This multi-phased/multi-year project provided for safe and reliable campus utility needs to include chilled water, steam, and electricity, while reducing carbon emissions, conserving natural resources, and maintaining the integrity of the campus design vernacular.
This project greatly improves energy efficiency and reduces carbon emissions, which is in line with CU’s campus wide goal to minimize its environmental footprint and to achieve near “net-zero” carbon emission. The centerpiece of the carbon-reduction effort involved overhauling the existing natural gas-fired cogeneration equipment in the renovated powerhouse (WDEP) and installing equipment to produce both steam and electrical power. Combining heat and power produces considerably less carbon dioxide than power generated by the local utility company. The system was enhanced by as much as 25% by adding a 3.5 MW combustion turbine and using its waste steam to heat the campus through heat recovery steam generation (HRSG). These strategies, along with several others, reduces carbon emission by approximately 33,000 tons per year.
This project is comprised of three main elements:
1) Construction of a new 18,000-square-foot heating and cooling plant known as the East District Energy Plant (EDEP) which serves as a showcase for energy efficient concepts.
2) Renovation of the existing 102-year-old Powerhouse (renamed the West District Energy Plant, or WDEP)
3) Interconnection of the two plants with new and upgraded distribution systems throughout the campus, all completed with minimal disruption to campus activities.
