ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell is one step closer to determining the feasibility of using deep geothermal energy to heat the Ithaca campus.
Drilling for the Cornell University Borehole Observatory (CUBO) began June 21 and is expected to last about two months. The borehole, located on a Cornell-owned gravel parking lot, will be subjected to a battery of tests, both during and after drilling, to determine the temperature, permeability and other characteristics of the rock up to 10,000 feet below the earth’s surface.
These findings will help the university determine whether to move forward with a proposed plan to warm the Ithaca campus with Earth Source Heat (ESH), a process that would extract naturally heated water after it’s pumped underground, transfer its heat to a separate supply of water flowing within the campus’ heating distribution pipeline, and return the original water to the subsurface, where it warms back up and begins the cycle again.
Such a system would enable the university to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035, while providing a blueprint for similar renewable energy efforts throughout the Northeast and other parts of the U.S. where geothermal heat has not previously been utilized.
“This well will provide scientific information, but it will not be a production well,” said Jeff Tester, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and principal investigator for the project. “Measurements made in the well will validate the temperatures and other properties at certain depths. This information will tell us a lot about the characteristics of the rock in a range where those temperatures could be useful for geothermal heat production and will help us design and build an actual energy extraction process in the next phase.”
If the university moves forward with Earth Source Heat, the next phase would entail drilling a separate pair of wells to act as an injector and producer. While other alternatives for renewable energy have been proposed, from heat pumps to solar, Tester says nothing comes close to the cost savings and environmental benefits of ESH.
For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.
Media note: Video updates and photo assets for the geothermal energy initiative can be viewed and downloaded here: https://cornell.box.com/v/BoreholeObservatory
