Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Snow Way! Researchers Say Flurries Could Be Used To Cool Canadian Buildings

Darpan News Desk, 13 Oct, 2016 12:23 PM
  • Snow Way! Researchers Say Flurries Could Be Used To Cool Canadian Buildings
Researchers say Canada's winter bounty of snow could provide an environmentally friendly way of easing hot, muggy summer days.
 
Engineers at the University of British Columbia Okanagan have been examining whether waste snow plowed from Canadian roads could be collected and dumped into pre-constructed areas, where it would be stored and used for chilling buildings in warmer months.
 
Kusan Hewage, an associate professor of engineering at UBCO, said the process is similar to air conditioning, where cool air is collected and pumped into a hot building.
 
"If you have heated air in the building, you would blow the heated air through these condensors or pipes, through the snow storage system and then that heated air gets cold and then it comes back to the building," he explained.
 
The kind of equipment needed would be similar to what's used in geothermal technology, he said, but instead of the lines going down into the ground, they would go out to the snow dump.
 
An added benefit of high-density snow cooling is that the ease of treating the waste snow, Hewage said.
 
Snow on roadways is tainted with all sorts of chemicals, and those chemicals are usually released into the environment as it melts, he explained. But using this system, a large amount of snow all melts in one place and can be cleaned or treated before it's returned to the water system.
 
Snow cooling technology is currently used several other countries, including Sweden, where a 60,000 cubic-metre pile of stored winter snow is used to cool the Sundsvall Hospital during the summer.
 
 
Hewage and his colleagues determined that in Canada, it would take about a playground's worth of snow to cool a neighbourhood of 200 to 300 homes for the summer. In the winter, the snow could be compacted and used as a skating rink, he said.
 
With current energy prices, the system is more economically feasible in Ontario, where rates are high. B.C. has an abundant supply of cheap hydro power.
 
"But, of course, the environment has a price, too. So if you consider all of the aspects — environment, economic and also the social dimensions — I believe this is a good technology for Canada," Hewage said.
 
The federal government announced plans last week to curb greenhouse gas emissions by instituting a nation-wide carbon tax.
 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the tax will be $50 per tonne by 2022, and it will be imposed on provinces that do not implement it on their own or bring in a cap-and-trade system.
 
Policies such as this will prompt a demand for green technology such as snow cooling, Hewage said.
 
"With that, I believe these sort of unconventional techniques will have a future here in Canada," he said.
 
 
The UBCO team plans on continuing to examine what that future will entail. Hewage said his team will do a cost analysis of the snow cooling system, and is working on other research into creating Canada's most sustainable neighbourhood.

MORE Health ARTICLES

Alberta Bishops Reiterate Catholic Opposition To Physician-Assisted Dying

Alberta Bishops Reiterate Catholic Opposition To Physician-Assisted Dying
After the Supreme Court struck down the law against assisted suicide last February, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the church opposes any form of mercy killing.

Alberta Bishops Reiterate Catholic Opposition To Physician-Assisted Dying

Group Wants To Reverse Organ Rules -- Everybody Donates Unless They Opt Out

Group Wants To Reverse Organ Rules -- Everybody Donates Unless They Opt Out
A group of transplant patients and their families wants the Manitoba government to change the rules so that people don't have to sign up in order to donate their organs after death.

Group Wants To Reverse Organ Rules -- Everybody Donates Unless They Opt Out

Husky Energy Issues More Layoff Notices, Says Step Difficult But Necessary

Husky Energy Issues More Layoff Notices, Says Step Difficult But Necessary
Slumping world oil prices continue to hit Calgary’s energy industry hard as more layoffs have been announced.

Husky Energy Issues More Layoff Notices, Says Step Difficult But Necessary

Men And Women May Be Wired To Behave Differently: Study

Men And Women May Be Wired To Behave Differently: Study
Male and female behavioural differences correlate with their different brain networks, say researchers, including one of Indian origin.

Men And Women May Be Wired To Behave Differently: Study

Ottawa Proposes To Ban Plastic Microbeads In Facial Cleansers, Toothpaste

Ottawa Proposes To Ban Plastic Microbeads In Facial Cleansers, Toothpaste
  Consumers have until March 10 to make their views known, as Environment Canada works out a timetable for eliminating the environmental pollutant.

Ottawa Proposes To Ban Plastic Microbeads In Facial Cleansers, Toothpaste

Wonder Food: Did You Know That Honey Can Save You From Blindness?

Wonder Food: Did You Know That Honey Can Save You From Blindness?
Researchers discovered a powerful link between Surgihoney -- a medicinal type of honey and the destruction of Fusarium -- a fungus that can cause blindness or even death.

Wonder Food: Did You Know That Honey Can Save You From Blindness?