(Photo: Sharc’s Piranha installation at Lake Louise Inn in Banff National Park. Credit: Sharc Energy Systems)
A new residential high-rise building in Ottawa, Canada, is projected to have an energy-efficiency savings of 50% from a thermal recovery system that reuses wastewater energy to preheat domestic hot water. The 27-story building is designed to be all-electric.
Local developer Claridge Homes contracted Hamilton, Ontario-based Argus Environmental Inc. to install Sharc Energy System’s Piranha T10 in the high-rise at 70 Gloucester Street in Ottawa. Sharc describes the Piranha system as a self-contained heat pump that uses a proprietary direct expansion heat exchanger to extract thermal energy.
“The Piranha operates at efficiencies of 400-600% and supports green building objectives, delivering zero emission water heating,” Sharc says.
For the 70 Gloucester development, the Piranha thermal recovery system will collect hot water from the 227 rental housing units, more than 200 of which will have rents lower than 30% median household income in the area, Claridge Homes noted.
“Rather than draining into a sewer as is the currently accepted waste water practice, the heat energy in this water will be recovered,” according to Argus and Sharc. “The water will act as a source for the heat pump, which will then be used to heat incoming cold water for future loads, drastically reducing energy requirements.”
Of the four Piranha models, the T10 is the largest, capable of producing 6,000 gallons of hot water per day, Sharc says. Delivery and installation of the Piranha T10 at the $53.22 million ($70.4 million Canadian) 70 Gloucester is expected in the second quarter of 2019.
“We expect these systems to become the systems of choice for all buildings in the future,” said Rick Lawlor, principal of Argus.
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