Eco Factor: Renewable energy used to power university campus.
The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) has invested $4 million in an ambitious project to capture geothermal energy to meet the power needs of its academic buildings and campus. At the UOIT, the geothermal well field is situated underneath an ear of the size of a football ground in the midst of the campus.
The project consists of 375 boreholes, each of which costs about $10,000. The campus, which became functional in 2003, has eight buildings that are designed to be heated and cooled with renewable energy present underground, which minimizes greenhouse gas emissions.
The geothermal system has the capacity to cool or heat about 1000 homes and roughly delivers about 8MW of power. In addition to the use of renewable energy, the university has also installed green rooftops on five of its academic buildings, which prevent water runoff and also provide natural cooling.
Via: Business Line
