Just in time for winter, Oberlin College and Conservatory's geothermal heating and cooling system cranks up the heat to full blast. A four-year project to transform the campus's fossil fuel-based system into an environmentally friendly one is now online, supporting Oberlin's goal of becoming 100 percent carbon neutral by 2025.
“It’s an important milestone for this infrastructure,” said Chris Norman, senior director of energy and sustainability.
The project, called the Sustainable Infrastructure Program (SIP), involved replacing aging infrastructure with a robust system powered by 850 geothermal wells on the practice fields north of campus, water heat pumps and an underground pipe network. Oberlin has retrofitted nearly 60 campus buildings for the new system and added air conditioning to 11 additional buildings.
Through these infrastructure changes, the university is estimated to have achieved 90 percent of its carbon neutrality goal. Oberlin will spend the next year testing the geothermal system to measure how efficient it is. At the end of this process, the university will purchase carbon offsets to achieve 100 percent carbon neutrality.
“Oberlin’s approach is unique because we are committed to reducing colleges’ carbon footprint at the source by leveraging infrastructure improvements rather than relying solely on carbon offsets,” Norman says. “This is real climate protection action. It's meaningful. We actually do the work.”
Oberlin has already been a leader in efforts to increase environmental awareness in higher education. The college was the first of its partner institutions to sign the American College and University Presidents' Climate Pledge back in 2006, encouraging the leadership of hundreds of other institutions to agree to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
“Oberlin has proactively met the challenge of carbon neutrality,” said Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar. “We do not shirk our responsibility towards future generations. We are acting now to address our aging energy system to create a more sustainable campus – and planet.”
The campus minimized the impact on operations by completing the majority of the renovation work during the summer months. And now that construction is complete, students can play rugby like before on the practice field above the Geowell field.
“It’s pretty exciting because what we do is transferable,” Norman says. “Other schools and institutions can use it as a model. You can do geothermal energy almost anywhere.” The college already hosts tours for interested academic institutions and government agencies.
From its inception, the SIP Project has also served as an educational resource for Oberlin students and faculty. Students were on site to collect samples, speak with practitioners and create educational materials.
“Every step of the way, students have been on the front lines of climate action,” Norman says. “They are directly involved in how we implement the new system and plan the next steps.”
How Oberlin's geothermal system works
In Oberlin's geothermal system, hot and cooled water circulates through the underground pipe system to heat and cool buildings and provide hot water. The closed loop system is completely self-contained and does not extract or inject water into the ground, but rather continuously circulates it through pipes 600 feet below the campus.
“We treat the Earth like a battery,” Norman said.
All told, the system is estimated to save the college $1 million per year in operations and maintenance, reduce its water consumption by more than 5 million gallons per year, reduce wastewater disposal by more than 4 million gallons per year, and improve campus energy efficiency improve more than 30%.
Learn more about Oberlin's Sustainable Infrastructure Program and how students learn about sustainability through Oberlin's Environmental Studies and Sciences Program.