Green Snow: Cooling in the Summer with Winter Snow
November 12, 2008 by Debra
Ottawa City staff and Hydro Ottawa will be studying the feasibility of using winter snowfall to cool city buildings during the summer.
According to Frederick Michel, director of the Institute of Environmental Science at Carleton University, snow that is collected during the winter usually melts by early June, and will last until September if it is insulated using a material such as wood chips.
The cold melt-water could be treated and run in pipes through buildings during the hot summer months, cooling them.
Similar technology has been in use in Sweden since the year 2000.
I would like to see a better report on this than the musings of a prof ….. the snow fall in Ottawa is far from consistent, ask the budget people that pay for the removal from the street, how would this be factored into the cost.
where would the snow be kept until its' cooling properties are needed? On top of each building? Would it be piped to the top and allowed to flow down through gravity or pumped throughout each building?
Yes, a good idea … but it needs more flesh.