Cornell University hosted a virtual community forum January 19, 2021, to provide an update on an enhanced geothermal heating project. Earth Source Heat, which has been part of Cornell’s campus sustainability plan since 2009, could be central to heating the Ithaca campus without the use of fossil fuels. After several years of extensive research and planning, the university is moving closer toward digging an approximately 2-mile-deep exploratory borehole near the proposed location of the project, which would allow researchers to measure the subsurface conditions to further understand rock mechanics, hydrogeology, seismology, microbiology, and other information that will be pertinent to determine if the project is feasible.
Panelists: Rick Burgess, vice president for facilities and campus services and co-chair of the Sustainable Cornell Council; Terry Jordan, the J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering; Steve Beyers, lead ESH engineer, facilities and campus services; Tony Ingraffea, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering.
- Tags
-