Retirement home to use geothermal energy

BLOOMINGTON — A geothermal well field is under construction at a continuing care retirement community in Bloomington.

The Pantagraph reports the project is part of the community’s plan to provide heating and cooling for the next half-century. Westminster Village executive director Barb Nathan says the project will cost $6.7 million. She calls it a “long-term solution.”

Nathan says the retirement community’s board took an energy assessment of the facility, which opened more than 30 years ago. She says Westminster was a good candidate for geothermal energy because it has unused land.

Officials say the wells should cut the facility’s energy use by 39 percent and reduce energy costs by nearly $120,000 a year.