Facilities Going Green
Vice Chancellor of Facilities, Planning and Construction Michael Molina
Texas Tech University Vice Chancellor of Facilities, Planning and Construction Michael Molina said Texas Tech used to be behind the curve on the LEED and sustainability efforts, but his office made the commitment for all new buildings to be LEED certified three and a half years ago.
The new student complex that the Department of Facilities, Planning and Construction is working on already meets LEED standards, Molina said, and the building already meets accreditation standards.
Molina said there are several technologies his department is planning to use that will make the building more energy efficient.
One of the new technologies is called insulated concrete forms, or ICF. He said this wall and roof assembly technology will be one of the best energy efficient envelopes on the Tech campus during the building’s long term life cycle.
The ICF material used to make the new housing complex
“We’ll burn less energy to keep air at the right temperature for students than any other building on campus,” Molina said.
Like the wall system, he said, all the windows will reduce heat gain or energy leaving the building while it is being managed. The building’s roofing membranes will reflect heat off the building, instead of soaking in, which will reduce energy demand.
Another key energy reduction technology is his department plans to implement is a mechanical system called variable refrigerant system, Molina said. Instead of going through the expensive process to integrate the building into the tunnel and central heating and cooling plant system, the department of facilities, planning and construction plans to use a compact air management system used in a lot of European countries for the first time on the Tech campus. Little air control temperature units will be placed above the ceiling in each room or each pod of rooms. This techonology will provide on-demand heating and cooling, and parameters can be placed on it.
Molina said his department also plans to integrate a technology that will extract unused heat from air piping and directly applicate it into the water heaters.
Building materials at the construction site
“You’ve already spent money to make that hot. Don’t let it go all the way back before you steal every once of heat that you can, or cooling,” Molina said.
He said they are planning to use sustainable landscaping by using low water usage plants and creating a rain garden which will percolate any water collected into the root system, instead of running down the street into the gutter.
All fixtures will be low flow utilization, he said, and the building will contain light control systems throughout.
Molina said all exterior lighting will be LED fixtures, which do not emit heat and do not require bulbs to be replaced.
Get an inside look into an exclusive tour of the building.
According to the Operations Division Energy Management department, illuminating, heating and cooling Tech’s campus costs about $24 million.
Potential outlet spot in the new residence hall
The required energy takes the form of electricity and natural gas, as well as steam and chilled water from the Central heating and Cooling Plants,” according to the department’s website.
Making New What is Old
Lon Mirll, the energy manager in the Operations Division at Texas Tech, said Tech’s overall energy use index is at 156, which is not as good as his department wants it to be, but he would be hard pressed to find a school of Tech’s size with a number that low. Texas Tech has 75 buildings of significant structure, he said, and uses almost 200 structures.
In contrast, he said Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, published last year that its energy use index totaled around 400, and the school was pleased with that number. University of Texas at Austin representatives told him its energy use index was 285.
The Texas Tech energy management department’s website suggested campus energy efficiency is in every Red Raiders’ hands.
Mirll said Texas Tech is aided by good weather, such as low humidity, and a lack of some problems other schools face. Research areas cost more energy than classrooms, he said, so schools with more research tend to have higher energy use indexes.
Texas Tech’s energy use index is also lower, he said, because Tech is being proactive about becoming energy efficient, and his department has been focusing on making the education and general purpose buildings on campus more energy efficient.
His department is ahead of schedule, he said, and will meet its five-year goal of lowering Tech’s energy use index to 153 during the 2014 fiscal year, which is one year ahead of schedule.
Mirll said the principle measure his department has taken to make the campus more energy efficient is optimize the operating schedules for building’s air handlers.
Fifteen years or so ago, Mirll said, Texas Tech would keep the air systems turned on 24/7, like some schools still do. Now, he said, they are only turned on when they are needed. By having a computer schedule the air handlers to turn on or off based on class schedules, the Tech’s energy use index lowered from 200 in 2000 to 150, he said.
Mirll’s department also reduced energy by about 2 percent each year for the past seven years and saved millions of dollars by installing new motors on campus that are designed to only pump as much water or air as needed for a desired temperature, he said.
New freeze protection protocols have saved Tech around $200,000, Mirll added. Air handlers used to operate all winter, but now they are scheduled based on temperature.
They also saved money, he said, by replacing all lightbulbs on campus a few years ago with higher energy efficient ones, and installing quite a few exterior LED lights on campus.
The Energy Star website said some property types are more energy intensive than others.
The Energy Star website ranked residence halls as one of the highest energy-using property types.
Mirll said his department has recently initiated a project with student housing, and they have identified ways housing could save around $400,000 a year. Once this is completed, all repairs could be made within two years, and the payback could be a two-year time frame, too, he said.
Although this project is still under the audit phase, housing authorities now come to the monthly energy committee and have started taking initiatives from the meetings, Mirll said.
Mark McVay, the unit associate director for Tech housing facilities, said his department is currently replacing old windows in some residence halls. They have already spent $1.3 million replacing windows at Hulen/Clement. This summer, he said, they will install new energy efficient windows into Stangel/Murdough. He said the new windows save energy because the glass works with special insulation that leads to less thermal conductivity.
Every Red Raider Can Help
The Operations Division Energy Management website provides several ways Red Raiders can reduce energy use on campus, such as identifying on-campus energy waste or energy saving ideas.
“If you’re hot or cold, or something doesn’t seem to be working right in one of your building systems, please call Emergency Maintenance any time of the day or night,” the website stated.
According to the website, Texas Tech can save up to $400,000 annually if people turned off all lights when they are not being used. Devices such as cell phone chargers and laptops use energy even when they are not doing anything, the website said, so they should be unplugged once fully charged.
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