LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- People traveling through the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) will notice major changes happening east of the terminal.Â
The airport is building a geothermal well in an area that was once a grassy lot between the runway and the terminal. The build will allow the airport to use more renewable energy and reduce its carbon footprint by 80%. Projections show it would also reduce HVAC operation costs by $400,000/year.
The 7-acre plot includes 648 wells. Each is buried 500 feet below the surface.Â
"We had a series of 3-5 drill rigs here all at the same time drilling for months," said Brian Sinnwell, senior vice president and chief operating officer at SDF.
After the wells were dug, they were capped and grouted. Then, it is filled with sand and gravel. At the surface, a layer of asphalt is then put down before 17 inches of concrete to level off the space with the remaining airfield.
Sinnwell says once completed the geothermal field will be the largest at any airport in the country.Â
Ariel footage, captured by SDF officials, shows construction of new geothermal well.
"The whole area that's being used for geothermal wells will be used for future parking for aircraft," he said.Â
The system will circulate water through the terminal and geothermal wells. This allows the earth to help reduce the energy required to regulate temperature inside buildings.Â
In warmer months, water will flow through pipes in the terminal and absorb heat. That water will then be pumped out to the geothermal wells, where it will naturally cool hundreds of feet below ground, before returning into the terminal and producing cooler air.Â
In the winter, the process is essentially reversed with cooler water at the surface being pumped and warmed underground before returning to the terminal as hot air.
Now that the geothermal wells have been dug, crews inside the airport are working on the next step of the process: installing newer heating and cooling systems that will save space.
Projections show new geothermal well would reduce HVAC operation costs by $400,000/year.
The airport's Director of Operations and Business Development Megan Thoben said the shift also comes with innovative technology. The new system will send out alerts and alarms to various staff whenever there is an issue.Â
"All the mechanical equipment that's new will all go onto this system," said Thoben. "It goes through the building and tells us of anything happening in the building, so how comfortable are the passengers but also is there something wrong with a piece of equipment."
The system will streamline the maintenance process by reducing the amount of physical labor needed to fix things with more systems being run electronically.
Thoben said basically "anything that has a motor and uses energy" at the airport will be replaced and included in the new system.Â
Crews work to replace old systems with new innovative technology during airport's switch to geothermal energy.
Thoben said the airport "knew this was coming" and has been starting the process of replacing outdated machines with newer, tech-savvy models for about the last four years.
Airport officials say the smaller machines will allow for more storage space inside. They also estimate 100-thousand square space outside the airport will be freed up to make room for future terminal expansion.Â
"It's going to be a phased process obviously as we work our way through the terminal building, so it's going to take some time," said Sinnwell.
Outdated boiler equipment is being replaced with newer, smaller machines in effort to use more renewable energy at SDF.
Sinnwell said due to the amount of concrete that still needs to be poured and the time of year, the geothermal well won't be completed for another six months.Â
Inside the airport, officials say it could take a year or longer to completely shift from old pumps and boilers to the new system.Â
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