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Geothermal Air Conditioning At BCIL Collective
A key and important feature at BCIL Collective is the passive air conditioning system for all the homes. This campus boasts of the largest ever geothermal air-conditioning system in the world. This system caters to the cooling of the Master bedrooms in all the homes.
This unique technology offers you cool interiors with the ambient temperature in your bed room never exceeding 25°C if you use the low energy, low maintenance vents that are installed in the master bed rooms.
So what is a geothermal system? At a depth of approximately 4 meters, around the world, is a constant temperature zone of around 23-24°C. The geothermal system brings ambient air down to a system of ‘earth tunnels’ facilitating a thermal exchange, reducing or increasing the air to 25°C. Vertical ducts, then take this conditioned air to the spaces that need air-conditioning. This system works as a thermostatic device that always keeps the internal temperature of the room to about 24°C, no matter what the external conditions are.
At BCIL Collective a labyrinth of air conduits have been laid 4 metres below the ground and these pipes network across the length and breadth of this campus. This geothermal system provides a constant 24-25°C internal temperature. The only power that this system consumes is for fans, needed to circulate the air to the spaces that need “air-conditioning”.
The geothermal system is aided by a nocturnal cooling system that provides a critical drop of a few degrees more down to around 22°C. The nocturnal cooling system cools water by radiating the heat to the night sky. The chilled water produced is stored and circulated around the geothermal conduits the next day, before the cooled air is fed to the homes.
The thermal comfort in the rest of each home is addressed by a stack effect system. Several shafts remove hot, stale air from the living, dining and other rooms. These shafts extend above the roof level. During the day the air within the upper portions of these shafts heats up, rises and creates a negative pressure drawing the air from within habitable spaces below. This induced convection current brings about a healthy air exchange ensuring comfortable inner temperatures and more importantly better quality of air.
