The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) would like to investigate the feasibility of implementing an open-loop geothermal system to reduce the energy required for heating and cooling the building. This is a proposal to perform the preliminary engineering planning study that will be required prior to implementation.

The motivation for this project is the opportunity to reduce total building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 25% - 50%. Please refer to the building energy efficiency proposal for a detailed analysis of ISTC energy use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Another motivation for this project is the opportunity for significant water use reduction. The cooling system at ISTC (and many other campus locations) involves the use of a cooling tower to provide cooling water for the chiller’s condenser. This cooling tower consumes an estimated 1 million gallons of water per year, most of which is evaporated and the rest of which is bled away to maintain specific cooling water quality parameters. Successful implementation of this geothermal system would eliminate the use of the cooling tower and the water it consumes.