25 November 2013

The Université de Sherbrooke and the Health and Social Services Centre — University Institute of Geriatrics of Sherbrooke (CSSS-IUGS) have teamed up for an innovative green project: designing and installing a greenhouse-gas recovery unit on the roof of the Hôpital et centre d’hébergement D’Youville (hospital and residential centre).

This device heats the air as it enters the facility’s ventilation system, making it possible to increase the temperature by up to 25°C. The positive effects are twofold: the hospital expects to save $15,700 per year on its natural-gas bill and reduce its greenhouse-gas volume by 71 t of CO₂ per year.

Developed as part of the ARES project, which stands for Air réchauffé par l’énergie solaire (i.e., air heated by solar energy), the system consists of a series of glass enclosures covering 92 m². The recovery unit has an output equivalent to 80 home furnaces.

The ARES project was conducted by eight-mechanical engineering students from the Université de Sherbrooke in cooperation with an engineer from the CSSS-IUGS and Université de Sherbrooke Professor François Charron.

Sources: Université de Sherbrooke and CSSS-IUGS
Photo credit: Michel Caron