At 888 Commonwealth Ave., behind the new Panera Bread and Upper Crust Pizzeria , is Boston University’s first geothermal building. Instead of relying on fossil fuels, the geothermal building uses six wells located below street level that use the Earth’s energy to heat and cool the building.
The three-story building is not quite finished, and BU spokesman Colin Riley said the current tenants, including the Kidney Center, Partners in Health, and BU’s International Education Center and Language Center Classrooms have had no problems with the building thus far. ‘
‘The building is working great. During the cold spell the other day it was nice and warm in there,’ Riley said. ‘
According to the sustainability@BU website, the cost of installing a geothermal system was about 30 to 40 percent higher than a traditional system, but since no fossil fuels are being burned, the costs of operation and maintenance are lower. ‘
The building is part of BU’s increased sustainability efforts that began with the creation of the Sustainability Committee last year, as well as a $1 million revolving loan fund for sustainability and the hiring of BU’s first Sustainability Director, Dennis Carlberg. ‘
Riley said BU is always looking for ways of becoming more sustainable. ‘
‘In the front of the mind of the entire BU planning process is to do things in a green way and look for a way to reduce energy consumption,’ he said. ‘
Riley also said awareness is crucial to become more sustainable.
‘One of the things we’re trying to do is keep people aware of what’s going on. [BU’s sustainability website] talks about every issue and is geared towards awareness.’ ‘
Despite efforts to increase awareness, many students said they do not know of the geothermal building’s existence. College of Communication sophomore Carolyn Bova said she had heard of the Kidney Center, one of the tenants of the geothermal building, but had not heard about the use of geothermal energy. ‘
Bova also said she had hardly even noticed much of an effort on the part of BU to be sustainable. ‘
‘The only thing I’ve noticed are the trays that don’t have to be washed’ she said. ‘When they send out BU Today there is stuff about sustainability, so I know they’re doing something but I just don’t know what.’ ‘
College of Arts and Sciences junior Alex Cournoyer said he had noticed the solar trash compactors around campus, but other than that he was unaware of other efforts by BU to be more sustainable. ‘
Although he had not heard of the new building, Cournoyer said he commended whoever decided to build it and says he feels sustainability is important. ‘
‘Whoever did it, I want to shake their hand,’ he said. ‘The efforts BU has made are commendable, but more could be done. There’s a lot of creative things they could do.’ ‘
Cournoyer also noted the lack of gardens and greenery around BU’s campus. ‘
‘They could use more gardens. What they plant on Comm. Ave. is for aesthetics, but they need more trees,’ he said. ‘
COM sophomore Mallory Shelbourne said she had not heard of the geothermal building, but she believes it ultimately falls to the attitudes of the students to be aware of what is happening on-campus and how they can be more sustainable. ‘
‘I think it comes down to the students,’ she said. ‘A lot of people don’t care. It’s not the first thing on their minds. I know it’s not the first thing on my mind.’