Swarthmore College Roadmap To Zero

The college retained Introba (formerly Integral Group) to develop and evaluate campus decarbonization strategies, including financial analysis, and develop an implementation plan. The team also developed and evaluated several strategies and specific technical scenarios.

All scenarios included transitioning from their existing steam system to a new low-temperature thermal (LTT) campus heating and cooling network. The proposed solution relies on heat pump/ heat recovery chiller technology that would capture and recover low-grade waste heat between simultaneous heating and cooling on campus. This approach combines on-site low-grade renewable energy sources, including a vertical closed-loop geo-exchange system. The scope also included a review of the campus electric grid capacity and reliability and developing and evaluating campus micro-grid opportunities.

After completing the Roadmap to Zero, Swarthmore College retained Introba to complete the design for the recommended solutions. The team has since completed the schematic and design development for the central plant, geo-exchange field, and campus low-temperature heating water (LTHW) distribution network.