Carleton News
Summary
Carleton is embarking on a wholly new approach to sustainability that will build upon the college’s remarkable success in reducing its carbon footprint to accelerate progress toward carbon neutrality.
The more recently added geothermal heating and cooling system pushes Carleton’s progress toward carbon neutrality even further. The system has provided massive energy savings—in usage and cost—since the start of its implementation in 2019. The system’s ability to capture and repurpose existing heat reduced campus energy use by 50% in just the first year. Three 520-foot-deep geothermal bore fields on campus act like a giant thermal battery and reduce the need to create new energy at the central plant. Carleton has become a national leader among higher education institutions when it comes to this kind of energy, with the campus geothermal project winning NY-GEO’s Top Job award in 2022.
“We’ve seen a pretty dramatic drop in the use of natural gas since introducing the geothermal system,” Director of Facilities and Capital Planning Steve Spehn said.
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