The Hindu Business Line : Geothermal energy powers Canadian varsity

A university campus cooled and heated by geothermal energy. Sounds unusual, doesn’t it? But University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Canada’s youngest varsity, has achieved this distinction.

The UOIT in Oshawa on the outskirts of Toronto has invested $4 million in the ambitious project to harness geothermal energy to meet the power needs of its academic buildings and campus.

Geothermal energy is obtained by the transfer of heat from the Earth’s depths to surface. A natural hot spring is a good example of geothermal energy, which can be used to generate electricity and heat homes or commercial buildings.

At the UOIT, the geothermal well field is situated underneath an area of the size of a football ground in the midst of the campus. It consists of 375 boreholes, each costing roughly $10,000.

The UOIT, campus which became functional in 2003 with just over 5,500 students, has eight new buildings that have been designed to be heated and cooled with this renewable energy with the aim to minimise greenhouse gas emission.

The Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System (BTESS), a technically challenging project, uses the natural space below the earth to store heat during warm periods and extracts the same energy for heating during cooler months.

In a massive operation, the borehole drilling operations were carried out using three drilling rigs, operating 24/7. In the end it turned out to be the second largest Geothermal Energy Installation in North America comprising 375 boreholes drilled 200 metres deep.

The system has the capacity to cool or heat the equivalent of over 1,000 houses. It delivers roughly 8 MW of energy, Mr Bruce Bunker, Director of Space Planning and Scheduling at UOIT, told a team of visiting global media recently.

“Luckily we found an almost impermeable limestone formation between 55 metre and 200 m below the surface. This homogenous, no-fractured rock gave the perfect setting to store thermal energy, as there is virtually no groundwater flux to transport the thermal energy away from the site.”

UOIT’s geothermal energy system is at the heart of the university’s research into renewable energy. It has launched a slew of energy efficient initiatives ranging from green roofs to solar reflective windows, he said.

The BTESS system is expected to make good economic sense as well. The break-even period for the project is seven years.

Green Rooftops

Another interesting initiative is the installation of green rooftops on five of the academic buildings. A total of 40 per cent of the rooftop area has been “greened”, Mr Bunker said.

How does the upkeep and maintenance happen? A combination of local plants, which need low maintenance, are used as soil beds and rainwater is captured, utilised and recycled back into the atmosphere.

The green roofs collect and buffer rainwater, providing natural cooling.

An advantage of the system is that it helps in absorbing carbon dioxide, which is a primary greenhouse gas.

The UOIT mission is to drive energy-efficient routes and establish stewardship in environmental and energy conservation areas. It has already attracted big funds from corporates for research and faculty to guide projects.

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