The heat is on at the Peppermill

Looking to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint, the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno has adopted sweeping green initiatives.

For several years, the Peppermill has been mindful to minimize the impact of operations on the environment while maintaining a high level of service and experience for guests, according to company officials.

To that end, the business has used geothermal energy to heat the domestic hot water for the Tuscany Tower, including the 43,000-square-foot Spa Toscana and Fitness Center as well as the two outdoor swimming pools and spas, since the 2007 expansion project.

With the culmination of a $9.7 million investment, the entire resort is now on-line to heat both space and domestic water with geothermal energy.

As the demand to conserve increased, the Peppermill continued to investigate new ways to save energy.

Peppermill President Bill Paganetti engaged world-renowned geothermal expert, Dr. Jim Combs of Geo Hills Assoiates LLC of Reno, to consult on the existing historical data and information from earlier projects. Because the Peppermill already had a reinjection well on the property, Dr. Combs recommended a new geothermal well be drilled on the property.

It was a gamble. Drill a well tapping in to the geothermal aquifer, betting on finding water at the correct temperature that could be captured and converted to energy through a closed loop system and then returned to the earth via a reinjection well, which would heat the entire resort’s water and mechanical heat via geothermal energy.

The Peppermill successfully hit proverbial pay dirt at over 4,400 feet deep, becoming geothermal energy users.

“No one else has a geothermal well of this depth in the city of Reno” said Dean Parker, executive facilities director at the Peppermill.

“In order for a well to produce the level of geothermal energy that could accomplish what we set out to do, we had to find water at 170 degrees that can pump 1,200 gallons per minute. With this well, we found that and more.”

The Peppermill is able to harness geothermal energy which now heats 100 percent of the property’s domestic water and mechanical heat throughout the 2.1 million square feet foot facility, 24/7, effectively replacing the natural gas boilers that currently heat the facility. This renewable energy will help the Peppermill reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and save the company millions of dollars in natural gas use, according to officials.

According to Dr. Combs, “The green energy heating addition to the HVAC system at the Peppermill will now make it the only resort in the United States whose heating source is totally provided from geothermal energy produced on the immediate property.”