During the Fall 2023 semester, two geoscience students, Cailin Stauffer and Paloma Probart, proposed a geothermal heating and cooling system for The University of Tulsa as part of the Department of Energy’s National Geothermal Collegiate Competition. The competition had two main tracks, namely the engineering-focused Technical Track and the economic-focused Policy Track, and many universities across the US participated, including our neighbor, the University of Oklahoma, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The team won second place and $6,000 in the Technical Track category of the U.S. Department of Energy 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competition, which challenges college students to develop real-world geothermal solutions for cash prizes and hands-on experience.
The team’s proposal involved designing a system that could bring clean, renewable geothermal energy to the Lorton Performance Center, a musical and performance arts center that presently accounts for 6% of the university’s heating and cooling costs. They proposed installing horizontal piping underneath the Harwell athletic field to accomplish this goal.