Date Time Borehole to reveal potential of geothermal heating Cornell is moving forward, and underground, with plans to drill an observatory borehole to explore the viability – and ensure the safety – of using geothermal energy to heat the Ithaca campus. At a virtual community forum Jan. 19, a Cornell faculty and staff panel outlined the next steps for testing Earth Source Heat (ESH), the process by which water would be extracted from the Earth’s crust, its heat transferred to a separate supply of water flowing within Cornell’s heating distribution pipeline to heat most of the Ithaca campus buildings, and the original geothermal water returned to the subsurface.