On Wednesday, 11 December 2024, Carol Dollard, energy engineer in CSU Facilities Management will enlighten us on a remarkable energy installation at Moby Arena that demonstrates the CSU commitment for transitioning to renewable resources.
A few years ago, CSU replaced the 60-year-old high pressure steam heat, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC ) system at Moby Arena with a geo-thermal system that is the largest in Colorado. Moby is one of the largest higher education campus buildings in the country to utilize a Geo-Exchange System. Carol, who led the project, is co-chair of the Presidents Sustainability Commission at CSU. She will describe the project that involved drilling 342 deep wells, each 550 ft. deep while students were away during the Pandemic. The system relies on 80 miles of u-shaped pipes deep underneath the intramural fields. The geothermal system is a heat exchanger using the near surface substrate that has a reliably stable temperature of 50 deg F, as either a heat sink or a heat source depending on the time of year. Carol will describe the plan to expand the system for use in other buildings on campus.
Carol Dollard is a 21+ year engineer at CSU. Her responsibilities include coordinating energy and water efficiency projects, implementing renewable energy projects, and designing, constructing, maintaining and sustaining campus utility systems. Her responsibilities include twenty PV installations totaling nearly 6,800 kW, three LEED Platinum and twenty LEED Gold buildings, and energy and water efficiency projects valued at over $15 million.