A geothermal energy project proposed by Ball State University is awaiting the state's approval in order to begin construction.
The Ball State Board of Trustees approved the $66 million project Friday.
The project is set to begin May 6 and will take up to five years to complete.
Geothermal wells will be set up using a vertical closed loop system that will circulate the water through 3,750-4,000 400-foot pipes placed five feet under ground in open fields and under parking lots across campus. In a closed loop system, the water never interacts with the ground; rather heat from the earth is transferred across the pipes. The pipes funnel into three heat pump chillers that distribute hot and cold water across campus. After the heated and cooled water is distributed throughout campus, it returns to the wells, thus saving energy.
The combination of geothermal wells with heat pump chillers in addition to the vast area supplied with energy by the wells make the project unlike any other, Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations said.
"We have not found a location that is doing exactly what we are doing here," Lowe said. "We have designed a system that I guess you could call unique."
Many places including Harvard University, American Square in Indianapolis and numerous grade schools across the country already utilize geothermal wells, but the energy is distributed building by building rather than across an entire district, he added.
The geothermal energy system will replace Ball State's old energy system which included four stoker boilers and central heating and cooling plants. The old plants utilized coal and natural gas to distribute steam through all the buildings which brought heated buildings on campus and provided domestic water.
The new system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 80,000 tons a year and save about $2 million in energy costs, Bob Koester, director of the Center for Energy Research, Education and Service, said.
The system has already begun to receive national attention.
Richard B. Hayter, presidential member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, wrote a letter to Provost Terry King on Jan. 30 commending the university on considering the project as an alternative for coal-fired central heating and cooling plants.
Once the state approves the project, the university will start assembling documents for each segment of the project to bid for contractors.
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