As part of Princeton University's goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2046, we are advancing our use of geo-exchange technology. Investing in geo-exchange projects, with enough capacity to serve the entire campus, will enable Princeton to phase out nonrenewable energy sources, including natural gas burned today to produce steam heat. flyer to understand how geo-exchange works and how we are not installing geothermal wells.
Converting the campus to a district-scale hot water system maximizes energy efficiency and supports the University's sustainability action plan. Princeton's campus conversion is achieved by drilling over 2,000 geo-exchange bores, installed 600 – 850 feet below ground, installing over 13 miles of distribution piping and upgrading our central plants and building systems. The geo-exchange bores form a closed-loop system which acts as a thermal “piggybank” below the ground. Heat-pumps are used to retrieve this thermal energy, heat or cool it and pump it out to our campus. Check out our new geo-exchange flyer to better understand how geo-exchange systems work and that we are not installing geothermal wells.
Converting our campus to district hot water and geo-exchange is a major component of becoming net-zero by 2046. Check out our Path to Net-Zero: Campus Upgrades projects on the Facilities website to find more information on how our infrastructure projects work together to advance geo-exchange technology and move our campus closer to net-zero.
Path to Net-Zero: Campus Upgrades