LANDER, Wyo. - It all starts with a well 300 feet deep.

From there, Scott Kane, of Creative Energies, will put heat into the well to see how consistently the ground retains and releases it.

If Kane likes what he sees, he will begin drilling 20 to 40 more wells. From those wells will come what will both heat and cool the new addition to the Lander branch of the Fremont County Library.

The new library will use the earth's own natural thermal properties to pull heat either out of the ground or out of the new addition, depending on the season. The test well being drilled on the west side of the expansion property will determine whether the ground can handle this type of renewable energy.

"Basically, what we are looking for is good conductivity from the ground," Kane said. "Once we get this first well drilled, we will have a better idea on how successful this type of heating system will be."

What Kane needs is ground that will readily accept and release heat.

"Some ground is better than others," he said. "For ground- source heat to work, you need a lot of contact with the ground."

If this first well is a success, Kane will begin laying the infrastructure for the next until enough wells are drilled to provide the thermal capability for the new extension.

Geothermal heating works by pumping fluid through pipes into the wells.

"The fluid that is brought out of the wells will be pumped into the building, and the heat extracted through a heat pump," Kane said. "It works kind of like a refrigerator works."

An indoor heat pump like the one proposed for the new library addition uses electrically driven heat exchangers in a vapor-compression cycle to concentrate the heat gathered from the fluid and to release it into the structure.