development of new sources for energy production
As part of a joint competition project in Furth (Göttweig) with Ruderstaller Architektur ZT GmbH, we have pondered how the existing, old, spacious storage cellars in the adjacent mountain could be used not only spatially but also in terms of energy. In Austria there are many old cellar vaults; these were built as connecting routes, protected production facilities, bunkers or even as warehouses and, unfortunately, sometimes forgotten over time. These unused cellars have a few things in common – they are humid and have a reasonably constant temperature throughout the seasons.
In order to make use of these cellars and to bring them up to the state of the art, high investments in renovation and operation are usually required. The situation is different when an attempt is made to use the available thermal energy. In Austria there are only comparable projects in infrastructure construction, e.g. the ÖBB Lainzer Tunnel supplies an entire school with thermal energy.
In principle, there are the following options for using the thermal energy of a tunnel:
- Extraction of the air and via make-up air & heating of the tunnel air (by the surrounding rock mass) => guarantee of a continuous energy transfer;
- Installation of an adapted surface collector on the base of the tunnel => set in concrete and insulated on the top of the tunnel, a kind of reverse underfloor heating is created;
- Drainage of water penetrating the tunnel through a heat exchanger => integration into the energy cycle via wastewater heat pump;
