There's something new going on underneath the grounds of Phillips Exeter Academy.Forty-nine geothermal wells, each 400 feet deep and eight inches in diameter, are being installed under the Academy Building lawn as part of Phase 2 of the Phillips Hall renovation project. The installation of the wells began the day after graduation earlier this month.
Through a closed-loop pump system, the wells will provide heating and cooling to Phillips Hall, which currently doesn't have an air conditioning system.
"We looked at a number of alternative systems to bring cooling into Phillips Hall," said Roger Wakeman, director of facilities management at PEA.
After doing some research, Wakeman said, it was determined the geothermal wells would be about 30 percent more efficient in energy use then conventional heating and cooling, and the project would pay for itself in 12 to 13 years.
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