An Economic Appraisal of the Use of Geothermal Energy in State-Owned Buildings in Colorado

Abstract

An appraisal of these of geothermal energy for space heating requirements for selected state owned buildings in six communities in Colorado was performed for the Colorado Geological Survey. The complete appraisal addressed several components of a feasibility study of geothermal applications, including resource assessment, pipeline, rights of way, well design and drilling program, conceptual engineering designs for retrofits of building heating systems, evaluations of economic feasibility, institutional requirements, and environmental considerations. Economic feasibility was determined from evaluation of four economic measures: simple payback period in years; twenty year annualized system costs (geothermal versus conventional system); total twenty year undiscounted "energy" savings, and total twenty year present value "energy" savings. The results showed that several of the state facilities are likely candidates of conversion to geothermal hot water systems. The best candidate is the Colorado State Reformatory at Buena Vista.