Geothermal Energy
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In the quest to lower campus carbon/GHG footprint a number of colleges and universities are calling for the investigation of ground source geothermal energy as a potential ally. Some of the important criteria in evaluating the effectiveness of using this resource are; a thorough understanding of the geology and hydrogeology of the campus; deliniation of the energy goals and objectives of the climate action plan; understanding of the building energy diversity; financial decision making criteria and how the geothermal plan fits with the overall campus master plan. What questions are being asked on your campus that we can help with in this forum?
Niles,
One of the cardinal rules of geothermal design is that the well field needs to be balanced on a yearly basis. What you put in for BTU's you have to take out or you risk that field going out of range for optimal performance. If this is done then the long term impact relating to temperature is mitigated. There are three zero-energy buildings currently that we've worked on, two in design and one complete.
Retrofitting buildings for geothermal would start to make sense if you were replacing the entire mechanical/HVAC system. Geothermal systems run at lower temperatures on the supply side of the heating cycle so the end of line equipment needs to be sized differently that standard systems.
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Hi William,
I have heard campuses question the long term effects geothermal system can have in changing the ground temperature. Do you have any long term experiences with campuses using geothermal?
Also, have any campuses you have worked with utilized geothermal to build zero energy buildings? How about on a retrofit basis?