The Chronicle
Summary
The enormous trenches that were cut across the Oberlin College campus this summer will be filled in the coming weeks.
About 25,000 linear feet of new pipe have been installed underground in the past several months, said Meghan Riesterer, assistant vice president of campus energy and sustainability.
“We have hot water heating on campus now,” she said Wednesday.
So far, 13 buildings on the south side of the campus have been converted from the old steam-based heating system, which was falling apart.
Riesterer said those buildings that have been changed over should be 30 percent more energy efficient this winter.
Through the end of the year, conversion of campus buildings will wrap up, walkways and landscaping will be restored and new hot and chilled water piping systems will be tested, according to project managers.
Since work started earlier this year, nearly 10 miles of trenches have been dug so old steam pipes could be removed and new lines could be run from geothermal wells.
The 8-foot-deep channels will be filled within six weeks, and disrupted areas will be reseeded.
The college also anticipates paving will soon wrap up on Professor and Elm streets, where digging has interrupted the traffic flow.
Riesterer said Oberlin College is grateful to the community for enduring inconveniences caused by the project.
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