Geothermal Heat

I'm excited to be working on campus this year, through the Work Initiative Program, with Professor Grace Eason. Another student, Steph, and I are conducting tours of the LEED certified Education Building at UMF in an effort to spread the word about sustainable building materials and practices. This is an opportunity for me to learn in more detail about resource conservation from a very hands-on perspective.One of the things I'm learning about is geothermal heating and cooling. As with many green technologies, there are many aspects to consider. Simply put, geothermal heat uses the constant 51'F earth temperature (at 357'feet beneath the earth's surface) to moderate the fluctuations in air temperature from one season to the next. Our first tour takes place later today, and this is one of the topics I'll be presenting.

Diagram source: http://tulanepadova.pbwiki.com/f/earth-interior-diagram.gif