Aquathermal energy is the heating and possibly cooling of buildings by using heat and cold from surface water, waste water or drinking water. In the case of Enspijk, this concerns the surface water of the Linge. The heat from the water is stored in the ground if necessary and then upgraded with a heat pump. This is possible with a collective heat pump that is placed somewhere in a village in a small building.

In addition, a heat network is needed that transports hot water to the houses. This means that a pipe system must be laid through the village to the houses.

The Linge

With heat from surface water (Thermal Energy from Surface Water, TEO) you extract heat from the surface water in the summer. The water is extracted from the Linge and part of the heat is extracted here by a heat exchanger. Then the slightly colder water is discharged back into the Linge. Naturally, rules have been drawn up to ensure that, among other things, the ecological quality (including biodiversity) is guaranteed.

Heat exchangers are devices that are used to separately transfer the heat from one fluid to another.

You store the extracted heat in the ground (WKO Heat Cold Storage) for use in the winter. In the months where there is a demand for heat, the water is pumped up from the ground. A heat exchanger transfers the heat to the water in the network and ensures that the heat is supplied to buildings at a sufficiently high temperature for heating and possibly hot tap water.

Heat network

If several buildings are connected, a heat network is used. A collective heat pump is chosen for this.

The collective heat pump then heats the water to a temperature suitable for space heating and sometimes even to a suitable temperature for hot tap water. The water in the network is then heated to approximately 70 °C. At a large peak demand (during severe frost), co-firing is usually done with another heat source, for example electricity obtained from wind turbines and/or solar panels.

With a medium-temperature heat network (approximately 70 °C) the requirements for insulation are less stringent and the radiators already present are usually sufficient. It is examined separately for each house whether these minimum requirements are met by means of a heat scan in the winter months.

In the house

Where the pipes of the heat network enter the house, a unit is placed that transfers the heat from the network to the own network in the house. This network in the house is simply the central heating system (radiators and underfloor heating). So there is no longer a need for a central heating boiler.

CO2 reduction

If you extract heat from a water source, it does not cause any CO2 emissions. The heat pump consumes electricity. The aim is to obtain this electricity from sustainable sources. The CO2 emissions from aquathermal heating are then only very limited and can be reduced to 0. During the construction of the system, we strive to keep CO2 emissions to a minimum.

The source of aquathermal energy (the Linge) is heated directly or indirectly by the sun and the environment and is therefore renewable.