Page Expands Engineering Service With Geothermal Capabilities

As a multidisciplinary design firm, Page has an extensive and award-winning Engineering service group that works primarily on large, complex projects. Now, the firm is pleased to announce the addition of geothermal engineering capabilities. This specialty practice designs processes that significantly conserve electrical power, a sustainable way to reduce heating and cooling operating expenses, for projects of all types and complexity.

Examples of geothermal designs can be seen in high-profile projects around the world such as the New York Center for Architecture, the Linked Hybrid building complex in Beijing, China the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland and Sweet Valley Organic Farms in Idaho. The advantage of geothermal engineering designs are the use of a virtually unlimited resource that is both clean and renewable which can be harnessed in a variety of applications.

At Page, this specialty practice is being led by Greg Tinkler, CGD, who has nearly three decades of experience in geothermal design in the continental United States and is an expert in geothermal heat exchanger engineering and energy modeling services. Greg is the patent holder of a process that converts stored thermal energy into electricity for use by the same facility that generated it. He authored the chapter on geothermal systems for the Encyclopedia of Energy Engineering and Technologies and developed a software program that determines the heat capacity of ponds and lakes and long-term thermal effects on that body of water.

Greg also specializes in energy modeling which guides clients seeking to understand the largest energy user in a facility. His collection and use of modeling data informs capital investment decisions so that clients can pursue projects offering the greatest return on their investment.  Examples of Greg's work include the historic Bear Mountain Inn as well as Adelphi University in New York, the Asia House Museum and the Menil Collections Café in Houston, Lubbock Christian University in West Texas and several Department of Defense installations as well as numerous other projects and residences.

Notably, Greg successfully calculated a complex energy model for the Wells Fargo Plaza Heat Exchanger project. This unique design won an Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) 2013 Energy Project of the Year award based upon its energy modeling accuracy in predicting energy savings.

Under his leadership, Page is offering energy modeling capabilities and geothermal designs for thermal massing, vertical heat exchange and pond/lake heat exchange systems. These services and systems are applicable to technology centers, commercial, residential and agricultural projects among other applications.

For more information about this practice at Page, please contact Greg Tinkler, Senior Project Manager, at 713.658.2206 or [email protected]