Design and Assessment of a Geothermal Greenhouse in Northern Manitoba

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Date
2021-12-08
Authors
Chartrand, Jason
Harbottle, Vince
Ramos, Shawn
Swaine, Levi
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This report outlines a feasibility study for a geothermal greenhouse for northern Manitoba communities. Currently, there is a lack of access to low-cost high-quality food in northern Manitoba communities thus leading to health issues for residents of these communities. The goal of this project was to provide a sustainable solution to this lack of healthy food by designing a greenhouse using a geothermal system as its primary heating source. A cost analysis, bill of materials, installation schedule and heating simulations using COM SOL will be provided in this report. Shamattawa First nations was determined to be a strong candidate for a geothermal greenhouse. Due to its location, the food cost in Shamattawa First nation are nearly 4 times higher on average when compared to Winnipeg. There is also no access to grid and all the main source of electricity in Shamattawa First Nations comes from a local diesel generating station with cost of $0.60 per kw/h. This combined with an issue with obesity and diabetes in the community made Shamattawa First Nation a prime candidate for the geothermal greenhouse. The greenhouse will be 500 m2 and will be 10x50m. The greenhouse will have 40% of the area allocated to a community area and the 60% allocated for growing. This was determined through an analysis of the required area for growing as well as determining efficient dimensions to reduce the heat loss to the surrounding areas. The greenhouse will have a full glass south facing wall at an angle of 70° and a retractable thermal blanket to maximize the solar heat gain and reduce heat loss at night. A steel frame with an OC of 6250mm combined with insulated metals panels for the siding and roof. The combination of these dimension and materials result in a well-insulated structure resulted in a net positive heat gain for all months of the year except December and January. The total energy requirement for the greenhouse was estimated to be 529 kWh per day. To achieve this necessary energy load, a 102 Hanwha Solar Canada HSC-250-60P solar panels and 10 Anorra 48 wind turbines were sourced. Three TROES 50kW,220kWh Indoor Cabinets were source to store energy for instances where there is not energy being harvested by the solar and wind. The greenhouse will utilize a horizontal closed loop geothermal system as its primary source of heating. The geothermal system will have 2700m of piping at a depth of 20ft and 25ft to meet the required heating loads and preventing the pipes from freezing. The use of Two WaterFurnace 7 Series 700A11 Heat Pumps to achieve a max heat pump capacity of 48000 BTU/hr. The total cost the greenhouse was estimated to be $1854210.00 CAD without taxes. It was determined that utilizing a geothermal system to heat a greenhouse in northern Manitoba is feasible. However, to determine if a geothermal greenhouse is a solution to lack of healthy food, community input will be required as well as a more detailed design and more in-depth cost analysis to determine if the greenhouse is economically feasible.

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Mechanical Engineering
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