“It’s time to get serious,” says Kostadin Demirov, who has spent years building fine custom homes in the eastern Beach area.
His latest move is to act as developer of a 68-unit rental apartment project at Main Street and Kingston Road. And this time he will also retain ownership and become the operating manager of the property. Nineteen of the units will be affordable rentals and the remainder, market rate units.
“I have a daughter and I want to leave something for her,” he says, and explains that she expects him to apply everything he has learned over the years and create a modern residence that befits a great home community and also reflects the times. “The time is right for clean building systems.”
The building will be heated and cooled using a ground source system, the installation of which was the first major work on the site last year.
He says that he is looking at the project’s heating and cooling systems differently than typical developers have in the past. “Geothermal is a long-term investment.”
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In this case a central Mitsubishi heat pump with variable refrigerant flow will condense and intensify pre-warmed geothermal water through a heat exchanger during the winter and do the same with pre-cooled water in the summer.
During the spring and fall the VRF is expected to operate as an air source heat pump.
Each well-insulated apartment is equipped with a Mitsubishi energy recovery ventilator, which provides fresh air, while retaining heating and cooling energy and managing humidity. The HVAC load required 35 geothermal boreholes, each 600 feet deep.
“We will also have solar PV on the roof – 62 panels, 150 square metres, 23 kilowatts,” says Demirov. “The system should handle all the power needs of the building, including the entire HVAC load of about 100 tons. We may add a battery later.”
He explains that tomorrow’s builders will have to make the numbers and the Toronto Green Standard work, and in that part of the Beach a certain quality level is also a modern-day consideration. Solar and ground source systems fit the bill.
By adding a large solar array Demirov is ensuring that the building will not cost very much to operate, and it will create almost no greenhouse gas emissions.