Cornell University’s vision for Enhanced Geothermal Systems for district heating and cooling in the Northeast

ABSTRACT: The nearly 10,000 ft deep Cornell University Borehole Observatory (CUBO) was drilled in 2022 with financial support from the Department of Energy to assess the feasibility of building an Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) for direct heat use on campus. This presentation will summarize the main lessons learned from the geologic, hydrologic, thermal, mechanical, and seismic data collected in situ. Then, the vision of the Earth Source Heat (ESH) program team for the development of an EGS prototype at Cornell University will be explained. The talk will also highlight the multi-disciplinary research directions taken by Cornell faculty, along with opportunities to create partnerships to advance science, technology, regulation, education and outreach in the area of energy geomechanics in general, and on EGS applications in particular.