Drilling Demonstrations & Site Tours
Registration for Pre-Conference Activities will be sent to confirmed NY-GEO 2025 attendees.
THE HEAT BENEATH OUR FEET
- Drift Monitoring with USGS
- Butt and Loop Fusion demonstrations
- Thermal Conductivity Testing
- Pressure Testing
9:30 am - Depart BOCES for your selected Geothermal Site Tour
2:00 - 3:00 pm - Return to Drilling Demonstration for Pipe and Grouting
4:00 - 5:00 pm - Return to Saratoga Hilton
PRESENTING SPONSOR - THANK YOU
All Tours will Depart Saratoga Hilton at 8:30 am for Drilling Demonstration.
TOUR 1
Steamboat 20, UAlbany ETEC, Five Rivers Enviormental Education Center
Steamboat 20 Project
88 Unit Renovation Project - Albany Housing Authority
The Steamboat 20 Project stands as a bold example of how to electrify older multifamily housing stock. Originally constructed in the early 1960s the project involved the conversion of existing gas-fired boilers and domestic hot water systems to an all-electric distributed geothermal heat pump system. All 88 apartments, plus common areas, and commercial spaces are now supported by a highly efficient network of geothermal heat pumps. The domestic hot water conversion remained centralized with the installation of twin 25-ton CO2 refrigerant geothermal heat pumps. The geothermal source energy to support the systems consist of thirty-two (32) 500-foot deep geothermal closed loop boreholes located under the two parking lots. Edgemere Development pieced together the funding for this ambitious retrofit made possible by NYSHCR Clean Energy Initiative (CEI); NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program (MPP), Flextech Program, and Heat Pump Demonstration Study (HPDS); National Grid Clean Heat; and NYS Attorney General. NY-GEO Member Aztech Geothermal was the lead geothermal consultant and other NY-GEO members also had important contributions including ZBF Geothermal, Stark Tech, GEOptimize and Earth Sensitive Solutions.
ETEC, UAlbany
ETEC, UAlbanyETEC is an impressive new 246,000SF lab/classroom/academic building at the University at Albany's Uptown Campus that utilizes geothermal heat pumps for 100% of its cooling, heating, and domestic hot water needs. It is a LEED Platinum building that is carbon neutral with half of its annual electricity from an on-campus 2MW rooftop solar system.
ETEC Building’s Innovative Energy System features include, but are not limited to:
- Geothermal ground loop consists of (14) groups of (190) closed loop vertical boreholes 499 feet deep
- Geothermal heat pumps for HVAC and domestic hot water heating
- Dedicated heat recovery modular chillers for simultaneous heating and cooling and redundancy
- Innovative ventilation for lab spaces, including hydronic heat recovery loop to transfer heat between outdoor air and lab exhaust streams
- Demand based and occupancy-based ventilation controls
- Green infrastructure including, porous asphalt parking lot and teaching green roof
Five Environmental Education Center
Five Environmental Education CenterA geothermal heat pump system heats and cools the visitor's center and guided school buildings. Additional Details Coming Soon.
TOUR 2
Riverview Apartments and Skidmore College
Riverview Apartments
Completed in 2024, this is a new construction 60 unit multifamily building for Rise Housing & Support Services. There are twenty-eight (28) 500-foot boreholes under the main parking lot serving apartments, common spaces and domestic hot water. The building features centralized geothermal domestic hot water using high temperature carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigerant heat pumps mated with two (2) 500 gallon storage tanks.
Skidmore College
About 35% of the campus is heated and cooled with geothermal energy. The Arthur Zankel Music Center, Filene Music Building, Saisselin Art Center, Northwoods and Sussman Village apartments, the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, Wiecking Hall, the Tang Teaching Museum and the Dance Center use geothermal heating and cooling systems. These systems provide 100% of the cooling needs and about 70% of the heating needs of the apartments and music center and about 95% of the heating needs of the dining hall.
District Geothermal Systems
In 2012, Skidmore College won the Best Campus Sustainability Case Study Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its innovative district geothermal system. A district field is one that supplies heating and cooling energy to multiple buildings, unlike standalone systems that provide energy to a single building. By designing a district system, Skidmore reduced the total number of bores required to support campus buildings and the amount of associated infrastructure. Skidmore has installed two district fields and built a third district field in 2016 for a future building project.
The Arts Quad district field has 84 bores that supply heating and cooling energy to Zankel, Filene and Saisselin. Buildings in the Arts Quad can also exchange energy with each other. The ability to exchange heating and cooling loads increases the efficiency of the system and decreases the demand on the geothermal field.
In 2014, Skidmore installed its second district field under Wiecking Green. This field has 64 bores and supplies heating and cooling energy to Wiecking, the Tang and the Dance Center.
In 2015, approximately 100 engineers, policymakers and students visited Skidmore for the annual New York Geothermal Energy Organization (NY-GEO) conference. Skidmore was selected to host the conference, dubbed “Geopalooza,” because it has implemented numerous sustainability initiatives that align with the NY-GEO agenda, including expansive geothermal systems.
TOUR 3
Steamboat 20 Project, Residential Retrofit, Coon's Net Zero
Steamboat 20 Project
88 Unit Renovation Project - Albany Housing Authority
The Steamboat 20 Project stands as a bold example of how to electrify older multifamily housing stock. Originally constructed in the early 1960s the project involved the conversion of existing gas-fired boilers and domestic hot water systems to an all-electric distributed geothermal heat pump system. All 88 apartments, plus common areas, and commercial spaces are now supported by a highly efficient network of geothermal heat pumps. The domestic hot water conversion remained centralized with the installation of twin 25-ton CO2 refrigerant geothermal heat pumps. The geothermal source energy to support the systems consist of thirty-two (32) 500-foot deep geothermal closed loop boreholes located under the two parking lots. Edgemere Development pieced together the funding for this ambitious retrofit made possible by NYSHCR Clean Energy Initiative (CEI); NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program (MPP), Flextech Program, and Heat Pump Demonstration Study (HPDS); National Grid Clean Heat; and NYS Attorney General. NY-GEO Member Aztech Geothermal was the lead geothermal consultant and other NY-GEO members also had important contributions including ZBF Geothermal, Stark Tech, GEOptimize and Earth Sensitive Solutions.
A NET ZERO ENERGY, GREEN, HISTORIC HOME
1830 farmhouse that focused on three priorities: net zero, green products and historically integrity.
The Peters-Lockrow farm house, built in 1830's, was on the 80 acre Abraham Moe Farm and had been vacant for a decade. When we saw the home we saw that it had good bones and set three goals for its restoration 1) maintain historic integrity 2) use green building practices 3) net zero energy use.
Energy
- Climate Master ground source heat pump for heating and cooling with a 450-foot borehole
- Southern orientation for passive solar gain
- R-52 walls, R-81 roof closed cell foam insulation
- Solar hot water
- 8.4 kW pole mounted PV, and additional 10.2 kW barn mounted net metered to provide all of home’s electrical needs as well as charge a LEAF and 2 Tesla
- Life Breath heat recovery ventilator
- Leviton and Tesla electric car charging stations
- Passive solar orientation with most windows on the south side
- Ultra-Aire whole house dehumidifier
- Energy Star compact fluorescent or LED lighting
- Three (3) 13.5 kWh Tesla batteries
New Location COMING SOON!
TOUR 4
Skidmore College, Tec-Smart HVCC, ETEC UAlbany
Skidmore College
About 35% of the campus is heated and cooled with geothermal energy. The Arthur Zankel Music Center, Filene Music Building, Saisselin Art Center, Northwoods and Sussman Village apartments, the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, Wiecking Hall, the Tang Teaching Museum and the Dance Center use geothermal heating and cooling systems. These systems provide 100% of the cooling needs and about 70% of the heating needs of the apartments and music center and about 95% of the heating needs of the dining hall.
District Geothermal Systems
In 2012, Skidmore College won the Best Campus Sustainability Case Study Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its innovative district geothermal system. A district field is one that supplies heating and cooling energy to multiple buildings, unlike standalone systems that provide energy to a single building. By designing a district system, Skidmore reduced the total number of bores required to support campus buildings and the amount of associated infrastructure. Skidmore has installed two district fields and built a third district field in 2016 for a future building project.
The Arts Quad district field has 84 bores that supply heating and cooling energy to Zankel, Filene and Saisselin. Buildings in the Arts Quad can also exchange energy with each other. The ability to exchange heating and cooling loads increases the efficiency of the system and decreases the demand on the geothermal field.
In 2014, Skidmore installed its second district field under Wiecking Green. This field has 64 bores and supplies heating and cooling energy to Wiecking, the Tang and the Dance Center.
In 2015, approximately 100 engineers, policymakers and students visited Skidmore for the annual New York Geothermal Energy Organization (NY-GEO) conference. Skidmore was selected to host the conference, dubbed “Geopalooza,” because it has implemented numerous sustainability initiatives that align with the NY-GEO agenda, including expansive geothermal systems.
ETEC, UAlbany
ETEC is an impressive new 246,000SF lab/classroom/academic building at the University at Albany's Uptown Campus that utilizes geothermal heat pumps for 100% of its cooling, heating, and domestic hot water needs. It is a LEED Platinum building that is carbon neutral with half of its annual electricity from an on-campus 2MW rooftop solar system.
ETEC Building’s Innovative Energy System features include, but are not limited to:
- Geothermal ground loop consists of (14) groups of (190) closed loop vertical boreholes 499 feet deep
- Geothermal heat pumps for HVAC and domestic hot water heating
- Dedicated heat recovery modular chillers for simultaneous heating and cooling and redundancy
- Innovative ventilation for lab spaces, including hydronic heat recovery loop to transfer heat between outdoor air and lab exhaust streams
- Demand based and occupancy-based ventilation controls
- Green infrastructure including, porous asphalt parking lot and teaching green roof
TEC-SMART HVCC
TEC-SMART is a showcase for energy efficient building principles and has received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) "Platinum" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 43,000-square-foot building uses passive solar design, is highly energy efficient and generates one-third of its energy needs by harnessing the power of wind and the sun. The building is not air conditioned; rather it uses the geothermal energy of the earth for heating and cooling and serves as a teaching tool for students in the college's construction, electrical, HVAC, engineering and architecture programs. The STEM Education Center opened in Spring 2024 and is a two-story, 14,500-square-foot building that includes several state-of the-art labs for anatomy, biology, chemistry, microbiology, and physiology, as well as classrooms, student support spaces, and offices.
Two buildings, original TEC-SMART building (43,000 sq ft) LEEDS Platinum opening in January of 2010 that has 64 bore holes, radiant floor heating in main atrium, tram wall, passive solar design. The new STEM building (14,500 sq ft) that opened in 2024 has an additional 32 bore holes.