Building Buzz: Buried Treasure

Minto, Camrost Felcorp buzzing over innovative new projects

You don’t exactly have to look under the surface to notice how stoked Minto and Camrost Felcorp are about their latest projects—although under the surface is precisely the source of that enthusiasm.

Minto’s North York Condos marks the builder’s foray into geoexchange energy. Minto, Camrost Felcorp buzzing over innovative new projects

While both have sourced underground energy to help power the way, theirs are two very different systems, at very different depths.

Renowned for its energy-efficient designs, Minto Communities’ North Oak Condos at its master-planned Oakvillage community in Oakville marks the builder’s first geoexchange energy system.

Geoexchange systems have long been used in Nordic countries as alternative energy sources, though in Canada they have primarily been used to improve performance of single-family homes.

While geothermal relies on energy generated and stored deep within the earth—often generated from volcanic activity near tectonic plate boundaries—geoexchange relies on energy stored within the earth at a much shallower depth—primarily generated from solar radiation.

Geoexchange technology leverages stable underground temperatures to provide heating or cooling year-round, substantially reducing the amount of fossil fuels required. It involves installing a closed-loop system of underground pipes (somewhere between 500 and 800 feet, in Minto’s case). In the winter, cold water circulated through the geoexchange field draws heat from the earth. High-efficiency mechanical systems then leverage this consistent heat in order to warm the buildings above. Conversely, in summer, heat is extracted from the building and circulated through the pipes, allowing the cooler temperatures returning from the geoexchange field to be used to provide air conditioning. This minimizes the use of cooling towers that consume large amounts of energy and water. While it reduces carbon emissions by up to an eye-popping 70% and will contribute to energy efficiency of at least 15% better than the Ontario Building Code, this renewable and reliable ground-source energy also protects residents from rising utility costs.

Minto had been looking at geoexchange for eight years, but needed to find the right combination of factors to employ the technology, explains Roya Khaleeli, Director of Sustainability and Innovation at Minto Communities GTA.

“A number of people need to be involved—architects, the construction team, the financing team—and one of the barriers is not starting early enough with the whole group,” Khaleeli notes. “What helped make this particular project work is the financial model. The geoexchange company owns, manages and maintains the system, and that’s included in the condo fees, which will be no higher than a typical condo building.

“Because you’re leveraging heating and cooling in the ground, if it’s not balanced, your system will eventually stop functioning properly,” Khaleeli adds. “So the fact that they’re managing the geoexchange system is critical. All of its operation and maintenance (over the course of the 25- to 30-year contract) that’s within the scope of the provider is not the responsibility of the condo corporation, protecting residents from related unexpected costs.”

The North Oak system is designed so that future towers of the Oakvillage community, located on the north side of Dundas St. East at Trafalgar Rd., can also be connected. Groundbreaking on North Oak’s first tower is expected in January 2022.

The technology will help ensure improved resident comfort, notes Carl Pawlowski, Project Manager, Sustainability. “Because the system provides year-round heating and cooling, there is no ‘switchover’ between seasons,” meaning residents have ondemand control of their environment, even if they want to turn the air conditioner on in the wintertime or turn up the heater in the summer.

Further, without the usual need system makes it the tallest residential development in the province to feature a geothermal-based approach to sustainable energy service.

Camrost has also partnered with Mitsubishi Electric to utilize the company’s state-of-the-art Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system. The system revolutionizes the typical approach to HVAC in multi-residential towers, providing a solution typically seen in Class-A commercial settings, with features such as simultaneous heating and cooling as well as heat-recovery capabilities. While the heat recovery system has a greater initial cost, it allows for better zoned thermal control of a building and overall greater efficiencies, ultimately saving residents operating costs in a sustainable manner.

Minto's North York Condos marks the builders' foray into geoexchange energy