News

9/10/2007

Why We Chose Geothermal for Office Expansion

Midwest Electric Inc. located in St. Marys is remodeling. We are taking 10,000 sq. ft. of existing garage and turning it into new office space plus we are adding over 28,000 sq. ft. for a new garage and warehouse facility.

What makes this expansion project different from most others is the type of heating and cooling system chosen to condition the building. The system: Geothermal.

Midwest Electric has promoted the benefits of geothermal systems for over 20 years and it is still the most energy efficient system available today.

The system we are installing is projected to save over 60% compared to natural gas and other types of heating systems.

Midwest Electric is a local not for profit electric cooperative serving over 10,000 members in the 7 county area. It is our responsibility to look into the most efficient ways to operate our business whether it's in the outside operations department or the building and maintenance side of our business.

Geothermal is becoming widely accepted in the residential market and is finally breaking the borders for commercial applications.

With the project we are working on here at Midwest Electric, the projected savings will be over 50 cents per sq. ft. per year.

That does not sound like very much until you multiply it times 28,000 sq. ft. for the garage plus the 10,000 sq. ft. in the old garage (which is being converted to new offices)

If you do the math that adds up too: $ 19,000.00 per year in savings, this year, next year, and so on.

It is time for any school, public building, and private corporations to take a serious look at the economic value of geothermal systems.

The Midwest office will use 3 conventional forced air geothermal units (water to air) to provide both heating and cooling as needed in the office; conditioned air will be distributed through ductwork and registers located in the ceiling.

The garage and warehouse area is designed with a radiant floor heating system. These units will be (water to water) geothermal systems. In the winter months the units will circulate hot water through radiant floor piping to heat the concrete floor. The warm concrete floor will in turn heat the entire garage and warehouse.

Our system will consist of horizontal loop fields, 4-pipe system, 6' deep, 4 pipes in each trench. The rule of thumb is 100 ft of pipe per ton of heating/cooling capacity. We'll have 16 tons forced air system for the old garage/new office; 60 tons radiant floor heat for the new garage.

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