WorldWide Drilling Resource

WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to work in cooperation with to bring you more information about the benefits of geothermal drilling. 43 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® AUGUST 2013 Geothermal Cools Down NASA Facility Adapted from a Press Release by NASA As part of a 20-year revitalization plan, NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is harness- ing the temperatures underground to cool its newly-developed Integrated Engineering Services Building (IESB), which is slated for completion next June. The new facility is expected to have a high heat load, housing not only Langley’s cafeteria and its associated industrial-size kitchen appliances, but also hosting large group affairs in its auditorium. Project Manager for IESB Gary Stergin commented, “You're always going to be trying to shed heat from this building,” meaning an efficient cooling system was a must in design. Exactly 140 geothermal wells were drilled almost 400 feet into a former park- ing lot near the IESB site. Drilling went well, with installation of all the wells com- pleted earlier. According to Stergin, dur- ing a good week when the drill team was not hampered by weather delays, an average of 15 wells were able to be installed harnessing a ground tempera- ture around 62°F (17°C). The new geothermal design is ref- erenced as a “hybrid” system because it relies on more than just cool ground temperatures to work. What makes the system unique is the facility’s use of cooling towers in the design, which can be seen all over the center, and will also be installed on the new building’s roof. The hybrid system will work by using a compressor at the building site to pump hot Freon gas through cooling coil heat exchangers fed by both the geothermal well field and the fluid cooler. The water in those coils will cool the Freon down from 140°F (60°C) to about 90°F (32°C). The Freon will then travel to an expan- The crew drilled 140 wells into the geothermal exchange field. sion valve where it will cool down to about 45°F (7°C). From there, it will circulate through cooling coils with air blowing across them, providing cold air to the building. Stergin believes the hybrid geother- mal system will work very efficiently, and hopes it will earn IESB a gold rating from the U.S. Green Bui lding Counci l 's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Join the WWDR / WWGR Team at the IGSHPA Conference October 9-10, 2013 at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.