I took time off from pruning grapes to attend a presentation and tour of new construction on the CWU campus. Pruning has been disrupted by absences and weather. We are 2/3rd done.
On the CWU campus, one building has been torn down and another will go bye-bye next year. The replacement is being called the North Academic Complex or NAC. This new office and classroom structure is being paired with a GeoEcoCenter.
https://www.cwu.edu/about/media-resources/news/2024/8/cwu-is-utilizing-geothermal-technology-as-solution-to-decarbonizing-campus.php
In very simple terms, warm water will be taken from under the campus, cleaned, processed, moved around (both heating and cooling buildings) and then returned to the 800 feet deep aquifer. It is a massive heat pump somewhat like many folks have in homes.
My home system is an “air sourced” one that requires electric-resistance heating on cold days. The CWU system will use water at about 68°F – a temperature that doesn’t vary.
There is much said and written about sustainability and “carbon” emissions [that helped get the funding], but the important part is saving money. New buildings are designed to be energy efficient, as are new houses.
On Wednesday we heard from several CWU folks and three engineers from the companies doing the work on the water, the buildings, and the heat exchangers.
After the presentations with questions from the audience, about 20 of us toured the work in-progress. The academic building is four stories with a large atrium (natural light in abundance). With work going on all about, we could only walk through on the ground floor. The geo-thermal part is still just dirt with the top of the extraction well the only relevant thing to see.
This building is designed for viewing and meant to attract students and visitors. They have nice visuals of the future building and system. Everything is to be ready for fall of 2026. Over the next 30 years the plan calls for three more interconnected geo-eco facilities, new buildings, and retrofitting current buildings for the heat pump technology. The current gas/steam plant with campus-wide steam tunnels isn’t going away any time soon.
I intended to spray weed killer this weekend, but the weather did not cooperate. Today the average wind is about 30 mph with a 45 mph gust. Saturday was slightly more so. The high gust was 47 mph. About daybreak Tuesday all will become more peaceful, so says the National Weather Service. 
I recall a tradition of violent weather on Good Friday and then a pleasent Easter Sunday. We don’t always get what we want.
I baked a Marie Callender’s Dutch Apple Pie on Friday, so all is good.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John