Ravinia Elementary to implement groundbreaking geothermal heating system

In the spring of 1896, residents in the Highland Park area elected to construct a new schoolhouse near the corner of Dean Avenue and Roger Williams Road. When the brick building opened the following year, it boasted a simple furnace to heat its two rooms. 

More than 120 years later, engineers are drilling geothermal wells beneath the very same site of what’s now Ravinia Elementary School to install a new climate control system North Shore D112 Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld said is the first of its kind in the nation.

“The juxtaposition is we’re doing our most modern work in, basically, our oldest site,” Lubelfeld said. 

“That, in and of itself, I think, is emblematic of what a public education is: Protecting our heritage and our culture and creating conditions so that we can begin to make a future that’s even better and brighter than our present,” he continued. 

The geothermal heating, ventilation and air conditioning system will make Ravinia Elementary School 30 to 50% more energy efficient, because it will leverage the heat of the Earth to regulate the building’s temperature rather than using traditional sources of energy like fossil fuels, Lubelfeld said. 

Trane Technologies, an HVAC contractor with which D112 has contracted since the 1990s, has previously implemented geothermal systems in Lake County and “direct-closed loop” geothermal systems overseas, but the latter has not yet been implemented in the United States, the superintendent said. 

The system should be fully operational in Ravinia by August. Both Sherwood and Wayne Thomas elementary school will then receive the same geothermal HVAC system in their buildings. 

Implementing the geothermal systems are an expensive up-front investment for D112 — between $4-$7 million. The costs, though, Lubelfeld said, will be offset by federal tax credits and long-term energy savings, through which the district is expecting to recoup $3.5 million.

Part of something bigger

The upgrades to the schools’ HVAC systems are just one piece of an ongoing overhaul to District 112’s facilities that has prioritized different sustainable initiatives.

The D112 Board of Education voted unanimously on Tuesday to contract Centrica Business Solutions, a commercial energy-solutions company, to mount solar panels on the roofs of Edgewood Middle School, Indian Trail Elementary School and Oak Terrace Elementary School. 

The $1.15 million solar panel project is set to begin generating energy in December and is projected to save the district $1.18 million in total utility energy costs over the course of 25 years.

More than 70 percent of Highland Park and Highwood voters turned out in support of a 2022 referendum for D112 to issue $114.4 million in bonds to fund upgrades to its school facilities.

The district initiated its multi-phase facilities plan in 2019 with construction at Northwood Middle School. Renovations then followed at Edgewood and Oak Terrace. 

D112 is now in the second phase of its overhaul as it addresses its five other elementary schools. Renovations at Indian Trail wrapped up in September, upgrades at Ravinia should finish this spring and construction at Sherwood is slated to wrap up in May 2026.

Renovations to Braeside Elementary School are set to begin this August and construction at Wayne Thomas should break ground in July 2026.

“Our students deserve facilities that reflect the high standards of their education,” D112 Board of Education member Lisa Hirsh said at the April 16 groundbreaking of Ravinia’s geothermal system. 

“Investing in sustainable infrastructure sends a powerful message: We care deeply about their future, both inside and outside the classroom.”

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