Economic appraisal of the use of geothermal energy in state-owned buildings in Colorado

An appraisal of the use 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 for 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 system 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 for conversion to geothermal hot water systems. The best candidate is the Colorado State Reformatory at Buena Vista.