Geothermal, Solar Put Oregon Tech On All-Renewables Course

Pete Danko for Earthtechling Oregon Tech thinks it’s back on track with its ambitious goal of becoming the first university in North America to generate all of the electrical power it requires – from renewable sources, no less. The university, in Klamath Falls on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains in southern Oregon, is in a great spot for renewable energy. Klamath Falls boasts that it gets nearly 300 days of sunshine a year, and the Klamath Basin sits atop a geothermal reservoir. Geothermal already serves campus heating needs and there’s a 280-kilowatt geothermal combined heat and power plant on campus. Geothermal also provides process heat to the local wastewater treatment plant and keeps dozens of city buildings, schools, swimming pools and more warm. Two-megawatt solar array going in at Oregon Tech (image via Oregon Institute of Technology) What the 3,900-student university has been aiming to do for some years now is add a 1.75 megawatt geothermal power …
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