Geothermal heat pumps at Fort Polk: Early results

Abstract

At Fort Polk, LA an entire city (4,003 military family housing units) is being converted to geothermal heat pumps (GHP) under a performance contract. At the same time other efficiency measures such as compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), low-flow water outlets, and attic insulation are being installed. If these contracts and this technology are to be used widely in US Department of Defense (DoD) facilities and other public buildings, better data from actual projects is the key. Being the first GHP project of this type and size, Fort Polk proved to be very challenging for all concerned. To get from RFP to start of construction took several years. This hard work by others created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address many of the due diligence issues that delayed the Fort Polk project. So that future projects can move faster, an evaluation has been undertaken to address the following barriers: absence of a documented large-scale demonstration of GHP energy, demand, and maintenance savings (a barrier to acceptance by federal customers, performance contractors, and investors); newness of large-scale facility capital renewal procurements at federal facilities under energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) or traditional appropriations (lack of case studies); and variability in current GHP design tools (increases risks and costs for federal customers, performance contractors, investors and designers). This paper presents early energy and demand savings results based on data collection through January 1996.