How a Community Sports Centre Achieved Net Zero and Lowered Its Energy Bills
A community sports centre in Leicestershire reached Net Zero for its direct emissions – while exporting more energy than it imported from the grid.
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About
The Eden Project visitor attraction, based in Cornwall, captures an extraordinary snapshot of the earth’s biodiverse ecologies in the iconic Biomes and gardens.
A former clay mine, the huge sterile crater has been transformed into a 30-acre beautiful global garden. It celebrates nature and encourages and inspires visitors to learn and rethink how they can care for the planet.
Ambitions
The Eden Project is located in a ‘hot rocks’ area, and the team wanted to harness the naturally occurring geothermal energy to support their net zero ambitions and become climate-positive by 2030.
Their ambition was to tap into deep geothermal heat wells over 5km below the ground’s surface and use the fluid pumped from the ground (at around 100°C) to create electricity, heating and hot water for buildings.
The project
We were pleased to form part of OnSite’s team to design and build the new heat network to achieve the ambitious geothermal energy project.
The network linked the deep geothermal boreholes with the existing gas-fired energy centre to provide low carbon heating and hot water across the site, including the iconic Biomes.
Following the contract awarded in Dec 2021, we conducted detailed surveys of the primary heat route in January 2022. Building on the customer specification, we completed the following works for the project:
- Detailed and accurate pipe route drawings in 2D CAD, including chainage
- 3D modelling of above ground pipework, linking the buried heat network to the energy centre
- 3D modelling of awkward junctions, including branch tees
- Digital model of heat network in Lean Heat software to check levels and pipe lengths
- As-built drawings and modifications as the installation progressed
Conclusion
The work carried out by Eden Project to support diverse growing conditions and provide environmental education to many is of critical importance, given the need to conserve and protect our environment.
They have set a standard in using low carbon solutions for heat and hot water in an unusual and iconic location. It was an honour to support such an important cause and help the organisation make a difference.
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