Contractor
Summary
Community College uses micro CHP system to reduce energy consumption.
The main campus of Finger Lakes Community College is nestled at the northern tip of Canandaigua Lake, one of 11 lakes in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The college serves nearly 6,000 students at four campuses. It falls under the jurisdiction of the State University of New York, which includes 64 four-year and two-year schools. SUNY’s sustainability strategic plan includes benchmarks for water conservation, energy efficiency, food system sustainability and green infrastructure.
Energy-efficiency initiatives include Energy Smart New York, which calls for a 30 percent reduction in SUNY’s energy consumption by the end of this year; Build Smart New York, which is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent at state agencies; and Brownfield to Brightfield, a pilot project to explore using renewable energy on EPA brownfield sites.
When FLCC’s Director of Facilities and Grounds Cathy Ahern came to the college in 2014, her priority was to look at how the existing mechanical systems were working and get a better baseload before starting any alternative energy projects on campus.
“The first thing everybody wants to do is see solar panels and wind turbines all over campus; they think it’s really cool,” she says. “But I pushed to start the energy reduction program by first looking at our older existing mechanical equipment and replacing with higher-efficiency equipment if needed.”
The micro CHP is connected to the Siemens building automation system. In the summertime (or during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders), when the hot water demand is lower, the system still needs to provide comfort cooling to the office area, Coe says.
To that end, Ahern partnered with Bill Coe, director of project development for Rochester, N.Y.-based design-build mechanical contractor EMCOR Services Betlem. They began an energy conservation study, partially funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to identify capital projects to improve FLCC’s energy efficiency.
This in-depth look at campus mechanical equipment resulted in a list of about 20 energy conservation measures, Ahern notes, that were then prioritized. “You select the top 10 and start getting funding for them,” she says. “It’s like an energy master plan, if you will.”
Replacement of the outdated water heating system consisting of two Lochinvar boilers installed more than 25 years ago and a large hot water storage tank was the first and only project to date to get funded. A discussion of other projects was put on hold once the COVID-19 virus hit campus.
Ahern, who is a mechanical engineer and has more than 30 year’s HVAC and plumbing experience, knew the old boilers had to go. She intended only to replace the boilers with higher-efficiency models. But after talking with Coe and visiting Lochinvar, she was committed to using the hydronic heating manufacturer’s micro combined heating and power (CHP) system to supplement the campus’ water-heating system.
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