Geothermal System at Monroe Sets Trend For Sustainable Energy
Summary
Monroe Hall will be the first building on campus to utilize renewable, sustainable and cost-effective geothermal energy.
Full Description
As part of the Housing and Dining Comprehensive Facilities Plan, William & Mary is installing a geothermal system that will efficiently and sustainably heat and cool Monroe Hall. The system will be up and running when students return to the building in 2024.
Monroe Hall is the first structure at the university to connect to a geothermal system, but it won’t be the last. Old Dominion Hall is also scheduled to receive a geothermal system, and an extensive geothermal field will be constructed to serve all of the new housing and dining facilities under development for the West Woods. The Old Dominion and West Woods projects will be completed in 2025. Later phases of the plan will also incorporate the use of geothermal energy.
“Bringing the buildings onto a geothermal system will allow us to take the buildings off of the central utilities for heating and cooling, which eliminates the need to burn natural gas,” said Dan Pisaniello, university architect and director of facilities planning, design and construction. “It’s incredibly energy efficient and environmentally friendly, and it plays to the university’s sustainability goals. This is a significant move and the precursor to many other projects that are going to use geothermal energy.”
