Submitted by James O’Brien, Greenwich
In the upcoming budget approval vote by the Greenwich BET, there is an item for funding – the repair of the Hamilton Avenue School’s geothermal water source heat pump HVAC system.
Hopefully, at least one Republican committee member votes with the facts. The BOE has paid for three international consulting engineering companies’ studies, which stated that millions would be saved by including geothermal water source heat pump HVAC systems at Central Middle School and repairing the Hamilton Avenue School geothermal system.
One study noted that the failure of the geothermal system at Ham Ave was due to the improper use of the system. Ruined because the Facilities Department did not use geothermal in the winter for heat, and this ruined the AC half of the system. As some infer, no study mentioned improper design. Why has the BET continuously neglected its fiscal responsibilities (is this the law) to the taxpayer and chosen an air source heat pump and gas fueled boiler HVAC systems over the proven exponentially more efficient and thus cheaper Geothermal Systems?
Another fact that the BET fails to consider is man-induced fast climate change, which is up to 170 times faster than the last several Earth climate change periods from glacial to warm, according to Nova and National Geographic magazine.
According to Google search, over the past 800,000 years, Earth has experienced eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods.
From the book Before and After 1776, A Comprehensive Chronology of the Town of Greenwich,1640-1975 by Elizabeth W. Clark:
1934, Daily News-Graphic, The News paper at that time:
Feb. 9: Temperature hits 20 degrees below zero…;
Feb 12: For the first time in 40 years, the ice is solid from Indian Harbor to Island Beach.
1950s and 1960s: I skated on Binney Park Pond with bonfires in the hut.
1988: I lived on the Mianus Pond/Reservoir and plowed a foot of snow with my jeep for an ice skating party – the ice was 14” thick. In those days, there were often two months of ice, plus the GHS hockey team practiced on the Mianus Pond/Reservoir.
Around 2010: For several years, the ice was usually around 6” thick. I’d put my snowblower on the Mianus River Pond and make two rinks.
2025: This winter, we had maybe a week of skating on ice 4” thick. There was no ice skating the previous two years.
I have asked one prominent BET member why they support highly inefficient, costly, and obsolete HVAC systems in place of the proven efficient, less costly, and less polluting geothermal water source heat pump. I never got an answer. One can conclude that they do not believe the engineers that BOE hired, do not believe the world’s scientific community regarding climate change, and do not believe the extreme weather events continuously on the News. News, predicted decades ago due to warming of the atmosphere and oceans. Or they believe and are somehow influenced by the millions spent by the fossil fuel industry debunking fast climate change, or they are invested in the fossil fuel industry; if so, then they should recuse themselves from this vote. Or they need serious help because they are GASAHOLICS.
Temporary HVAC equipment outside Ham Ave School. March 2, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager