The former Hoover Quarry is a 43-acre lake located next to the Nashville International Airport that holds stormwater runoff. By next summer, it will provide water for the airport’s cooling and irrigation systems with the use of geothermal plates, the largest project of its kind in North America, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
The $10.4 million project is expected to save the airport close to $430,000 a year in cooling costs for the next 50 years. It replaces the current centralized system that relies on cooling Metro Nashville’s potable water in four cooling towers. Because water from the lake is naturally about 10 to 20 degrees cooler, at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it will not require energy for chilling.
The geothermal system is expected to save the city 30 million gallons of potable water a year and cut 1.3 million kilowatt hours in electricity costs, according to Robert Ramsey, the airport authority’s chief engineer.
“It’s not only sustainable, it takes advantage of an unused asset existing here on the property,” said Tom Jurkovich, vice president of communications for the airport authority. “It’s a highly imaginative use of that asset that is a nationally noteworthy sustainability project.” (continue reading at The Tennessean)