Climate Connections This college is turning the Earth into a giant battery
Nov 20, 2025
Elizabeth Drake, Assistant Vice President for Sustainability and Strategic Initiatives at Swarthmore College, discusses the innovative geo-exchange thermal storage project designed to decarbonize campus heating and cooling. She explains how the college plans to extract heat from the ground during winter months to warm its buildings. The system utilizes renewable energy, effectively replacing fossil fuels and significantly benefiting the environment. Drake highlights the campus's excitement over this ambitious project, marking a proud step toward sustainability.
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Campus Uses Earth As A Thermal Battery
- Swarthmore will use the ground as a giant thermal battery to heat and cool campus buildings.
- The system stores summer heat underground and extracts it in winter to provide heating.
Deep Pipes Move Heat Seasonally
- The central geo-exchange plant ties to pipes that extend 800 feet underground to move heat via water.
- The plant pumps warm water underground in summer and retrieves ground heat in winter to heat buildings.
Pair Geoexchange With Renewables
- Run the geoexchange system on renewable energy to replace fossil-fuel heating systems.
- Doing so helps institutions eliminate or offset carbon pollution by set target years like 2035.