Virginia Tech’s Chiller Plant Phase II saves millions in energy costs as construction completes

Whereas the completed product is generally unseen, it definitely is felt by many of the college group. The Chiller Plant Part II has improved air con techniques for a lot of buildings on campus. The chilled water community supplies chilly water to air dealing with items in buildings throughout campus to offer air con. After passing via these air dealing with items, the now hotter water is recycled again throughout campus and to the chiller crops for re-cooling and recirculation once more again to the buildings.  

As a part of the mission, buildings initially constructed with unbiased chillers had been related to the chilled water loop and people unbiased chillers shut down – saving operations and upkeep prices.

Almost 40 % of the air conditioned buildings on the Blacksburg campus now are a part of the identical steady loop serviced by two chiller crops, offering redundancy. 

“The Chiller Plant Part II mission has considerably improved our chilled water infrastructure on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus,” mentioned Dwyn Taylor, assistant vp for capital building. “Via the interconnection of the chilled water crops, future upkeep occasions that require whole shutdown of the chilled water community can be considerably decreased, if not completely eradicated.”

The chilled water infrastructure mission is one other instance of the methods Virginia Tech is striving to fulfill its Local weather Motion Dedication targets. The brand new loop helps foster a discount in constructing vitality consumption, which helps allow the college’s aim of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. 

“When buildings supposed for various functions are related to the identical loop, you’re capable of present the identical cooling to all buildings, with much less whole vitality,” mentioned Paul Ely, affiliate director of capital building. “Educational and residential buildings want air con at totally different instances of the day, which suggests when the coldest degree of air con isn’t crucial for one, that vitality will be put towards cooling the opposite.”

For the reason that Chiller Plant Part II mission started in 2019, electrical energy consumption for chilled-water era in fiscal yr 2022 fell by 54 %, when in comparison with the pre-construction five-year common annual consumption, for a cumulative discount of 19.6 million kWh. This equates to an vitality value avoidance of roughly $1.8 million.

“The environmental influence avoidances on account of the Chiller Plant Part II’s close to completion are substantial. Since building started, it has decreased the output of 8,479 metric tons of carbon dioxide equal or 21,046,244 miles pushed by a mean gasoline-powered passenger car,” mentioned Steve Durfee, campus vitality supervisor. “The Workplace of Vitality Administration is working and monitoring the chilled water system efficiency to take care of a sustainable, environment friendly, and efficient vitality provide for campus prospects.”

The southwest chiller plant, completed in 2013, earned a LEED Silver Certification. It was designed with potential for enlargement to fulfill the long run demand of recent buildings. The western exterior wall of the southwest chiller plant will be simply eliminated or expanded and has a “inexperienced wall” of reside, ivy-type crops to assist it mix visually into the surroundings.