Spring Break
Geothermal Drilling Cracks Western
Adam Sacasa
Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: News
Four hundred thirty feet below the ground lies a solution to cut energy costs for the Multicultural Center currently under construction: geothermal energy.
"We've had people come out, they've analyzed the ground, the soil and the rock and everything, so that in the summertime, we can take the heat out of the building and put it into the ground in the wintertime," said Construction Project Coordinator II Ted Renner. Tri-State Trenching and Drilling, an excavation contractor, will be installing the pipes, which takes several steps.
After the ground is analyzed, the first steps in producing geothermal energy involve digging wells underneath the site. "(The truck) is drilling them about 430 feet in depth per well," Renner said. "What it does is, when it drills down that far, it's got a plastic pipe that it puts down inside that well. It'll fill in around the outside of that pipe with grout and the inside of that pipe has a liquid that circulates through it."
This fluid is circulated through the pipes to help regulate temperature. Because heat from within the earth is relatively static - it stays around 50 degrees - the energy can easily be converted year-round. Changing the output with the changing seasons involves simply switching the pumps to meet the building's needs. A total of 25 wells will be dug on the site.
Changes aren't only happening below the ground. Instead of using oak wood for the floors, the floor will be made from bamboo.
"If you look at using oak for a floor, it literally takes decades to grow a tree to a degree where you can cut it and use that material for flooring," Renner said. Using bamboo can take around 18 months, making it "a much quicker resource."
Construction materials are also brought in from within a 500-mile radius to cut down on transportation costs and emissions. Even some of the debris from the site is being recycled, like the concrete, which can be reused as gravel or in a new concrete mix.
When construction is completed, Murray Street will reopen but there might be a few changes in the future.
"At the moment, we're looking at talking to the city council about permanently closing the street and developing that space," Renner said. Although there are no formal plans in place at the moment, the expected design is to eliminate the road and create an open grass area with patios.
"If you go down there sometime and look, that area between Browne and Knoblauch where the trees are; imagine the road gone and that being grass; that'd be a nice little area," Renner said.
Renner also wants to reminds students to avoid hopping the fence or passing though the construction site during the Murray Street closing. "I know that's a very inconvenient place to be closed, but we are doing that for the safety of the students," Renner said.
The construction is expected to be finished around February of 2009.
"We've had people come out, they've analyzed the ground, the soil and the rock and everything, so that in the summertime, we can take the heat out of the building and put it into the ground in the wintertime," said Construction Project Coordinator II Ted Renner. Tri-State Trenching and Drilling, an excavation contractor, will be installing the pipes, which takes several steps.
After the ground is analyzed, the first steps in producing geothermal energy involve digging wells underneath the site. "(The truck) is drilling them about 430 feet in depth per well," Renner said. "What it does is, when it drills down that far, it's got a plastic pipe that it puts down inside that well. It'll fill in around the outside of that pipe with grout and the inside of that pipe has a liquid that circulates through it."
This fluid is circulated through the pipes to help regulate temperature. Because heat from within the earth is relatively static - it stays around 50 degrees - the energy can easily be converted year-round. Changing the output with the changing seasons involves simply switching the pumps to meet the building's needs. A total of 25 wells will be dug on the site.
Changes aren't only happening below the ground. Instead of using oak wood for the floors, the floor will be made from bamboo.
"If you look at using oak for a floor, it literally takes decades to grow a tree to a degree where you can cut it and use that material for flooring," Renner said. Using bamboo can take around 18 months, making it "a much quicker resource."
Construction materials are also brought in from within a 500-mile radius to cut down on transportation costs and emissions. Even some of the debris from the site is being recycled, like the concrete, which can be reused as gravel or in a new concrete mix.
When construction is completed, Murray Street will reopen but there might be a few changes in the future.
"At the moment, we're looking at talking to the city council about permanently closing the street and developing that space," Renner said. Although there are no formal plans in place at the moment, the expected design is to eliminate the road and create an open grass area with patios.
"If you go down there sometime and look, that area between Browne and Knoblauch where the trees are; imagine the road gone and that being grass; that'd be a nice little area," Renner said.
Renner also wants to reminds students to avoid hopping the fence or passing though the construction site during the Murray Street closing. "I know that's a very inconvenient place to be closed, but we are doing that for the safety of the students," Renner said.
The construction is expected to be finished around February of 2009.
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