Summer projects focus on cooling campus

by Joe King

While everyone else is wishing for warmth, the Department of Architectural/Engineering Services is hard at work on plans to keep the campus cool.

Among the department's projects are plans for the installation of chilled water lines beneath Gilbert Drive (and a complete rebuild of that street), the construction of a new chilled water plant and installation of new chiller equipment in the West Campus heating plant.

When all of the work is finished, NIU will cover about 90 percent of its campus cooling needs using chilled water instead of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) coolants.

That goal, however, is still a few years away. Several things must come first, including the installation of the chilled water pipes beneath Gilbert Drive.

Work on that project will begin in May and is scheduled for completion by late August.

The two large pipes will extend the full length of Gilbert from Lucinda Avenue to College Drive, then head west on College to Castle Drive, then south to about Faraday Hall.

The installation of the pipes (a Capital Development Board project) has given the university an opportunity to address the condition of 50-year-old Gilbert Drive, which has been in poor shape for years.

"It's the worst road on campus. Nothing else comes close," says Bob Albanese, associate vice president for finance and facilities in charge of the physical plant. "By piggybacking on the water pipe project, we save a little money and don't have to tear up the road twice."

When the work is finished, Gilbert will be wider and smoother and have new curbs and gutters. Most importantly, the road base will be upgraded to withstand the beating of the heavy bus traffic that traverses the street every day.

Engineers also are looking for ways to configure the parking lot to make it safer, Albanese said.

The enormous pipes (two 16-inch supply and return lines with 10-inch spurs to buildings) ultimately will connect to a new chilled water facility to be built on property to the north and east of the Campus Life Building. When completed, the plant will produce extremely cold water that will be piped to most buildings on the East Campus and will replace chlorofluorocarbon-based coolants in the air conditioning systems of those buildings. The warm water is then pumped back to the plant, re-chilled and re-circulated.

That form of cooling is already in use in most buildings on West Campus, and soon will be the cooling form of choice for most of the central campus.

Work is underway to add chillers at the West Heating Plant, which will provide chilled water to Reavis, Watson, Gabel, Graham, Zulauf, Cole and DuSable halls as well as to the Campus Child Care Center. Most of those buildings previously were cooled by 34-year-old chillers located at Zulauf Hall. That work is to be completed before warm weather arrives.

The advantages of such a system are many, said Jim Bryant, director of Architectural/Engineering Services.

Chilled water systems centralize cooling equipment (which simplifies maintenance), allow for better temperature control and are less expensive to operate.

Money for these projects comes from a variety of sources.

About $7.5 million is Capital Development Board money, another $7.5 million came in the form of an Illinois First Grant, and $2.5 million will come out of bond revenue money the university has banked. A portion of the project also will be funded with performance contracts, using cost savings created by the new equipment to pay for it.

The money is in hand, Albanese said, and there is little concern that the state's current economic problems will keep the programs from moving forward.

2-10-2003