There are two types of geothermal energy.
There is High Grade, using the heat of the Earth's pressure that can turn water into steam. Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park is a great example of this.
The second is Low Grade that is stored in the Earth's crust. This heat is called stored solar energy, which gives people the energy savings when they use it for heating, cooling and making hot water.
In the past few months, Mile 108 Elementary School has had contractors drilling in the field adjacent to the school. The holes are an average of 200 feet deep and there are five pipes per well, creating six wells, which total 30 holes.
The drilling company had to go through bedrock and also had some minor equipment problems that slowed down the project.
Due to above normal rainfall, another problem occurred. The culvert that goes under the road in front of the school started to flood causing mud to fill the drain field and, consequently, the trenches had to be re-dug.
Each hole has two pipes installed with one allowing the water to be forced down the pipe and the other pipe allows the water to return to the school's heat pumps with the average temperature being 53 degrees Fahrenheit (53 F).
The water temperature begins to warm up at approximately six feet below the surface, and as the water travels down 200 feet it warms to 53 F. When the water returns to the heat pumps, they take over and increase the temperature to the desired heating level required by the school.
Forty per cent glycol (antifreeze) is mixed with 60 per cent water to create the correct mix of fluids travelling through the pipes.
The goal is to have an 80 per cent reduction in use of green house gasses, and in this case, reducing the use of natural gas and exhaust fumes.
Funding for the project was $500,000 with a grant from the Ministry of Education providing $250,000 and the school district providing the other $250,000. One of the stipulations from the education ministry was the students be provided with seminars on the uses of geothermal heating, as it relates to the use in the school.
Another energy saving device the school has implemented is the earlier installation of solar panels on the roof to heat the water for the domestic hot water tanks.
Many thanks go to School District 27 representatives Doug Gorcak and Alex Telford for the information and the tour of the heating systems of the school.
Reg Berrington is the 108 Mile Ranch correspondent.
