The thermal systems task force at the University of Oregon has begun drafting a report on the thermal heating systems on campus for the university president.
The Thermal Systems Task Force comprises faculty and staff members, graduate students and Board of Trustee members, Steve Mital, UO director of energy and sustainability, said.
The task force’s job is to gather information from the completed Thermal Systems Transition study and draft a report for the university president. In winter 2024, President Scholz will look over the report and make a recommendation to the board, Mital said.
The UO Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0 initiated the study. According to Campus Planning and Facilities Management, the transition study examines the current thermal heating system on campus and more sustainable alternatives.
The Current Heating System
The University uses a steam heating distribution system (left) and gets power at the central power station across Franklin Boulevard. The power station delivers 60,000 pounds of steam each day, Brian Fox, associate vice president for budget financial analysis and data analytics, said.
A system of pipes buried underneath the campus connects to the basements of roughly 80 buildings. Fox said the entire system is a closed loop, meaning steam stays in the loop without exiting the pipes.
From there, Fox said the pipeline transfers heat to a heat exchange, which transfers the heat to a separate independent loop in the building.
He said the system relies on natural gas distributed from NW Natural and produces roughly 21,000 tons depending on the year.
Fox said the system works well and is in good shape. However, carbon emissions are a problem, and the university is considering options to reduce emissions.
“The issue really is all about the carbon emissions,” Fox said. “Do we want to transition to something other than that system that can reduce the emissions going forward? Or do we want to rely on state regulation to drive those emissions down?”
The university uses an energy flow chart from the 2020 fiscal year as “the last normal year,” Mital said.
The diagram depicts all the energy admissions produced by the university. They found that most of the emissions came from natural gas for building energy, Mital said.
He said the study targets campus heating because it is a central system and most straightforward to control.
The task force highlighted four options to reduce their emissions: systems as usual, electrode boiler, heat recovery chiller and heat recovery alternative source.
The Four Options
Fox said that the task force is currently examining the tradeoffs for each option, and consulting engineers to understand them on a detailed level.
The task force has narrowed down four options for the thermal heating system. Fox said the first option is “systems as usual,” which would maintain the current heating distribution system.
The second option is the electrode boiler, which will swap out natural gas in the heating system with electricity. Fox said this change would only impact the power station across Franklin Boulevard.
Mital said this change would be almost unnoticeable to students and facilities on campus.
Options three and four focus on switching to a hot water distribution system, which is more complex. They would have to abandon the steam lines under the campus and bury new hotlines. These options are also more impactful and efficient, Fox said.
“The big piece is we switch over to hot water, and then we can use different series of technologies that would help make that system even more efficient,” he said.
Comparing Options
The task force used data gathered from the public they conducted last spring to develop a list of concerns. Emissions reductions, disruption and reputational impacts were some of the concerns on the list, Mital said.
The task force is also considering the tradeoffs for each option. Fox said that options one and two have a lower capital than options three and four, which have a higher capital cost but a lower operating cost.
Fox said the task force has no recommendation as of right now but will likely have one by Feb. 2024.
Getting involved
Mital said the task force plans to host a forum on Oct. 24 at 6:00 p.m. in the EMU Crater Lake Room. Students can attend and voice their preferences and concerns. They can also contact the task force via email, breakout tables and notes.
