The State College of New York at Albany is starting a $30 million decarbonization undertaking that can allow it to close down its gas-fired boilers throughout the summer time months, it introduced earlier this month.
The undertaking will set up a high-efficiency electrical centrifugal chiller and a warmth restoration chiller, each linked to a brand new geothermal effectively discipline consisting of between 90 and 135 wells in a campus parking zone. The chillers will change two gas-fired absorption chillers within the campus’ Nineteen Sixties-era central energy plant, the college says. As well as, the undertaking will modify home sizzling water techniques in over 25 buildings and set up new low-temperature sizzling water piping within the campus athletic services.
The geothermal warmth restoration chiller will be capable to meet all the campus cooling, heating and home sizzling water masses throughout the summer time months, the college says. The transfer is projected to scale back the college’s annual fossil gasoline consumption by 16%, in response to Indu, the vitality officer on the College at Albany.
The pipes all through the campus that ship sizzling water can create technical issues when transitioning to geothermal or different non-combustion heating applied sciences due to their small diameter, Indu stated.
With these pipes, “You can’t make steam or high-temperature sizzling water with out burning some kind of fossil gasoline,” Indu stated.
This limitation is why the college will solely be capable to flip off its gas-fired boilers throughout the summer time months. “Because the heating load begins to extend, our pipe sizes are too small to warmth the campus with simply 180-degree [Fahrenheit] water,” she stated.
Subsequent steps
To beat the constraints of present pipes, the college is evaluating the development of a satellite tv for pc vitality hub: a totally electrified geothermal warmth restoration plant on the opposite aspect of campus, nearer to the place main masses like residential buildings and the College at Albany’s proposed $250 million well being innovation & expertise constructing might be positioned, in response to Indu.
The satellite tv for pc vitality hub and related geothermal wells would assist warmth and funky 700,000 sq. toes of adjoining buildings along with the well being tech constructing, the college says. Then, the college will construct new pipe networks and electrify the present plant utilizing the present piping infrastructure to “feed as a lot of the campus as we will whereas that different plant begins to select up some slack from buildings on the opposite finish,” Indu stated.
“Ultimately, these two networks will join and supply redundancy for one another. However that [plan] will assist us transfer to that with out spending an unlimited sum of money on pipes,” Indu stated. The brand new plant and geothermal wells are anticipated to scale back the campus’ fossil gasoline consumption by an extra 16%, in response to the college’s launch.
The present undertaking and anticipated subsequent steps are a part of the SUNY system’s push to decarbonize throughout the state as New York works to attain an 85% discount in greenhouse gasoline emissions by 2050, the college stated.
Seeing the entire image
Life cycle planning and grasp planning are vital to implementing vitality effectivity initiatives and stopping hiccups within the course of, in response to Indu.
“Campuses, particularly … are advanced techniques,” Indu stated. “You may’t simply have a look at one part and see what’s the most effective for this constructing or this particular system. You need to have a look at campus as an entire. If I make this alteration right here, how does this impression different issues on campus?”
To that finish, UAlbany has developed a Clear Vitality Grasp Plan to decarbonize its downtown campus, which it’s at the moment in search of state funding to assist.
“Capital value is often the factor that stops folks from implementing these initiatives. As a result of changing chillers [like for like] might be going to be means cheaper [up front], virtually half the price of doing this warmth restoration channel, the effectively fields and all of that,” Indu stated.
Nevertheless, whereas a effectively discipline is dear, it has a life cycle of fifty to 60 years, in contrast with a cooling tower which will solely have a lifetime of 20 to 25 years, Indu stated. “You may simply use your annual financial savings. You need to have a look at the life cycle value of the system and evaluate it, after which have a look at the online current worth over the lifetime of the system,” she stated.
