great Bridge Middle School South) was selected (to be the first school with the new system) was because it has a sister school . . . with similar floor plans,'' he said.
In the late 1980s, Crestwood was renovated with a new but conventional heating and cooling system, he said. Like Crestwood, Great Bridge Middle School was in need of an air conditioning system, so the two schools presented themselves as ideal subjects to compare new and conventional systems. Virginia Power also plans to supply both schools with metering systems so that they can accurately monitor the energy use, he said.
``If a few years down the road we find that it does produce the savings it is suppose to produce, then we will look to go full scale with our new developments,'' Gilbert said.
Great Bridge Middle School South's 75 classrooms will be heated by wells drilled from 200 to 300 feet deep around the base of the school, and larger areas, such as the gymnasium, cafeteria and auditorium, will be heated by rooftop heat pumps. The new system will not affect the school's 25 portable trailer-type classrooms.
Gilbert says the system takes advantage of the constant ground temperature. Water is pumped into the ground and cooled or heated, depending on the need, and returned to the school through a closed loop system. Water is not extracted from the ground, he said, so the system will not disturb the water table.
New windows and doors have also been installed in the school by Riddick & Associates, the architectural firm working on the $3 million renovation project. The project also renovated parts of the school parking lot and eliminated the central mechanical room since there's no need for space for boilers and other equipment because the new system is all underground. by CNB