Smokestacks Coming Down at Ball State University
The two stacks became obsolete after the Muncie, Ind., university switched to a closed-loop geothermal system and shut down its coal-fired boilers in 2014.
Two smokestacks at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., are being dismantled this summer, with removal of both stacks begun on July 26 and expected to be finished by Aug. 26, according to the university communications staff. The university switched to a closed-loop geothermal system and shut down its coal-fired boilers in 2014, making the stacks obsolete.
Workers from the Gerald Chimney Company (St. Louis, Mo.) are dismantling the smokestacks.
Ball State began installing the geothermal system in 2009. Removal of the smokestacks means the final stages of the $83 million geothermal project, funded through state appropriations and federal grants, are wrapping up.
This Ball State Magazine article by Lisa Renze-Rhodes outlines the project and features Jim Lowe, Ball State's associate vice president for facilities planning and management, discussing the decision to install it.