Space Displays Solar That Works

Walk in to the new offices for Space LLC architectural design studio at 4168 Manchester and look up. The piping and radiator-like fins that stand out from the perimeter of the open office space about eight feet above the floor are part of a unique part of an innovative heating and cooling system that will help Space use 51 percent less energy than a similar facility built just to code.

Those fins aren't for heat, however. The heat will actually radiate up from the floor from hot water pipes that snaked to and fro within the concrete slab. That's not so unusual. What is unusual is the heat source.

The water that flow through the floor pipes to radiate warmth is heated by solar thermal tubes mounted on the roof of the one-story building. These aren't the low efficiency solar water heaters of the 1970s. These clear glass tubes contain copper pipes with aluminum wings to maximize heat gain. Water enters the pipes as a fine mist, which warms quickly before exiting and flowing to a reservoir to provide heat in the winter.

The solar tubes, which are a German design, are installed locally by a start-up company called Arctic Solar Engineering. Space principal Tom Niemeier said the tubes are so efficient that, if the wings were positioned to fully face the sun, they would heat water to over 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Project manager Tim Huff said he is positioning the tubes to heat water to its boiling point, 212 degrees F.

During the summer, the boiling water is used to power a desiccant wheel to dehumidify the building air. Coupled with a geothermal heat pump to cool the air, it will keep occupants comfortable on hot days.

That's where the ceiling level fins come in. They are cooling fins - currently found nowhere else in the world, according to Arctic Solar CEO Fred Sussman. He said the company has a patent pending on the design.

The cooling system works by taking heat out of the air instead of by pushing cool air into the room. Cold water running through the pipes absorbs heat from air that flows by the fins. "We rely on the chimney effect that keeps warmer air rising to flow through the fins," Sussman said. The water then carries the heat to the bottom of geothermal wells under the parking lot, where it gives up the heat to the surrounding earth.

"We're able to cool the building without freon, without gas, and where the only electricity we use is to run the heat pump," Niemeier said.

The combined desiccant-geothermal cooling system "provides eight tons of cooling for the cost of two tons," Huff said. That's operating cost. The installed cost is different.

With the federal government paying 30 percent of the cost of alternative heating and cooling systems and AmerenUE kicking in $17,200 because of the system's high energy efficiency, the innovative Arctic Solar system would cost Space less to install  than a conventional heating and cooling system, and pay for itself in six years by reducing energy use by 80 percent.

The risk of installing something new is that nobody knows what to make of it. The mechanical engineer employed by Space insisted on re-designing the geothermal portion of Arctic Solar's planned installation so that the geothermal heat pump could take care of all of the building's heating and cooling needs if the solar thermal tubes failed to work. That pushed the cost of the system up so that in the end, "it cost the same as a conventional system," Niemeier said, who shrugged off the additional cost.

"There's a risk to being on the cutting edge, but I like being on the cutting edge, particularly when I'm on the cutting edge with something that will make a difference," he said.

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