CBC News recently took a tour of Canada's largest urban geoexchange system, a network of 372 U-shaped pipes that plunge 250 metres beneath the University of Toronto's St. George campus.
The system will soon carry warm air from nearby buildings, store it underground and circulate it back during the winter months, using the Earth as giant thermal battery and helping the university reduce emissions by as much as 17,000 tonnes. It can also be used for melting snow.
"We're taking heat that we have in the summer - excess heat - and we're storing that deep below the ground so we can use it in the wintertime," said Ron Saporta, U of T's chief operating officer, property services and sustainability, told the CBC. "And then in the winter, by using it, we don't have to burn fossil fuels."
The geoexchange system, which will eventually be connected to 33 buildings on the St. George campus, is expected to be fully up and running in the spring. It's part of Project Leap, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 per cent by the end of 2027.
