In The News

By the end of next month Toronto will be home to North America's greenest hostel. As reported by the Globe & Mail (and by Yonge Street back in February), Kensington Market's Planet Traveller is on schedule to complete an impressive $160,000 green renovation. The focal point of the project will be its underground geothermal heating-and-cooling system: eight loops of geothermal piping drilled into an adjacent street that will serve almost all of the hostel's energy needs.

"When the doors to North America's greenest hostel opens next month at 357 College St., the most exciting feature won't be anywhere inside, but instead 115 metres below ground in the adjacent alleyway. That's where the glycol liquid in eight geothermal loops will turn the corner and start heading back above ground to heat or cool the hostel."

"Once you get three metres underground, the earth stays a constant 10 degrees Celsius all year. This is a source of relative heat in the winter and cold in the summer. The system exploits the temperature discrepancy by using small amounts of electricity to pump glycol through the underground pipes and collect that heat or cold. Heat exchangers inside the hostel pull the heat or cold from the glycol and send as much as is needed into the rooms."

"The hostel is hoping to attract young visitors from overseas looking for a cheap doss and a communal living scene. Dorms will be $30 a night and rooms will go for $70. Utility bills should follow close on the heels of the first guests, but with expected savings of up to $2,000 a month, the owners expect to have the investment paid off within eight years. After that, it's green gravy. By that time, a geothermal drilling rig might be a more common sight in Toronto. Mr. Rand had to go through 14 city departments to get permits for the pipe installation, but the city has since set up a task force to streamline geothermal development in city-owned alleyways and parkland."

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original source Globe & Mail