Construction of the country’s largest geothermal heating and cooling system began Saturday at Ball State University.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) led the opening ceremony that began drilling the first of up to 4,000 boreholes required by the project.
Within a decade, the university expects to heat and cool via geothermal means more than 40 buildings on its 660-acre campus, realizing significant annual energy savings and cutting carbon emissions by approximately 80,000 tons per year.
Cost for the project is estimated at $65 million to $70 million. The geothermal system will replace four existing coal-fired boilers through a complete transition of the university’s central heating and cooling system.
University officials consulted with experts from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in conceptualizing the geothermal proposal. The next step was to engage geothermal design experts to produce a proof of concept based on Ball State’s profile of heating and cooling needs and the results of a test borehole on campus. They were able to establish that heat pump chillers with the addition of geothermal storage are technologically feasible and would offer tremendous energy savings for Ball State.
After review of the project plan, Richard Hayter, PhD, PE, former president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), wrote, "Not only will the proposed project significantly reduce operating costs, it will give international recognition to the university as a role model for adopting cutting-edge technology of a magnitude that is without equal."
According to Tom Kinghorn, vice president of business affairs and treasurer, taking the current coal boilers offline will save the university a half-million dollars per boiler annually in operational costs, resulting in savings of $2 million a year when the project is completed. Even after considering its increased demand for electricity for the new system, the university’s net carbon footprint will be cut approximately in half.
Phase I of the project aims to take offline at least two of the boilers within the next three years, with the remaining boiler or boilers coming offline during Phase II.
"There were other factors in the decision," Kinghorn said, explaining that a scarcity of would-be suppliers of replacement boilers plus spikes in construction and material costs since 2005 already had pushed the price tag of a conventional upgrade of the coal-fired boilers to almost $63 million. Kinghorn said, "Whereas the assembly of the boiler would have occurred offshore, all of the geothermal components and well drilling will put Americans to work."
Learn more about the project at the link below.
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