Going Green

Over the past decade, several demolition, renovation and new construction projects were completed at Ball State. Ball State’s switch from coal to geothermal energy for heating and cooling purposes on campus is one of the most notable.

Previously, Ball State used four coal-fired boilers dating back to the 1940s at an energy plant south of campus. This plant burned nearly 36,000 tons of coal per year to heat and cool campus, according to a 2017 Daily News article.

Construction on the $83-million geothermal plant began in 2009. The following year, drilling began for nearly 2,600 boreholes around campus. By 2014, the coal-fired boilers were permanently shut down — cutting the campus carbon footprint nearly in half and resulting in $2 million in annual savings.

Jim Lowe, associate vice president for facilities planning and management, said in an email response that additional benefits of the geothermal energy system include eliminating pollutants that result in acid rain, smog and other health related problems.

Smoke billows from the coal plant on Ball State’s campus Feb. 2. Ball State is eliminating the use of coal and switching to exclusively geothermal energy. DN file

“There are many sustainable achievements during the past decades to celebrate at Ball State University that address the three pillars of sustainability: Environment, economic and social,” Lowe said. “But certainly the geothermal project is to date the university’s greatest achievement in addressing the environment.”

From July to August 2017, the two exhaust smoke stacks were slowly taken down — something Lowe described back then as symbolic of the university’s position on sustainability.

According to Ball State’s Strategic Plan, the university has reduced its carbon emissions from 159,250 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2007 to 104,442 metric tons in 2016.

The university plans to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 60 percent of its 2007 levels by 2024.

Source: Ball State Strategic Plan