Geothermal heating in kindergartens and schools in Vilnius County
Overview
In the Vilnius district, several schools and kindergartens are heated with environmentally friendly and low-cost geothermal energy. Until 2016, the district municipality has invested EUR 1.5 million from the funds of the Special Programme on Climate Change to install geothermal heating systems in six such institutions and modernise them.
Rukainiai kindergarten
One of the first kindergartens in the region to be equipped with geothermal heating was in the municipality of Rukainiai, south-east of the capital city of Vilnius with about 600 inhabitants. In 2014, in parallel with the renovation of the over 40-year-old building a new heating system was installed consisting of a heat pump and several 100 meters deep geothermal wells. The hot water from the system is fed into the underfloor heating of the kindergarten as well as used for domestic hot water. Before the renovation, the building was heated with electricity.
“Costs have been reduced more than four times, and if you take just heating, it is over six times cheaper. It pays off financially. It costs half as much as district heating and is cheaper than gas heating”
Summary Rukainiai kindergarten
40 year old kindergarten building
renovation and new geothermal heating system
geothermal heat pump and 100 m deep boreholes
commissioned in 2014
Energy costs: reduced more than four times
Heating costs: reduced six times