The Forks Market Project
“This is one of Manitoba’s, and possibly Canada’s, largest and most innovative geothermal systems,” said Jim August, Chief Executive Officer, The Forks North Portage. “As part of our overall Target Zero initiative, the system will provide renewable heating and cooling to the 100 year old Forks Market. It is also expected to reduce the carbon emissions of The Forks Market by up to one kilotonne a year.”
The Forks Market project involved replacing an old HVAC system with a Slim Jim® lake plates 400 Ton (HR) assembly submerged in a nearby river.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Forks Market has replaced its old HVAC system with geothermal heating and cooling.
Why did we choose to go geothermal?
It was time to replace our old HVAC heating system. We discovered an opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint, while at the same time eliminating our exposure to escalating energy costs. So, we installed a geothermal system that uses energy stored in the earth, the river and ground water and recycles the energy produced in The Forks Market.
Energy is collected from three separate wells. The largest well is located across the Assiniboine River at South Point where 168 closed vertical loops were drilled 300-feet into the ground. There are two large radiators sitting at the bottom of the Assiniboine River, and an open loop right underneath the South West corner of the Market collecting energy from the ground water.
All the ventilation in the Market was redesigned with efficient “Heat Recovery Ventilation Units” that pre-heat the fresh air with recycled heat generated by the restaurants. We also installed 53 heat pumps throughout the Market to efficiently distribute heating and cooling.
To date, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 42% (448 tonnes of CO2e) and reduced our heating costs by 14%. We expect further efficiencies as our system is fine-tuned.