Products & Solutions

Technology allows Johnson Controls to use water to heat a Swiss facility

Heat pumps
The sorting center at Zürich-Mülligen is a busy spot for Swiss Post, Switzerland’s postal service. The facility handles more than 1 million letters every day.
But that sort of workload doesn’t translate into exorbitant energy costs, thanks in large part to technology developed by Johnson Controls.
Keeping in mind several Swiss electrical concerns, Johnson developed heat pump technology that allows the sorting center to harness energy from wastewater from a nearby water-purification center. From there, the captured energy is used to provide heating and cooling for the postal facility.

How It Works
The heart of the system is one of the largest ammonia heat pumps in Europe—not only handy from a power standpoint, but also from an ecological perspective, as ammonia does not contribute to ozone depletion. From there, the Johnson Controls heat pump can deliver hot water at a constant temperature of 62 degrees Centigrade to heat the building.
The system also acts in conjunction with energy-recovery technology. With 50 percent of heating energy coming from purified wastewater, an additional 30 percent derives from heat recovery from the building’s air-conditioning system.
The system is every bit space efficient as it is energy efficient, occupying a total space of a mere 70 meters.
The system has proven to be a pollution-control powerhouse as well. Estimates hold that the Mülligen postal center has been able to reduce its fossil fuel consumption by roughly 85 percent. That translates to a reduction of some 3,400 tons of CO2 annually.
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Water into Heat
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