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84 | AUGUST 2016 Campus Energy System Conversion – UBC Campus Energy System Conversion – UBC by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI T he University of British Columbia has just undergone what could arguably be described as one of its biggest projects to date. While on the surface it may seem like the new $24-million Campus Energy Centre (CEC) is one single project, what new visitors to the campus may not know is that the CEC is the visual heart of a new Academic District Energy System (ADES) that saw the replacement of almost all of UBC's entire aging steam heating infrastructure with a more efficient hot water heating system. This five-year, $88-million project involved not just the construction of the CEC, but also the installation of over 100 Energy Transfer Stations (ETS) across the campus and more than 12 kilometres (km) of an insulated District Piping System (DPS). "This project goes back to 2007," explains David Woodson, managing director, UBC Energy and Water Services. "At that time we had an aging steam system and a capital project to replace one of the boilers in the powerhouse. Around the same time the University was assessing its overall carbon footprint. What stood out was that 90 per cent or more of the carbon emissions was coming from natural gas that was being burned to create the steam and heat the buildings." It turned out that over the previous 12 years, UBC had consumed over a million gigajoules of gas a year at the powerhouse. With the volatility of natural gas prices and talk of a B.C. carbon tax, the University decided to look at other options as part of its Alternative Energy Sources Program (AESP) feasibility report by Stantec. A few innovative (and perhaps rather unrealistic) ideas were considered, but regardless of the source of heat, all of the options required a hot water grid that could support any future innovative transition. During an initial hot water feasibility study carried out by FVB, UBC discovered that one of its administrative support buildings on the western side of the campus had building hot water heat exchangers that were four times oversized. "We decided to use those heat exchangers to heat the hot water during the first phase. This allowed us to test whether our cost savings and pricing assumptions were accurate – our business case for the hot water conversion was based on the assumption that the hot water District Energy System would be 24 per cent more efficient than the steam system," says Woodson. The project ended up consisting of 10 phases, according to Woodson, but it was the first phase that was the most significant as it enabled UBC to test the business case assumptions without fully switching from steam to hot water. As UBC wanted the project to be constructed sequentially, contractor Ledcor was tasked with ensuring the building was completed with as little disruption as possible. "We were responsible for not only building the CEC but connecting into the piping system on the west side of the building, where there are two incoming and two outgoing pipes for the two separate loops on campus," explains Matt Artis, project manager at Ledcor, who worked closely on the project with his colleague and site superintendent Jack Stam. Kerr Wood Leidal (KWL) had the task of designing the 12 km of DPS, with Division 15, the mechanical contractor responsible for laying the DPS. "We discovered that by including shallow cover pipes, UBC could save substantial costs. It made sense because the area has a mild climate. We also found that by installing floating manhole covers it would save costs," explains Ayman Fahmy, team lead, district energy at KWL. KWL also designed the piping connection to the new LEED Gold CEC, which houses three new 15 megawatt (MW), natural gas fired, high-efficiency hot water boilers, with space for one more as the campus expands. Architects Dialog was tasked with designing the signature two-storey CEC building and came onboard back in 2012. Having Martin Nielson on staff, a former mechanical engineer, allowed for a neatly crafted interface between the building functionality and the process requirements of the plant. Dialog worked closely with FVB to understand the process requirements. The boilers were placed on the northwest corner, on the public side, and a double-height glass picture window was placed in front to allow public viewing of the four boiler bays. On the exterior a perforated zinc panel system wraps around the building which allows for ventilation, and at the base a white brick complements the surrounding materials. "The design is mute and yet exemplary and has a strong presence. It's like a breathing living organism. The exterior skin is a metre away from the building structure where all the intake and exhaust points are. We designed the zinc much like a cloud pattern to reference the old steam plant," says Nielson. The zinc was a perfect location to hide a cove luminaire that was directed onto the brick facade. "This helped provide separation from the metal skin and the building, continuing to provide hierarchy of the architecture over the spider web of piping on the interior," explains Doug McMillan, light designer at AES. A dramatic sloping roof reduces the scale of the building toward the plaza and the pharmacy building behind. To the left of the glass window, on the north side, is the entrance that takes you into the lobby. From here you enter into the boiler room and have access to a shower room, the maintenance room and the electrical rooms. The extensive use of CLT on the walls and roof provide a warm ambience and captures the light that penetrates into the building. A steel stair takes you from the ground floor to offices and a control room on the second level.

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