A researcher is testing a geothermal heating system at a turkey farm in central Missouri that could help trim utility costs.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that an engineering professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia is trying out the system, which uses the soil to regulate the temperature of water flowing through buried pipes. The water then transfers the warmth from the ground into the barn.
The researcher believes it is the first use of a geothermal heating system at a commercial livestock farm.
The design being tested in Missouri buried pipes horizontally instead of vertically as in a traditional geothermal unit. That made it cheaper to install because it does not require digging as deeply.
