OPRF High School’s rebuilt physical education facility on Scoville Avenue may be visible to all, but a major achievement of the Imagination Foundation’s Project 2 is literally buried, underneath the turf on the school’s renovated football field: 270 geothermal wells provide 100% of the heating, cooling, and ventilation for the new building – all of it clean energy.
The geothermal system will generate zero climate-heating emissions, yielding an expected 442,500 fewer pounds of atmospheric carbon annually compared to a natural gas system, and further reductions will be achieved with the upcoming installation of rooftop solar. These reductions are essential to D200 realizing its ambitious climate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 45% of its 2012 levels by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
Moreover, the geothermal system will save the district roughly $385,000 per year in utility costs. Those savings gradually will offset its price tag of $12.5M, which was already partially covered by a $3.5M state grant.
The District 200 Board of Education and Superintendent Greg Johnson deserve congratulations and thanks for prioritizing sustainability and the well-being of its students and our community. Their environmental leadership should serve as a model for other school districts and municipalities, demonstrating that climate-smart investments are feasible and that they return dividends to those who invest in them.
Join Oak Park Climate Action Network in celebrating this achievement at a ribbon-cutting for the geothermal system, on Wednesday, June 17, at 3 p.m., on the OPRF football field.
Wendy Greenhouse
Oak Park Climate Action Network member