Energy Usage Study for a New 240-acre Hilltop Campus

The new campus master plan includes a new athletic center, new residence halls, village-style housing, structured parking garage, and a student center functioning as a dining hall, recreation center, student activities center, and central plant.

Our team conducted a detailed study of energy usage and explored options for electrical and thermal distribution systems. This analysis considered various factors such as energy efficiency, construction cost, ease of maintenance, sustainability, and durability. Electrical distribution requirements, including primary electrical distribution, emergency power distribution, campus-wide load shedding, and co-generation were considered, along with the thermal energy components of heating, hot water, and chilled water.

The final design includes a central high-efficiency boiler plant, a high-efficiency chiller plant, and a campus-wide primary electric distribution system with automatic load shed and backup power. The design also incorporates a microturbine trigeneration system to provide electrical power while recovering waste heat to help heat and cool the campus.

Additionally, we designed a communications infrastructure for the technology systems, with a backbone raceway and a new IT hub for every building on campus.