A few years back we wrote an article about Ball State University’s plan to replace their coal-fired boilers with a geothermal system. As it turns out, the time has come. According to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Office of the Department of Energy, Ball State has completed the nation’s largest ground-source geothermal system for heating and cooling.
Funding from the EERE was made available as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. EERE reports that the university will save an estimated $2 million annually while reducing its carbon footprint by roughly half. The system works by transferring heat from the Earth to buildings in the winter. The reverse, transferring heat from the buildings and pumping it back into the earth, helps cool the campus in the summer.
To provide heating, the geothermal heat pump removes the heat from fluid flowing through pipes buried in the Earth and transfers it to the building. For cooling, the pump removes heat from the building and transfers it back into the Earth. One of the added benefits of the project was local job creation. “Nearly every component . . . was manufactured in America, and Ball State . . . contracted with more than 50 Indiana firms to complete the project, which included drilling 3,600 boreholes around campus.” Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research carried out a study of the installation’s economic impact. The university reports that 2,300 direct and indirect jobs were created by the project.
Total costs for the project are in the $65 million range, making the return on investment roughly 30 years. This time frame is a long one in terms of infrastructure, but the use of locally produced energy furthers the goal of energy independence and helps keep the community free of waste associated with burning coal. Additionally, the first two boilers being replaced were installed during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration.
[Image source]
