Tag Archives: engineering

Colvin Avenue Apartments Geothermal Design Completed!

NSE completed the ground loop design for 2-building apartment complex in Albany, New York for the U.W. Marx Construction Company and Regan Development in November 2024. The buildings represent a total design load of almost 100 tons and the ground loop consists of eighteen vertical wells drilled to 620 ft. The design was based on heat loads calculated using Carrier’s Hourly Analysis Program (HAP) and field thermal conductivity testing performed by Earth Energy Connections, Inc. (Hudson, New York).

Drilling of the geothermal wellfield was completed in late 2024 with construction of the apartments to be completed in 2025.

Geothermal Install Competed at Schmid Guest House in Willsboro, New York

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The installation of a ground source heat pump (geothermal) HVAC system designed by NSE in 2024 was completed in May 2025 with our partners EMM Heating Services (Lowville, NY) and Wood Well Drilling (Star Lake, NY). The heat pump is a Energy Catalyst hybrid system that provides air conditioning and hot water heat for a hydronic distribution system, served by a 320 ft closed loop geothermal well.

Lion Factory Apartments Geothermal Project Completed!

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The Lion Factory Apartments now occupied! Natural Systems Engineering designed the vertical ground loop heat exchanger to heat and cool, and provide domestic hot water for this former factory converted to a 150 unit apartment building in Troy, New York in 2024. The ground loop consists of ninety closed loop wells drilled to 450 ft in depth.

At the time this was the largest ground source heat pump system completed under National Grid’s Clean Heat Program. Very thankful to U.W. Marx and Regan Development for the opportunity to work on this project!

Restoration of Tributary 26 to Butternut Creek (LaFayette, NY) Nearing Completion

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On June 30-July 1, 2017 an extreme rainfall event caused the lateral migration of the of Tributary 26 to Butternut Creek located south of Colton Road in LaFayette, New York. The migration of the stream channel caused undercutting and erosion of the stream bank to the east and deposition of new point breaks downstream.

Tributary 26 looking southerly. Eroded streambank visible on left (east).

In collaboration with Dr. Ted Endreny from SUNY ESF and the Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District, NSE developed a design plan for the restoration of this stretch of Tributary 26 and was intended to reclaim riparian area east of the creek for the landowner and implementing conservation and restoration techniques intended to prevent future lateral migration of the creek and preserving it’s natural function. The design followed Rosgen stream restoration principles and consisted of:

reestablishment of the creek channel to the west
bendway weirs to deflect and dissipate energy away from the eroding east stream bank
rock riffles and large stones to dissipate energy within the newly reestablished stream channel
dogwood plantings in the reclaimed floodbank and fascines to protect the edge of bank.

Design plan for Tributary 26 Restoration

Construction was initiated per the design plan by the selected contractor J&J Landscaping the week of November 27, 2017 and earthwork completed on December 8. Plantings to follow in mid-December.

Reestablished creek looking southerly from Colton Road.

Assuming continuing adaptive management measures to be informed by the landowner, the reestablished creek and energy dissipation measures will provide for a stable planform, yet able to pass extreme events via a connected functioning floodplain.

Porous asphalt vehicle display lot completed for Crest Acura!

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With funding under Onondaga County’s award-winning Save the Rain program, Crest Acura’s porous asphalt lot was completed this summer. The project was designed by Natural Systems Engineering and constructed by Lan-Co Construction (East Syracuse, New York). The porous asphalt was designed to capture runoff from the 10,000 sq ft porous surface and the 9950 sq ft impervious asphalt lot located to the northeast. Roughly 1000 sq ft of greenspace was added to replace asphalt in the right-of-way of the City of Syracuse.

The project will manage a minimum of 400,000 gal of strormwater per year, removing that flow from Syracuse’s combined sewer system.

NSE’s Urban Residential Geothermal Retrofit project named a NY-GE0 2017 Top Job Finalist!

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Natural Systems Engineering’s Urban Residential Geothermal Retrofit project has been named a Top Job Finalist for the NY-GEO 2017 Conference! The conference will be held on April 19-20, 2017 at the Albany Radisson Hotel. The Top Job competition is at 1:30 PM on April 20th.

Looking forward to sharing the challenges and experiences on this job and hearing ideas from others.

Front Yard Geothermal Drilling – Tipperary Hill, Syracuse

Final 2016 “Save the Rain” Green Infrastructure Project Complete!

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In November 2016, construction was substantially completed for the Gear Factory Porous Asphalt lot serving the northern 200 block of South Geddes Street. The project involved conversion of impervious alleys and a parking lot associated with the Gear Factory building and the building housing City Hardware into a porous asphalt lot and infiltration basin, which will manage runoff from the 19,000 sq ft of impervious hardscape and almost 15,000 sq ft of rooftop. The project will manage roughly 630,000 gal of runoff annually preventing that volume of runoff from entering the City of Syracuse’s combined sewer system and mitigating combined sewer overflows from that system.

Urban Geothermal Retrofit Update!

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Photograph 1: Grouting of geothermal wells

Photograph 2: GeoStar 4-ton Combination Heat Pump

In the late summer and early fall, the urban retrofit geothermal project located at 248 Bryant Avenue in Syracuse, New York was completed. Pipes were fused and run into the basement and pressure tested. The wells were then grouted with a flowable cementitious grout (See Photograph 1).
Following completion of the site work, the mechanical contractor, Renaissance HVAC (Verona, New York), completed the installation of the 4-ton GeoStar Cypress Combination heat pump see Photograph 2). Wells were completed by purging and filling with a 20% ethylene glycol solution for freeze protection. The combination heat pump system allows the heating of the house both with air and radiant hot water and air conditioning in the summer. The geothermal heat pump will be powered by the grid-connected 6.4 kW solar array mounted on the home’s rooftop.

Piping and the heat pump system were provided by Phoenix Energy Supply who, along with Renaissance HVAC, also provided tremendous support on this challenging project! The next steps on the path to net-zero are to connect domestic hot water to a heat pump and switchout the natural gas fueled stove and oven!

Recent Save the Rain Project Featured on Channel 9!

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The Ra-Lin “Save the Rain” project designed by Natural Systems Engineering was featured on WSYR News Channel 9 on September 30, 2016. The project involved construction of approximately 16, 000 sq ft of porous asphalt and a bioretention area to manage stormwater runoff from the 1.5 acres of impervious areas at the discount appliance store located on Burnet Avenue in Syracuse. The project will result in the management of over 1.2 million gallons of stormwater annually, preventing that volume from entering the storm sewer system and contributing to combined sewer overflows to Onondaga Lake. The story on Channel 9 shows how the porous asphalt allows infiltration of rainwater through the porous surface.

Swallow’s Tavern Green Infrastructure Project Closes out 2015

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Construction of green infrastructure was completed in late 2015 consisting of a dry well to management roof runoff and a porous asphalt system to manage parking lot runoff. Green infrastructure was designed by Natural Systems Engineering and construction was performed by the Rich and Gardner Construction Company (Syracuse, New York). The project was funded by Onondaga County’s award winning Save the Rain program.

Swallow’s Porous Asphalt Placement