Joe GallopGlasgow venue and events company SWG3 has officially launched an energy system that captures and converts energy created by heat on the dancefloor, following its trial at COP26 last year.
The BODYHEAT system will see the venue will use the heat emitted from visitors for events including gigs, nightclubs, exhibitions and workshops. The energy will then be stored across 12 underground boreholes, before being used to heat or cool the venue later.
After three years of development, BODYHEAT was activated at a recent launch event (pictured), where the heat generated from the attendees will be used to heat and cool the venue in the following weeks.
The system is active across three separate spaces – a 1,250-person capacity event space, a 1,000-person event space and the main foyer entrance.
The system will see heat transported using a carrier fluid through a closed network of pipes to heat pumps in the plant room, before going 200m underground to the boreholes to be stored. When the energy is ready to be used, it travels back to the heat pumps where it is upgraded to a suitable temperature and emitted back into SWG3’s event spaces. The venue’s operators said the electricity used to run the BODYHEAT system comes from 100% renewable sources.
SWG3 managing director Andrew Fleming-Brown said, “As well as being a huge step towards our goal of becoming net zero and will hopefully influence others from our industry and beyond to follow suit, working together to tackle climate change.”