Colorado Mesa University is one step closer to becoming the first university in the country that is heated and cooled entirely with a geothermal, or geoexchange, system.

If that sounds like some kind of useless factoid or a novelty masking as a dubious claim to fame, consider that funding for the project was a priority for the governor’s office during this legislative session.

With good reason. Gov. Jared Polis wants the state to meet a goal of being 100% powered by renewable energy sources by 2040. And CMU is an example of a sizable institution handling all of its heating and cooling needs without burning hydrocarbons.

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Investing in this technology produces real-world savings, too. As previously reported, this system saves the university around $1.5 million annually. As a result, tuition is 2% lower than it would be if the university used a traditional HVAC system. It also reduces the university’s carbon footprint by more than 10,000 metric tons per year.

CMU’s existing geoexchange system includes 171,000 feet of pipes and seven well fields. In the summer months, heat is drawn from buildings to the underground pipes to cool it off. In winter months, warm air is drawn from the ground and blown into buildings.

As reported in today’s edition, Polis is expected to sign a bill that will provide about $6 million in state funds for CMU to help get the rest of the campus linked to the geoexchange system.

CMU’s system has caught the attention of luminaries in the sustainability community.

Zeyreb Magavi, co-executive director of the Massachusetts-based HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team), a nonprofit incubator that helps develop renewable energy projects, told the Sentinel that CMU is “basically leading the world” in heating and cooling buildings efficiently.

“The numbers coming out of there are saying that this is even more efficient than the best heat pumps we’ve got, than all the fossil fuel combustion we’ve got, whether it be oil or gas,” Magavi said.

With this recognition,we can acknowledge once again that having a university in our midst provides value far beyond its primary mission of educating students. It can blaze trails that contribute to the Grand Valley’s reputation as an innovative place. It has already provided a template for how to more efficiently regulate building temperatures in a way that contributes to climate stability.

Importantly, projects like this create awareness of resources at our disposal that an oil and gas-based economy relegated to the sidelines.

Even Big Oil is starting to consider how it can leverage its exploration and drilling technologies to locate subsurface hot-rock formations that offer clean, renewable power generation.

Geothermal-energy advocates point out that hot rocks can provide baseload power when there is no sun or wind and the technology requires less land than wind or solar farms.

Once upon a time, geothermal power plants could only be considered in geothermal “hot spots,”or places where hot rocks were close to the surface. But emerging technology to drill deeper into the ground are making geothermal power plants viable in more locations.

CMU’s project helps buttress the idea that America’s energy future could be about drilling for heat instead of hydrocarbons.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial Board

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