Allerton Park was able to install a geothermal energy system at the Evergreen Lodge, with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  There are opportunities for future installations of geothermal energy, when funding allows.

The installation of the Geothermal system will reduce the Park’s and the University’s dependence of fossil fuels. Installation of four ground source heat pumps with horizontal closed loop systems in and around the Visitor Center, Evergreen Lodge, Gatehouse, and House of the Woods has been proposed. The ground source heat pumps will replace natural gas and electric resistance heating and cooling systems in these buildings. This will allow for a reduction of more than 815,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

Twenty architecture, engineering, and urban planning majors will work on the project in the Energy, Planning, and the Built Environment course (UP266). They will participate in the planning phase of the project and then observe the installation of the geothermal system at Allerton Park.

   In Spring 2013 the Allerton Park Geothermal Project received $37,000 in grant funding from SSC for converting the facilities most inefficient and outdated heating and cooling system, located within the Gatehouse building, to geothermal heating and cooling.