RRC researcher Jose Delos Reyes installs the weather station on the roof.

The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC) has awarded one of its GeoExchange Excellence awards to Southern Comfort Mechanical Inc. (SCMI) for its work with Red River College (RRC) on the geothermal installation and measurement in The Cornerstone Life Lease Estates building.
CGC awards the prizes to regional geothermal heat-pump projects that showcase both complexity and quality of installation and design.
Opened in 2010, “The Cornerstone” is a four-storey Winnipeg residential development that features a number of sustainable design solutions, including above-average insulation levels and 100 per cent geothermal space heating.
Last summer, RRC staff and students from the Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure (CARSI) worked with SCMI to install a building-monitoring system and weather station on the roof of The Cornerstone. The system provided crucial performance evaluation on SCMI’s geothermal heat pump that uses loops in the ground to generate efficient energy for the building.
Among the many innovations of this design is the system’s ability to dump excess heat into the parkade floor when in cooling mode. RRC’s data allowed SCMI to make necessary adjustments that ensured the most efficient use of this technology.
“This award would not have been possible without the expertise and hard work of the RRC research team,” said Mike Millard, project lead and President of The Geothermal Alternative. “Their performance-evaluation data is vital to The Cornerstone’s improved energy efficiency and will be extremely valuable for the sustainable design of future Manitoba buildings.”
The prizes were awarded on May 3rd during the annual Canadian GeoExchange Conference and Trade Show in Burnaby, British Columbia.
For more information on RRC’s involvement in sustainable design, visit the Sustainable Infrastructure Technology Research Group web page.
For more information on the CGC’s GeoExchange Excellence awards, click here.
To view SCMI’s announcement and full application, click here.