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LINN, MO. -- At Linn State Technical College 95 percent of the academic buildings and on-campus housing use geothermal or ground source heating and cooling.

"A geothermal system works very simply by using the earth as the median instead of the air outside," Linn State HVAC Instructor Ray Peters said. "Ground temperature is very constant, whereas the air temperature changes from summer to winter. The equipment will always operate at the same high efficiency because it has the same constant ground temperature to support it."

But this is not a new concept for Linn State.

The college has been using this cutting edge technology since 1985. And it was Peters' idea.

"Back at that time, 25 years ago, people said it sounded like a pretty crazy idea," Peters said. "It was nothing that had been done and nobody was really willing to take a risk to try it."

The EPA reports installing a five ton geothermal system is equivalent to planting 750 trees. Linn State's geothermal system is 850 tons, which is equal to planting 127,500 trees.

After a grant from the state, Linn State administrators gave Peters the green light on the project.

Peters said geothermal heating and cooling is more affordable more now than ever. College officials have never looked back after seeing energy savings that exceeded Peters' predictions.

"Our campus planner or architect has told us that our cost per square foot of heating and cooling is approximately 50 percent the cost of the national average," Linn State President Dr. Donald Claycomb said.

And that means more money can put back into the classroom.

The ground source heating and cooling system at Linn State has turned out to be so efficient that Claycomb and the college vice-president have both had systems put in thier own homes.