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Cornell University exploring EGS project for geothermal heating

Cornell University exploring EGS project for geothermal heating Cornell University (source: flickr/ Lina Rodriguez, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 7 Sep 2016

Cornell University in the United States is planning a pilot project that would utilise geothermal energy through a closed loop EGS system to heat parts of its campus, with plans for a larger scale project if successful.

Cornell University in the United States has announced some ambitious renewable energy plans a while ago, as we reported in May this year.

Now details emerge as part of an article on the project. With a geothermal heating project, the university aims at eliminating an estimated 82,000 metric tons of carbon emissions from its annual footprint.

With the likely most advanced geothermal system, it is planned to heat the Ithaca campus of the University, a complex distributed over 745 acres.

The project, called “Earth Source Heat” would explore using enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), combining top level research done by leading energy and sustainability researchers of the university.

A pilot plant will be the first step, which would be a small-scale demonstration plant utilising heat derived from two wells with a depth of around 3,200 meters (2 miles). The concept would be to “circulate water in a closed loop through the rock and return to the surface to supply heat to the campus.”

infographic-hybridEGS

If successful, the plan would be to expand the project, which would include the use of biomass resources for more efficient production of the plant, to eventually heat most of the buildings on the campus.

More details are available via the link below.

Source: Cornell Chronicle