Lake Land College recently received a $50,000 grant funded by GeoAlliance. The grant will help offset the cost of the energy efficient geothermal heating and cooling system that was recently installed in Webb Hall on the college campus in Mattoon.
GeoAlliance is collaboration between the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC) in
Springfield and Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation in Chicago (ICECF).
Lake Land College is in the process of converting all the buildings on its campus from outdated
fossil fuel heating and cooling systems to geothermal heating and cooling technology. This is the second grant that GeoAlliance has awarded to the college, and both grants total $95,000.
Geothermal heat pump systems use the earth’s natural energy and that’s why they are so efficient
and so inexpensive to operate. During cooling months, heat and humidity from inside a building is transferred into the earth through tubing in the ground. In the heating months the process is reversed.
There is no combustion with a geothermal heating system, but a modest amount of electricity is used to operate the circulating pumps, fans, controls, and compressor, which along with the heat exchangers are the major components of the geothermal heat pump. Geothermal heating and cooling systems are considered the most energy efficient available today, saving 30 to 70 percent on energy costs.
