Ground-Source at Scale: Designing, Installing, and Operating Campus Geothermal

Geothermal heating & cooling is increasingly viable for multi-building sites like university and K-12 campuses, hospital complexes, and industrial parks — but the decision involves more than choosing a technology. It requires understanding how systems are designed, how they’re installed in active environments, and how their performance is managed over decades. Cameron Best leads us through multiple projects to illustrate the ground-breaking solutions created by Geothermal energy.

You must preregister to attend this free on-line presentation. To register, click here

Cameron Best will describe what makes a successful geothermal project. Drawing on experience from executing real installations, he will cover:
• Geo 101 — how ground-source systems deliver heating and cooling.
• Future-proofing considerations — how geothermal reduces risk compared to alternatives.
• How modern drilling and design techniques make geothermal feasible on space-constrained campuses where it previously wasn’t.
• The current incentive landscape — how to minimize initial capital cost.
• Lessons from the field on minimizing disruption — managing noise, drilling schedules, and community engagement during installation.
• A case study breakdown of measured operational savings on an existing campus geothermal system.
• What “performance” really means after commissioning.

The goal is to give attendees a framework for evaluating geothermal opportunities — what to ask, what to look for, and what separates a system that delivers on its promise from one that doesn’t.

Cameron Best is Vice President of Project Development at Brightcore Energy. He joined the geothermal industry in 2019 with a background in environmental policy. He has spent the past 7 years focused on the growth and development of district geothermal systems. In that time, he has led multiple district geothermal studies and development efforts impacting hundreds of buildings in New York. Drawing upon this experience, Cameron drives projects towards implementation and electrification by applying a multidisciplinary, stakeholder-centered approach