Quick facts
The university is moving toward a natural gas and geothermal energy stem to warm buildings on campus and at the IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
Ball State’s geothermal system, projected to complete in January 2016, will become the nation’s largest closed system.
1940s
saw the installation of Ball State’s four coal-fired boilers
36,000 tons
of coal are burned yearly on campus
Less than 24 hours before EPA regulations would require drastic changes to Ball State’s coal boilers, they went dark.
The university burned the final lump of its coal reserves Wednesday night as the project moves to rely solely on natural gas and geothermal energy to create steam to warm buildings both on campus and at the IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
The process of shutting down the four boilers, each more than 50 years old, began in January. But this week, Ball State received its final coal shipment. According to The Associated Press, this ends the release of sulfur dioxide and other pollutants from university’s yearly burning of 36,000 tons of coal.
When it is completed, projected to occur in January 2016, Ball State’s system will be the largest closed geothermal system in the United States.
Jim Lowe, director of engineering and construction management, said he has already been asked by people worldwide looking to learn more about the system to implement it at their own university or business.
“The word is out there, and I know it is out there because we have been getting calls,” he said.
He said the next move for the university will come in the next 10 or 15 years when the gas boilers need to be updated. He plans to upgrade the boilers to use the steam to create electricity as well.
A fixture of campus, the more than 60-year-old red brick stacks will come down.
Lowe said he hopes to bring down the east stack by next summer and the west stack in 2016.
“When they come down, it will be bringing down a kind of iconic symbol of campus,” he said.
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