commentWarren Lloyd argues that his job is not to promote but advise people on the latest building technology. But like it or not, he is proving through super-sized geothermal systems that sustainable air-handling can generate cold cash.
A health-care owner recently took Lloyd up on his idea to build the nation’s largest geothermal pond for a $310-million replacement hospital in Elgin, Ill. Administrators were skeptical at first. But the vice president of Rock Island, Ill.-based KJWW Engineering Consultants in 2000 already had proven out the nation’s second-largest lake loop at the Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa.
Since then, Lloyd has gained notoriety as an objective green adviser, rather than a green salesman. He says the next frontier is cleaner power: “Right now, we are squeezing the blood out of energy. You theoretically can’t go up unless you have a system that produces power on site.”
Sherman’s hospital is as energy-efficient as it can get. Scheduled for completion in 2010, the building’s 175 underwater heat exchangers are expected to save at least $1 million in energy costs annually. With a payback of six to seven years, the owner says, “it just made sense.”
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