Facilities Management
Central Utility Plant
In older buildings, the heating and cooling systems sometimes operate simultaneously in the same space, resulting in them working against each other. By grouping these systems together and having them communicate, greater efficiencies are obtained, and less energy is used. The Central Utility Plant Replacement reduced natural gas use by 73%.
A chiller plant is a centralized cooling system that produces a low-temperature fluid that can be circulated across campus to provide cooling to several buildings. Chillers are among the largest consumers of energy in a building. The upgraded chiller plant includes these features:
- Centralized plant with 3,700 tons of cooling
- [3] 1,000-ton high efficiency Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) centrifugal chillers
- 700-ton modular heat recovery chiller
- Upgraded and reused existing cooling tower
- Upgraded/refurbished existing Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank
- Refurbished existing chiller plant building
- Excess energy from the PV arrays are used to charge the TES
Boiler plants are centrally located to many buildings and are used to create thermal energy in the form of steam or hot water and supply it to campus. The previous campus boilers had pneumatic controls, which have been upgraded with digital controls as part of the new Energy Management System. The upgraded boiler plant includes these features:
- Centralized CUP with 46,100 MBH of total heating capacity
- [7] Modular Condensing Boilers combined with modular Heat Recovery Chiller (HRC)
- Refurbished the existing boiler plant building with added meeting space
- Domestic Hot Water (DHW) heat pumps at buildings