For the past few weeks residents have been intrigued by the engineering work around the bungalows of Elm Close. There is a huge drilling machine and the six workmen covered in mud! A temporary roadway was laid behind the bungalows to convey the machinery.
The Site Manager is Kevin Bell. Kevin is (and easily disclosed by his accent) from the lovely county of Northumberland. The Ilmington project which will take about a month is being undertaken for the Orbit Housing Association by Magpie Environmental Drilling Services (and Mitre Energy) to install geothermal heating systems in eleven bungalows of Elm Close. (One resident declined the offer to have the installation!).
Kevin explained that the heating method has been long developed and used in Sweden followed by Switzerland and started after the war. There is a continuous layer of heat at a depth of 60 to 100 metres which remains fairly constant throughout the year at a temperature between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius. Surprisingly this heat layer is under the ground all over Europe. Long polythene pipes (outward and return) containing glycol are sunk. Separate pipes serve each property. At the required depth natural heat is absorbed and piped up to the property. Here the temperature is increased and pumped to supply both hot water and heating for the property. The amount of heat required is assessed for each property. For Elm Close 1kw of power used to serve the system produces a total of 5kw with the heat from the thermal system.
This does seem a heating supply system for the future with the finite amount of fossil fuels in the world, the main drawback is of course the cost of installation. I have seen that this can range from seven thousand pounds for multiple installations to twenty five thousand pounds for a single sizeable propert y.
