TREVORTON - One might not think twice passing by the playground behind Trevorton Elementary School, but 400 feet beneath the swings and other equipment is a heating and cooling system that controls the climate of the school.
It also provides Line Mountain School District with an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building.
"All I know is we're not relying on black gold anymore," said Superintendent Dave Campbell, referencing heating oil when he and facility director Tim Lagerman gave The News-Item a tour of the geothermal units Tuesday afternoon.
In the 2008-09 school year, the district paid $118,784 for oil and electricity for the 75,000-square-foot Trevorton building, including 45,000 gallons of heating oil. The school installed the geothermal system in November 2009. In the 2010-11 school year, the district paid $127,938 for the electricity used to power the climate control unit.
That's $9,000 more, but, Lagerman said, the $118,784 was before oil prices started to drastically increase, and before electricity rate caps were lifted.
The overall number of kilowatt per hour (kwh) used at the school dropped. In 2009-10, during construction, the school used 1,009,600 kwh of electricity. In 2010-11, that number dropped to 956,000.
Josh Bower, Line Mountain project manager representing Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects, said the exact amount of money the district is saving is difficult to determine, but he estimates the savings is about 40 percent.
The only other district in the region known to have a geothermal system is Tamaqua in eastern Schuylkill County. That district announced earlier this month that 1,600 solar panels will be erected on district-owned land for power generation.
40 wells
Lagerman recommended Line Mountain install a geothermal system when he was hired in 1998 to either replace or repair the aging HVAC system. The old system was initially repaired for $15,000, but eventually needed to be replaced.
Studies were done to determine which buildings in the district were best suited for geothermal heating and cooling, which uses the naturally stable temperature inside the earth to help heat buildings in winter and cool them in summer. The elementary schools at Dalmatia and Leck Kill were not adequate, and the high school did not require a new system because of recent renovations.
The $2.3 million project, part of a $5.8 million project to renovate the existing school, was designed by Greenman-Pedersen, Scranton.
There are 40 wells hidden beneath mulch on the playground. A small area surrounded by yellow chains indicates the location of the main pump vault, but otherwise nothing is visible on the surface.
A liquid, called glycol - a coolant similar to antifreeze - is distributed up and down the wells through a series of pipes and is cycled through the building in a closed loop to either heat or cool the rooms, depending on the need. The main part of the building has three loops while the gymnasium and auditorium have one loop. There are also heat pumps in nearly every classroom to allow for local control.
There are two main pumps in the mechanical room where there used to be two boilers, Lagerman said.
"You don't need two. It's redundant, but we wanted to have a fail-safe option," he said. "If one goes down, you can rely on the other one."
Control by room
The beauty of the system goes beyond savings and green technology. It's also about controling the temperature in each room, Lagerman said, and the ability to monitor the system remotely online.
"I can sit at my computer anywhere in the world and check every room," he said.
In the winter months, he can use his laptop to keep an eye on the building over cold weekends or holidays, he said.
Additionally, the system works as a dehumidifier, which replaces two industrial-sized machines previously used for that process.
Better learning
Although not part of the geothermal system, there are eight energy recovery units (ERU) on the roof to allow fresh air into the building.
These various systems working together provide a healthier atmosphere for learning, Campbell said.
"The whole climate, it's better. It's just cleaner," he said.
With the amount the district is saving, Campbell said the return on investment could take less than seven years.
Also, the district received a $44,700 rebate from PPL's E-power Rebate Grant for converting its heating system.
Nice environment
Money isn't the only issue, Bower said.
"Not using 40,000 gallons of oil a year; think of what that's not doing to the environment," he said.
Furthermore, he said, there were other energy-efficient practices established in the school.
"It turned out to be a nice building. It's great for the students and teachers. We have a 1902 building with a nice facelift," he said.