FCTS Carpentry sophomores and seniors toured the massive new geothermal project at Smith College last week.
BOND Building, general contractor on the project, hosted the visit by the students.
Carpentry instructor Johan Livingstone said the project is a little outside of the field of carpentry, but was valuable in giving students a look at the possibilities a career in carpentry offers.
"We showed the students a project more from the point of view of a general contractor," he said. "It shows that you can take what you learn as carpentry students and expand into other areas such as management."
The goal of Smith’s six-year, $210 million geothermal project is to make the campus fully carbon neutral by the year 2030. The geothermal project uses a series of 250 wells that descend 800 feet into the ground in a closed loop and will eventually heat and cool 125 buildings on campus.
When complete, the system will use heat pumps to send heated or cooled water to three energy hubs on Smith College campus.