$22 million state funding backs Stony Brook’s two geothermal network projects

The Stony Brook University (SBU) has secured US $22 million in funding to design and construct two geothermal thermal-energy-network projects: one on its main campus and another at its Stony Brook Southampton location.

The award is part of New York State’s broader US $1 billion Sustainable Future Program, where US $200 million is earmarked for expanding thermal-energy networks (centralized systems of hydronic piping for shared building heating/cooling) across state- and municipally-owned facilities. 

The campus-scale networks will link multiple buildings via underground loops of geothermal piping that exchange energy with the ground. On the Southampton campus, expansion of its existing geothermal system will support additional buildings; on the West Campus of the main Stony Brook University site, a new network will connect the Multidisciplinary Engineering and Neuro-AI buildings to the existing engineering complex.

Officials say the investment will enhance SBU’s campus-wide energy-efficiency and emissions-reduction efforts by transitioning away from conventional fossil-fueled systems. 

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the funding during a U.S. Climate Alliance roundtable on September 24, affirming the state’s commitment to advancing clean-energy infrastructure in higher-education institutions. 

These geothermal networks represent infrastructure-level engineering works involving designs for ground-loop heat-exchange systems, building-scale interface stations, flow-control valves, and building-service integration. The main-campus installation will require coordination of mechanical and civil engineering disciplines to route piping beneath existing utility corridors and integrate with new and existing structures.

By deploying two separate networks, SBU positions itself as a demonstration site for distributed thermal-energy network design within an institutional campus setting, providing scalable reference data for peer institutions within the State University of New York (SUNY) system.