Located in the heart of Edmonton, Alberta, Blatchford spans 536 acres and aims to be a model for a green, 100 percent renewable, carbon-neutral community. Its guiding mission is to be home to up to 30,000 residents living, working and learning in a sustainable community that uses 100 percent renewable energy, that is carbon neutral, that significantly reduces its ecological footprint, and empowers residents to pursue a range of sustainable lifestyle choices. 

Infrastructure and Technology in Blatchford's Energy Strategy 

While several factors play into fulfilling these sustainability goals, two of the major ones are infrastructure and technology; these tie directly into their energy strategy. Their energy strategy focuses on energy conservation and energy efficiency. As such, the energy system is uniquely designed to reduce environmental impact. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a public, city-owned utility owns and operates a District Energy Sharing System (DESS) that is tasked with providing eco-friendly heating, cooling, and hot water to the buildings and homes. By sharing energy between these buildings, Blatchford will reduce overall energy consumption across the community and produce roughly 75 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a standard residential community.    

CIMCO's Heat Pump Solution for Blatchford's Renewable Energy Vision 

CIMCO's innovative heat pump technology is seamlessly integrated into the Blatchford Renewable Energy project, playing a pivotal role in the operation of the District Energy Sharing System (DESS). Aligned with Blatchford's commitment to renewable energy, the community relies on a geoexchange field as its primary energy source. This field, established through borehole drilling approximately 150 meters below the surface, functions as a colossal ground energy reservoir, maintaining a stable temperature of around 8 degrees Celsius, even during Edmonton's coldest winter conditions. The geoexchange field serves as the backbone for the DESS, supplying it with thermal energy. 

During winter, the energy extracted from the geoexchange field is conveyed to the Energy Centre, where CIMCO's highly efficient heat pump technology elevates its temperature to meet the community's heating demands. Subsequently, the heated energy is distributed via an underground network of pipes to residential and commercial establishments. In the summer months, surplus heat extracted from the system is redirected back into the geoexchange field for storage, ensuring its availability for winter use. Moreover, the DESS facilitates energy sharing among buildings within the neighborhood, enabling excess heat from one building to be transferred back into the system to fulfill the heating needs of another. 

The CIMCO heat pump provided for the project boasts impressive specifications, with the capability to provide maximum heat output and cooling capacity, utilizing geothermal sources efficiently. The reversible nature of the heat pump allows for seamless transitions between heating and cooling cycles, ensuring optimal performance throughout the year. Each building within the development is equipped with a heat-pump-based energy transfer station, further enhancing the efficiency of the DESS by extracting thermal energy and upgrading it to meet the heating, cooling, and domestic water needs of individual buildings. 

As the development progresses, the expansion plans include the installation of additional heat pumps and energy centers, further solidifying Blatchford's position as a model for sustainable, carbon-neutral communities.