The Chronicle
Summary
A huge trench has been clawed into the ground behind Finney Chapel, one of the first signs of progress in Oberlin College's $140 million geothermal conversion project.
The channel measures about 10 feet wide and 8 feet deep, and follows the edge of Wilder Bowl in the heart of campus.
In the coming months, expect more like it to appear. Nearly 10 linear miles will be dug up to remove old, disintegrating pipes and lay new ones, said Meghan Riesterer, the college's assistant vice president of campus energy and sustainability.
"In some places it will be a little shallower. This is one of the deeper ones," she said Thursday, peering over the lip of the long furrow near Finney.
Oberlin College's steam heat system dates back to 1913, and in recent years has suffered increasing ruptures. Facing the immense cost of repairs, the college decided a full replacement would be the best route — and also move the campus closer to its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025.
Riesterer's background is in district energy systems, and she has experience from prior jobs in large distribution projects involving steam pipes. She walked the campus Thursday, talking about how the project took seven years to conceive and plan, and how it will come together over the next four years.
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