Vail, Colorado explores geothermal heating for snowmelt system

Winter in Vail, Colorado (source: Doug Letterman / flickr, Creative Commons)

Carlo Cariaga 11 Jan 2024

The town of Vail in Colorado, USA has initiated a feasibility study to evaluate the use of geothermal heat for the existing snowmelt system that has been keeping Vail’s pedestrian streets snow-free since the early 2000s. A preliminary thermal conductivity report is expected this winter, and additional analysis will be done in the spring.

Decarbonizing the snowmelt system

The snowmelt system is currently running using natural gas boilers. This has made the snowmelt system the largest producer of greenhouse gas emission in Vail’s operations, annual emitting between 5,500 to 6,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide. This accounts for about 80% of the town’s natural gas-related emissions.

Vail recently finalized the Vail Stewardship Roadmap which sets a a goal of reducing 2014 baseline carbon missions by 25% by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 80% by 2050. One of the major strategies of the roadmap is to decarbonize the snowmelt system.

There has been a previous attempt to use electric boilers instead of natural gas, but this made the system significantly more expensive to operate. Thus, the town is now exploring an alternative energy source – geothermal.

Exploring geothermal heating

The town has contracted Grey Edge Group  to conduct the feasibility study for the proposed geothermal system. Work started at the end of 2023 with the drilling of a 500-foot (~152 meters) borehole in Ford Park, with Grey Edge conducting a thermal conductivity test shortly after.

The goal of the study is to characterize the geothermal resource. This will help determine the system size, borehole well spacing requirements, and other information that will be vital in designing the system. The next scope of the project is the identify waste heat sources and potential sites for boreholes and the piping system.

Taking a step further, the town is also looking at extending the use of geothermal heating potentially for buildings and other systems. “Heat exchangers are relatively simple devices that transfer heat from one medium — say an air stream — to another (fluid). Heat exchangers, in combination with heat pumps — which move and concentrate heat similar to your refrigerator at home — form the basis of a networked geothermal system,”  commented Cameron Millard, Vail’s energy efficiency coordinator.

The state of Colorado has been very active in recent years with efforts to advance geothermal development. In late 2023, the Colorado Energy Office and the administration under Gov. Jared Polis launched a round of application for the Geothermal Energy Grant Program (GEGP) which will provide funding support for the development of geothermal energy projects for electricity generation and space heating and cooling.

Source: Vail Daily