This project proposes a geothermal exchange that focuses on advancing engineering systems and significantly lowers greenhouse gas emissions from operational energy for this new Campus Instructional Facility. The concept is scalable, allowing for expansion to other buildings on the John Bardeen Quad and beyond. The geoexchange system will reduce overall usage of other energy sources (i.e., electricity and natural gas); and provides a form of resiliency when parts of the campus energy system go offline.

The estimated load of the radiant system for heating and cooling requires 210 tons (2,520,000 Btu/hour) of cooling capacity. With the proposed grant, the geothermal exchange system will meet approximately 30% of that load (about 63 tons) utilizing the ground-source system to provide the heating and cooling needed through a combination of the stored thermal energy and electrical energy. The implementation of efficient design will reduce carbon emissions from the source of energy by 35%. and the introduction of a portion of the ground-source system will reduce overall source energy and carbon emissions by another 8%. If the project can achieve a full-sized ground-source system, the savings could reach 55% when compared against a typical building. Unlike other buildings connected to the central heating and cooling plant, which is powered by fossil fuels, introducing a thermal borehole energy system will enable buildings on the Bardeen Quad to have an opportunity to share thermal resources in a cooperative way, fed instead by renewable resources.