Elk River Public Safety Building (geothermal)
13077 Orono Parkway
Elk River, MN

The Elk River Public Safety Building, which was completed in July of 2003, is a geo-thermal heated and cooled building. This energy friendly system provides a comfortable environment for over forty full time public safety employees and fifty volunteer or paid on-call employees.

The geo-thermal system incorporates 34 individual heat pumps supplied by a 12-lead connecting system that obtains the system coolant from 112 individual ground wells located just north of the complex on adjacent city park land.

The efficiency of the system is monitored daily by building maintenance staff via a computerized controller, which sets intake and outtake temperatures as well as controls humidity via a small roof top HVAC system.

Since the building opened and proper set points were established, a 60-70% reduction in fuel costs has been obtained. It is a cost effective and comfortable way to manage an energy efficient facility.

In addition to the geo-thermal system, the indoor gun range utilizes a ventilation and filtration system that incorporates a heating wheel within the fan unit. This is a cost and energy efficient way to deliver heat while still creating the high volume air flow that is required for indoor gun range operations.