Two entrepreneurs say they have plans to use mines for geothermal system

Using the Earth’s own heat to inexpensively heat and cool buildings is an idea that’s been around for decades. In fact, it’s already in use at the Recreation Center.

Called geothermal energy, the idea is to let the Earth’s near-constant sub-surface temperature do most of the heating and cooling work, saving property owners money on electricity and heating fuel. But the systems are usually expensive to install because they require extensive digging.

Two local entrepreneurs have a plan that would minimize installation and turn this area’s abandoned, flooded mines back into a usable resource.

Just four feet below the Earth’s surface, temperatures are fairly constant – about 55 degrees Fahrenheit in this region. Geothermal systems exploit that to heat or cool a fluid that runs beneath the ground. A geothermal heat pump transfers the underground heat into a building during the winter and out of the building and back into the ground during the summer, according to the U.S. Department Energy Web site.

To heat the building to a desired temperature, the equipment collects and concentrates the heat from the ground to release it inside the building at a higher temperature.

Usual geothermal systems rely on burying pipes in the ground or on intercepting an aquifer, any geological formation containing or conducting ground water, such as one that supplies the water for wells.

But, both of these can be expensive to install.

Wilkes-Barre restaurateur Thom Greco and Jim Sovaiko, who makes antique lamps in Throop, have independently stumbled across similar ideas that could drastically reduce that up-front cost.

Tapping into flooded mine shafts in the region and their massive supply of 55-degree water could require just a few drill holes about 150 feet down to supply entire communities, they say.

‘Unique opportunity’

In 1996, Greco acquired the facility that once provided steam heat to roughly a 20-block section of downtown Wilkes-Barre. His original idea for the facility fell through, but he suspected he had a winner when he heard about geothermal.

He spoke with Dan Ellis, the president of Climatemaster Inc., a business in Oklahoma City, Okla., that’s been installing geothermal systems since the 1950s. Ellis himself has been doing it since 1978.

“You know it, I’ve been around it. I’ve seen a lot of things. I can just tell you, it sounds like you have a unique opportunity,” he said in an interview. “If I lived in that town, I’d be a community activist trying to make that happen.”

Greco also spoke with Howard Alderson of Alderson Engineering near Philadelphia. By his own count, Alderson’s firm has designed several hundred geothermal systems over the past 25 years, including one recently for the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion.

Projects usually pay back construction costs within three to 10 years through savings, depending on usage, Alderson said. But a system that tapped into the mine water, he estimated, would likely halve that time.

“I think it’s that dramatic. I think there’s big savings there,” he said.

The issue is making geothermal systems compatible with existing heating and cooling systems. A modern forced-air system would require minor retrofits, Ellis said. But it would be more difficult to integrate old hot-water and steam systems and only be economical if the heating unit needs to be replaced anyway. Potential exists for installing a forced-air system that would essentially act like a 55-degree space heater, but its cost effectiveness and suitability hasn’t been studied, Sovaiko said.

There are also issues such as pipe-clogging bacteria and impurities in the water.

“You pretty much have to take each system as a standalone study,” Sovaiko said. “But the time to take a serious look at it would be at the end of the life cycle of an existing system.”

Idea around for century

Greco’s plan would use the steam plant to pump water and the pipe system to send it to buildings, including the county courthouse. Equipment to heat or cool the water would likely be necessary in every building.

Sovaiko’s plan would design separate systems for individual buildings or groups of buildings, so it would require more drilling, but would be available outside the downtown area. Working with politicians and experts, he proved the concept in October by using mine water to cool and heat a small shed in Scranton.

The idea has been around for about a century, but it only picked up steam in the 1970s, when an energy crisis led some people to look for other options. That’s when the Kingston Recreation Center installed its system, which pumps water from underground wells.

Three factors have made the idea fashionable again, Alderson said. Energy prices have shot beyond historical peaks, equipment has become better and more available, and advances in plastic piping have increased the lifespan of systems.

That’s what nagged the recreational center system, said Paul Keating, the municipality’s manager. Around 2000, pipes deteriorated, the wells collapsed and the nearly $100,000 chiller broke, all of which had to be replaced. The system now undergoes maintenance every three months, according to center manager Greg Kriner.

Looking for state help

Greco is attempting to find a champion for his cause among local legislators.

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, hasn’t committed, but has talked with several Wilkes University professors and others.

“I have to verify that this is a source of energy that is practical and affordable,” he said.

He might find some legislative allies. Greco met with a representative of state Sen. Raphael Musto, D-Pittston Township. Pashinski said the Pittsburgh area is similarly positioned over abandoned mine shafts, and Alderson said he’s heard of a similar proposal in the Erie region utilizing a massive aquifer.