Human warming

Swedes channel excess heat from people to positive use
Just think about the excess body heat of a crowd of commuters. A turn-off, or turn on? A quarter of a million people a day pass through Stockholm Central station, but it’s not a problem – they’re seizing this opportunity to heat an adjoining office, hotel and shopping mall.

Scheduled to open in two years’ time, the 42,000m2 building that’s destined to incorporate this human energy is a flagship project for Jernhusen, the company that runs Sweden’s state-owned railway’s property portfolio.

Project leader Karl Sundholm begins with the premise that excess heat is difficult to get rid of, and doing so is wasteful. Instead, he explains, it will be harnessed through standard heat exchangers in the ventilation system – where, happily, “the body odour is taken away – no problem”. The embodied energy will then be used to heat water, which in turn will be pumped through pipes to the new building. “There we will use it to preheat the intake air,” says Sundholm. The system is expected to provide from 5% to 15% of the building’s heating needs, and to bring down heating bills by about a fifth, for an installation cost of no more than 200,000 kronor (about £16,000).

Jernhusen’s innovative use of existing technology doesn’t end here. “We will also use a nearby lake to cool the building,” says Sundholm. “That may also cool the central station during those times when the office doesn’t need cooling.”
– Giovanna Dunmall

 

4 February 2008

Giovanna Dunmall

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