totaling 7,350 tons of cooling capacity – sufficient to meet all current cooling demands
of UNM’s main and north campuses. Space is
reserved on the plant floor for an additional
4,000 tons of future capacity. New 24-inch-
diameter direct-buried piping was also
installed to allow the new plant to properly
serve both the main and north campuses in
conjunction with existing cooling loops.
Energy conservation efforts continued
with the upgrading of building chilled-water
systems. Building chilled-water pumps were
removed and modifications were made so
that the chilled-water plants could pump
directly through building cooling coils. This
distribution redesign successfully reduced
the system’s chilled-water pressure differential and pumping costs and increased the
chilled-water temperature differential.
In addition to the conservation efforts
and chilled-water upgrades, the renovation
project included transforming Ford Utilities
Center into a state-of-the-art district energy
production facility. By January 2005, more
than 15,000 sq ft of space was added onto
the building to house a new 4,000-ton all-electric chilled-water plant, new pumps, renovated cooling towers and two new 80,000-
lb/hr steam boilers. The building’s original
22,000-sq-ft space now holds new cogeneration equipment, administrative and operations functions, and a control room. One 5. 5
MW gas-turbine generator with heat recovery boiler supplements the steam produced
by conventional boilers, with room for installation of a second unit. The cogenerated
electricity, approximately 6 MW, is fully consumed within the campus, reducing UNM’s
reliance on outside power sources.
The crowning energy conservation proj-
Courtesy Larry Schuster, UNM.
Located on the main campus, the Ford Utilities Center was renovated and expanded as part of the
university’s overall utility upgrades.
ect, installation of a new campus-wide energy
management and control system, is on track
for completion in early 2006. It includes new
metering and monitoring services in all buildings, allowing UNM utilities to be monitored
and operated in a more energy-efficient manner. A number of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning direct digital controls systems
are also being installed and integrated into
the energy management and control system.
Energy Efficiency Paying Off
Essentially completed, the project has
already begun generating the energy savings
required to finance the improvements. This
has been accomplished through a combination of production system efficiency upgrades,
demand reductions and reduced rates for
outside utility purchases:
Chiller coefficient of performance increased
from an average of 2.0 to 6.0.
Building chilled-water modifications generated annual energy savings of about 1. 6
million k Wh and 440 k W of electrical demand
with an annual cost savings of nearly
$157,000 – exclusive of the additional savings
due to the variable-flow direct-pumped
primary distribution system.
New boilers are approximately 10 percent
more efficient than the boilers they
Courtesy Larry Schuster, UNM.
The University of New Mexico upgraded the Ford Utility Plant, (shown at left) after completion in February 2005. The new cooling plant, the Lomas
Chilled Water Plant, (right) was completed in 2003.
