Comfort Inn & Suites in Red Deer is one of the most energy efficient hotels
in North America

Swiss Solar Tech Ltd. has produced an innovative hybrid heating and cooling system for the new Red Deer Comfort Inn & Suites, which will save over  $150,000 a year as a result.

Furthermore, a federal grant from the Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative (REDI) reduced the cost of the solar component by 25%.

The new system employs equipment normally used as a ground-source heat pump, designed to exploit the stable ambient temperature of the earth to provide seasonal heating and cooling. The Comfort Inn design, however, doesn’t have an underground loop of liquid-filled tubing for geothermal exchange; the heat pump is connected to 60 solar collectors and a highly efficient heat recovery system.




The system will also heat and cool the building and its 88 guest suites and it will also convert waste energy form the hotel's other systems. The solar panels installed on the angled roof of the building will be visible and tilted at a 50-degree angle to collect the most possible amount of sunlight.

"It sounds complicated because it's different," says Roger Huber, president of Swiss Solar Tech, "but technically it's actually very simple, simple and reliable. That's the beauty of it."




Because of the volume of water, the solar energy is never wasted. On a sunny day, if the automated system, which ingeniously shunts heat from areas requiring cooling to areas demanding warmth, can’t use the collector’s thermal energy anywhere else in the building, it stores it in the 60,000 liters storage tank.

Owner Mr. Brad Gabrielson states, that the result will be "one of the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly green hotels ever built in Canada, if not North America."

"I have always been environmentally conscious. Now I can do my small part to protect the environment." Says Mr. Gabrielson. "Also, the energy savings will result in a pay-back time of 5 to six years for this solar and heat pump system.

Key facts: Comfort Inn & Suites, Red Deer, Alberta

Hotel Info:

Rooms: 88
Indoor Pool: 60,000 liters of water
Indoor Hot Tub: 6,000 liters of water

Solar/geothermal hybrid systems Info:

Solar System: 60 solar collectors
Solar Reservoir: 60,000 liters storage tank
Heat Pump: 90 t