Our client
Founded in 1809, Miami University is the second oldest university in Ohio and the 10th oldest public university in the United States. The school is a public research university and one of the original eight Public Ivy schools, a group of publicly funded universities providing quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.
Project highlights
Their challenge
In an effort to improve sustainability and revitalize their campus, Miami University developed a utility master plan to work toward carbon neutrality. The plan involved converting nearly all of its buildings from steam heating systems to heating hot water, simultaneous heat and cooling, or geothermal energy by 2026.
Our solution
Our team provided analysis and design for the utilitzation of geothermal energy for campus heating and cooling. The geothermal system features a vertical bore field with 690 bores 600 feet deep and a matt loop field with 133 loops designed to reside underneath a pond to optimize the use of green space on campus.
The results
The new systems support more than 600,000 square feet of building space. These conversions have transitioned 55 percent of building square footage from carbon-intensive steam to geothermal- or simultaneous heating and cooling-fed heating hot water resulting in reduced carbon emissions by 51 percent, energy use by 39 percent, and fossil fuel use by 46 percent.
