Increases in energy costs are leading many building owners and facility managers to look for more cost-effective ways to heat and cool their buildings. Apartment buildings and student residences currently using electric systems are prime candidates for conversion to hydronic (warm water) heating systems, and sometimes even water-based cooling systems.
In 2016, Wilfred Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario, opted to retrofit the electric heating systems in two of its existing student residences. The school went with hydronic heating and cooling for one of the buildings and hydronic heating for the other. (The latter continues to use its existing, forced-air, DX cooling system.)