New Home Tech To Test Energy Savings

LandCorp is once again showing its commitment to industry leadership through innovation by launching a project utilising new technology, joining current demonstration projects; the Pilbara Vernacular house and Gen Y house competition.

The new innovation project has the potential to significantly reduce household heating and cooling costs and will be built at The Vive at Craigie – an urban infill development north of Perth.

LandCorp chief executive Frank Marra said the ‘Cool Earth’ demonstration project aims to test the effectiveness of this innovative ground source heat pump system to heat and cool homes.

“LandCorp, in conjunction with the Alcock Brown-Neaves (ABN) Group will construct two identical homes at The Vive. One will contain the new technology and the other will not. Over a two year period the effectiveness of the system will be carefully monitored and analysed to determine the extent of its success”, Mr Marra said.

The open loop ground source system works by using the near constant temperature of ground water to improve the efficiency of a reverse-cycle air conditioning unit, rather than using outdoor air to warm or cool the unit’s refrigerant like most air conditioning units. And as an open loop system, the warmed or cooled groundwater can then be either reinjected into the groundwater aquifer or used for garden irrigation or other non-drinking water uses around the house.

Mr Marra said the project was the first to monitor the efficiencies compared with conventional home heating and cooling in Western Australia and he was hopeful test results would show major cost and energy savings.

“This is a really exciting project which will potentially provide another option for householders looking to reduce energy costs and run more environmentally friendly, efficient and comfortable homes,” Mr Marra said.

To deliver the project, LandCorp has partnered with:

•  ABN Group, which will build the homes;
• GeoExchange Australia, which has developed and provided the ground source heat pump system;
•  Carbonomics Australia, which will test the ground source technology’s efficiencies:
• Geoexchange Technologies, which has helped develop and will install the open loop system; and
•  The University of Western Australia, which will analyse the test results.

“A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the project partners and I expect there will be great interest to see how big the savings and energy efficiencies are from this technology,” Mr Marra said.

Construction of the houses is expected to commence in early 2015.

The Vive at Craigie is an urban renewal project at the site of the former Craigie High School, just two kilometres from the coast.

LandCorp is working closely with the City of Joondalup to deliver The Vive. The project is a key deliverable of the State Government’s Directions 2031 and Beyond plan to address urban sprawl and manage Western Australia’s rapid population growth.