Building History and Use
Pinewood Elementary School in Mounds View, MN, serves roughly 520 students in grades 1–5 as part of Mounds View Public Schools. Like many buildings in a growing district, it has been updated in phases to keep pace with enrollment and community needs.
The most recent major renovation came in 2020, funded by the $165 million bond referendum Mounds View voters approved in 2017. That work added two classrooms, remodeled the cafeteria and kitchen, and renovated the parking lot. Wold Architects and Engineers designed the project, and Kraus-Anderson built it.
The geothermal conversion extends that investment to the building’s heating and cooling systems, with Wold again leading design and engineering.
Why Geothermal?
Pinewood is the smallest of the three schools in the district’s geothermal initiative, which is part of what makes it worth documenting. Groundwater geothermal is often assumed to be a solution for large campuses and big-budget projects, but Pinewood shows that the same approach can work for a building with a much smaller thermal load.
Two wells provide the full capacity the building requires, with 190 tons of cooling and 712 MBH heating. For comparison, the district’s Highview Middle School system uses two wells to deliver 377 tons, and Irondale High School uses seven wells for 1,106 tons. Each system was sized to its own building, and Pinewood’s shows how compact a right-sized installation can be.
As at the other two schools, the system uses underground wells to transfer energy from the aquifer while protecting water quality. It supplements the school’s existing heating and cooling operations rather than replacing them, which lets the district reduce its reliance on conventional systems and improve long-term efficiency without a full mechanical overhaul. Across all three schools, the district projects roughly $165,000 in annual operational savings.
Design and Construction
Wold Architects and Engineers handled design and engineering for all three Mounds View geothermal projects, and the Pinewood conversion was completed in summer 2026. Because Pinewood is an active elementary school, the work was planned around the realities of a building that serves students for most of the year.
The compact two-well configuration keeps the installation’s footprint small on a site that also has to accommodate parking, drop-off, and outdoor space for students. The system ties into Pinewood’s existing mechanical infrastructure, so the building keeps its familiar layout while gaining a more efficient thermal source.
Right-Sized for Every School
Taken together, the three Mounds View projects show what a district-wide approach to geothermal can look like. Irondale High School is one of the largest schools in Minnesota tempered by geothermal energy. Highview Middle School shows the technology working as a retrofit at mid-size scale. Pinewood Elementary shows that two wells can serve a neighborhood elementary school.
For districts weighing geothermal one building at a time, the Pinewood project is a useful reference point. The same technology, scaled to the building in front of it, is bringing operating savings that will continue for decades.
