Converting buildings to accept high-efficiency energy systems

Educational campuses have long relied on fossil-fuel-burning central heating plants. Now they are transitioning to low-carbon, high-efficiency energy systems, such as district geothermal.

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District energy-scale geothermal systems represent one approach to the future of clean energy heating and cooling with high-efficiency energy systems. Inspired by traditional central utility plant designs found across campuses today, these systems work by circulating groundwater that has a constant temperature around campus to distributed heat pump installations providing hot and chilled water to the buildings.

These projects are incredibly complex and require significant capital investment. Part of this complexity lies in the history of hydronic systems and the challenges in disrupting nearly 200 years of legacy technology.

District energy and hydronics: past meets future

Take, for example, traditional radiators. This 1840s technology was originally designed to heat buildings via steam, and later hot water. These mediums worked because they carry high amounts of energy in relatively small volumes, and were easy to distribute through pipes: perfect for heating our old, leaky buildings at the time. But heating that water to anywhere from 120–250ºF is energy-intensive, inefficient, and of course, expensive.

High-efficiency energy systems work best when the distributed heat pumps are pushing lower-temperature (90–140ºF) water through conditioned spaces. Without significant retrofit, existing buildings, originally built with equipment designed for high-temperature steam or hot-water heating, aren’t able to properly heat their spaces with this lower-energy water. Thus, converting buildings designed for steam heating to low temperature hot water is a remaining multifaceted and complicated engineering challenge at the building level.

Converting to high-efficiency energy systems: a dual challenge

Some campuses have already completed campus-scale geothermal heating systems. Others are well on their way (Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and UMass Amherst, to name a few). As more campuses seek to transition away from their legacy heating plants, significant planning and engineering is required to ensure these plants meet future goals and that the required major capital outlays are deployed in an optimal way. 

Much of that capital investment goes into the campus central heating plant and extensive network of underground piping that connects it with the buildings it serves. For geothermal systems, the drilling and installation of ground-loop heat exchange piping represents a significant engineering and construction effort on its own. A campus-scale design and construction initiative such as this requires a large team of experienced engineering and construction partners.

On the building side, conversion to accept these new high-efficiency energy systems is a separate challenge altogether. But the truth is that it’s really a collection of small building-scale projects, even when done at a campus level.

The natural tendency is to treat this portion of the project scope as an extension of the big project to install the plant and distribution, managing it with a big construction firm. But again, this approach is expensive, complicated, and intrusive.

Campuses rarely have the swing space to allow for taking these buildings off line for any substantial amount of time and are working with limited capital funding for these building conversions. On top of that, traditional large construction firms are not ideally equipped to manage these smaller-scale conversions in occupied buildings with a soft touch. It’s like cutting a tomato with a chainsaw

These projects are no small task; they require the precision a paring knife can provide in slicing the perfect tomato. Occupied buildings are full of activities—cooking, gathering, meeting, learning, worshipping, playing. It takes a sensitive, surgical, communicative approach to design and manage engineering and construction projects in spaces where people are going about their daily lives. That’s where GreenerU comes in.

Considerations in managing building conversions for high-efficiency energy systems

To convert these buildings in the most thoughtful, cost effective way, while minimizing disruptions and achieving multiple wins campuses should consider:

  1. Focus on efficiency first. It never makes sense to use more energy than you need to. Where might there be opportunities to reduce your peak load? Building automation system and ventilation improvements? Heat recovery? Finding a firm that focuses on engineering high-efficiency energy systems will help you cut down on wasted energy and money.
  2. Consider the building envelope. Not every building conversion will need a gut renovation, but there may be opportunities to address targeted deferred maintenance projects such as window or roof upgrades that reduce the peak load of the building.
  3. Prioritize existing conditions. Do the legwork up front to understand how systems are currently operating and consider how low-temperature conversions may impact future operation. What other targeted improvements could be co-funded through these types of projects?
  4. Partner with a design-build firm. Partner early with an energy-efficiency heating systems firm that specializes in energy projects. Design-build procurement yields scheduling and cost efficiencies, as well as meeting agreed-upon project outcomes. We would love to hear from you!

Converting campus heating and cooling systems to a decarbonized solution through high-efficiency heating systems is hard and expensive work. But by working with design-build energy firms that carefully evaluate existing buildings and find creative ways to solve infrastructure challenges—all while delivering those projects carefully and without interruption in occupied spaces—institutions and campuses can improve their approach to create multiple, long-term wins.

 

Are you considering converting your building or campus to a high-efficiency heating system such as geothermal? Contact us to find out more about how we can help.


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