St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s new air system to keep flock cool, or warm

this is interesting -- the upgrade has been a long, busy project -- i wonder how often geothermal is used and if it could be used even more?

St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s new air system to keep flock cool, or warm

By Maria Alvarez  Special to Newsday March 22, 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

Geothermal heating and air conditioning unit installed

It’s among finishing touches in $175 million face-lift.

Monsignor Robert Ritchie’s job is to make sure everyone at St. Patrick’s Cathedral feels welcomed and most of all comfortable within the walls of the Fifth Avenue religious landmark.

“In Europe the cathedrals are either freezing or hot. There isn’t any air conditioning or heat. You wouldn’t consider building a church today without it. Americans like their air conditioning,” he said as he explains the benefits of the cathedral’s new geothermal heating and air conditioning system — the last of several finishing touches to the cathedral’s $175 million face-lift.

Comfortable temperatures should bring the flock in year-round while the environmental friendly innovation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and cut energy costs by 35 percent, Ritchie said. He is the archdiocese’s lead person supervising the cathedral’s refurbishing.

The 11-year project entailed the washing and scrubbing of its spires, facades inside and outside — all restored to its original gleaming white color. Stained-glass windows have been fixed and polished, as have the majestic bronze doors that adorn the Fifth Avenue entrance. The cathedral’s organ and pipes also have been washed, polished and retuned. “It has been returned to its pristine state,” Ritchie said.

The new geothermal system, which replaces Con Edison steam, is quiet as a church mouse. It distributes hot and cold air through the church’s original vents. Hot and cold air is converted from water that is extracted from underneath the cathedral’s underground rock called “schist.”

Ten wells were drilled alongside the cathedral into the schist rock where water is collected then pumped into an exchanger that produces hot and cold temperatures that are distributed throughout the cathedral’s 76,000 square feet, said architect Jeffrey Murphy of Murphy, Burham & Buttick in Manhattan. “It is smart technology that is very forward thinking.”

more:

http://www.amny.com/news/st-patrick-s-new-system-to-keep-flock-cool-or-warm-1.13300086