Springhill Community Centre Project

An estimated four to five million litres has accumulated in Springhill’s mineshafts over the years. Surface water temperatures range from 12 to 20 degrees Celsius with even warmer temperatures at deeper levels. In this pilot project, the Town will take an integrated systems approach to utilizing this local geothermal resource from the deep mine workings to displace oil, propane and fossil fired electricity. The Town will use this underground thermal heating storage system and rejected heat from the ice making system to heat the new Springhill Community Centre. Waste heat will be supplied to the public school located across the street from the Centre. Springhill will become the second community in Atlantic Canada, after Port Hawkesbury (GMIF 5309), to use the Ice Kube™ system for ice making. Other energy efficiency features of the new Community Centre will include heat recovery ventilation at a minimum efficiency of 55 per cent and energy efficient lighting. In all, the new building will reduce greenhouse gases by 129,946 kilograms (127.9 tonnes) annually as compared to the old facility. In addition, the new Community Centre will have an estimated CO2 footprint of 163.4 kilograms per square metre (kg/m2) as compared to 284.4 kg/m2 for the previous building. It is expected that the new facility will cost 54.8 per cent less to operate.