No precedent, no templates. But determination, conviction and a grant from the Alberta Real Estate Foundation combined to help a Calgary administrator and a heating specialist devise a solar hot water heater that uses less energy and saves money.

You could call it double green.

The prototype hot water heater is quietly performing at a downtown Calgary apartment building.

The $20,000 Foundation grant was used to develop the domestic hot water heater attached to the apartment’s solar wall.

“This was an experimental design idea and there were no blueprints or templates to follow,” admits Lawrence Braul, the chief administrative officer of the Trinity Place Foundation of Alberta, which operates a number of affordable housing buildings in Calgary.

“In fact, the research we did caused us to conclude that it has not been successful anywhere in North America.”

That fact didn’t deter Braul and Ken Usselman, the man he turned to for design expertise. Usselman worked with Braul on other energy conservation projects for the buildings run by the Trinity Place Foundation.

The experimental heater is attached to a solar wall on the south side of King Tower, an affordable seniors’ housing complex. The wall, which is designed to collect solar rays to preheat the fresh air going into the building, now operates all year round. Most solar walls are only on the job in the winter, when the days are colder and shorter.

“Solar energy is free. Once this energy has heated air via a solar wall and collection system, it makes sense to maximize the benefits of free heated air,” Braul says. “We used the funding to demonstrate that a solar wall can be used 12 months of the year.”

The heated air produced by a solar wall is typically vented into the atmosphere during the summer months when it’s not required to heat the building. The solar water heater uses this heated air to pre-heat water for use in the suites. This means a big difference in the bottom line.

For example, water is delivered from the City of Calgary at 55o degrees F and after moving through the solar heater, is heated to 75-90o F. That rise in temperature means less energy and less money are spent to heat the water to 130o F for use in the suites.

What sounded good on paper though, was met by scepticism. Braul says it was hard to find a contractor who was interested in building the heater. Engineers told them it wouldn’t work but Braul was determined to at least get a prototype up and running. He shared his vision with Usselman and together, the model was constructed. It began operating in July 2007.

Braul says the heater’s efficiency will be monitored over the coming months, but he’s already thrilled by the early savings and interest that’s been generated by the project.

“This is a way of collecting free heat and using it,” he says. “Our plan was to improve the efficiency of buildings and we feel the design is unique and credible.”

For more information about the solar water heater, contact Lawrence Braul at 403.215.6650 or lvb.tpfa@shaw.ca.