Arizona Schools Might Implement Geothermal Technology

by Alex Bloom - Dec. 22, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Some school districts in Arizona are considering geothermal energy to reduce utility costs. Earlier this month, the Cave Creek Unified School District governing board approved the drilling of a test well at its high-school campus.

K.M. Drilling, a Camp Verde firm, will drill a 250-foot test well on Jan. 10 on the campus at Cactus Shadows High School at no cost to the district. Corgan Associates, a Phoenix architecture firm, has spoken with the Paradise Valley Unified School District about a similar project.
Robert Erickson, an architect with Corgan, said that the firm has spoken with many school districts. Erickson and Don Penn, engineer with Texas-based Image Engineering Group Inc., gave a presentation to the Cave Creek governing board at its Nov. 18 meeting. The district, Erickson said, could be among the first in the state to try geothermal.

"You can lead this state out of the prehistoric age in some respects and get on board with some of these energy savings," Erickson told the board.
The system works by attaching geothermal heat pumps to a series of buried plastic pipes. The pipes circulate water in closed-loop systems. During the winter, the ground's heat warms the circulating water and transfers it to the pumps. The process is reversed in the summer, with the pumps sending heat back into the ground.
Wells can be drilled under parking lots or green areas. Multiple wells are needed for a single building.

"If we can look for energy resources that will eventually save the district money and be more energy-efficient for our schools, then it makes sense," said Casey Perkins, a member of the Cave Creek board.

Perkins said that she first would need to see a cost analysis and that the plan would need community input. She added that geothermal is not the only cost-saving measure under consideration. Penn estimated that retrofitting the science building at Cactus Shadows would cost $250,000 to $350,000.

Corgan is talking to districts around the state about geothermal energy to lower utility costs. Whiteriver Unified School District in Navajo County is taking steps to retrofit a middle school.

"We'd love to see someone else try it in the Valley and be able to collect some data from that process," said Jim Lee, Paradise Valley's assistant superintendent for support services and planning.

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