Seeking a carbon neutral solution to heat its campus, Cornell – a university with a storied history of digging giant holes – presented their proposal for what, by volume, is likely to be the largest hole dug in the university’s history; one, they say, could lay the groundwork for a revolution in district heating in the Northeastern United States.
At a session Thursday evening attended by dozens of members of the community and faculty, a group of Cornell researchers presented a preliminary outline of their proposal for a massive geothermal heating system they hope to build beneath Cornell’s campus. The ambitious project, first proposed as part of the campus’ climate action plan drafted in 2009, aims to heat Cornell’s campus by digging a hole nearly three miles down, encasing it in concrete and pumping a solution of water and anti-corrosive deep into the earth, where it will be heated and recirculated 15,000 feet above through a system of pipes throughout the campus.
