For nearly 70 years, the former C.A. Reed plant in Williamsport produced paper party hats and other paper novelty items. Its closing in 1993 was a major setback for the city's economy.
Celebrations are in order again today (6/13) as the factory gets a second life as Water Tower Square, an office and manufacturing complex with a unique, energy-efficient, electric heating and cooling system.
Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. helped the developers, Water Tower Square LLC, evaluate clean, renewable and efficient geothermal technology for heating and cooling the building.
"We explored options for an energy exchange source, including traditional geothermal systems that use ground water or a ground- coupling loop. We considered the nearby West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Then, we found a unique source less than a quarter of a mile away," said Bob Boyer, manager of PP&L's new construction market segment.
That source is the Williamsport Sanitary Authority's Waste Water Treatment Plant, which discharges about 5 million gallons of treated water into the West Branch each day.
Treated effluent from the plant ranges in temperature from 47 F to 78 F, depending on the season, Boyer noted. The temperature, less variable than river water temperature, is sufficient to serve as an energy exchange source for Water Tower Square.
"Using treated effluent as the energy exchange source, the geothermal system will keep the building's occupants comfortable year- round," Boyer said.
The geothermal system pumps effluent from the treatment plant's discharge pipe to a heat exchanger at the Water Tower Square building. After passing through the heat exchanger, effluent is returned to the discharge pipe.
"The effluent never enters the building," Boyer explained.
A water loop on the building side of the heat exchanger distributes energy to water-source heat pumps distributed throughout the building. These high-efficiency units provide year-round comfort for people in the building.
Because of the unique use of a nondrinking water source, the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium has selected Water Tower Square as a demonstration project.
The consortium, based in Washington, is a partnership of electric utilities, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, manufacturers and trade allies formed in 1994 to promote the use of geothermal heating and cooling technologies.
"We are working to increase installations of geothermal heating and cooling systems to 400,000 a year by 2001," said Dr. Paul Liepe, executive director of the consortium. "Success in that effort will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 million metric tons a year. Water Tower Square is an important element in our plan to establish a self-sustaining geothermal market."
PP&L and the consortium have funded the installation of monitoring equipment and a two-year study of how the Water Tower Square geothermal system will operate. The study, being performed by Larson Design Group of Williamsport, will provide information on the system's efficiency, energy use and life-cycle operating costs.
"PP&L has been a leader in promoting geothermal heating and cooling because it is efficient and uses renewable energy from the earth," said Ray Suhocki, vice president of Delivery Services & Economic Development for PP&L.
He said the Water Tower Square project will serve as a national model for the innovative use of energy from nondrinking water sources such as rivers, lakes — even sewage treatment plants.
The developers of Water Tower Square have remodeled the old factory, creating 140,000 square feet of modern office space and 190,000 square feet of warehouse and light industrial space.
"PP&L is pleased to provide its energy expertise to the Water Tower Square project," Suhocki said. "We are committed to helping customers use energy efficiently and helping communities grow by encouraging business development. This project supports both of those objectives."
Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of PP&L Resources, Inc., provides electric service to 1.2 million homes and businesses in 29 counties of eastern and central Pennsylvania.
For more information on this project or the use geothermal heating and cooling for homes and businesses, contact PP&L's New Construction sales group at (800) 828-6851 or the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium at (888) ALL 4- GEO, or visit their Web sites at www.papl.com or www.ghpc.org.