Roxanne Walker
After seeing the centralized heating and cooling systems for campus, I wonder what the motivation was for centralizing those systems. Presumably the networks are more efficient than having individual heating and cooling systems in each building. How much heat is lost as steam is piped up campus to heat the farthest buildings? Another factor is maintenance. Does it require more resources (materials, time, and human resource) to keep a dozen small heating and cooling systems running, or to maintain the complex of pipes that comprise the networked system? I was impressed by the method of freezing water during the night, when energy is relatively cheap, and using it to run the cooling system during the hot, peak hours. I wonder how much energy is saved (in addition to money) by cooling the water overnight, when the temperatures are lower. Is any energy lost in this process? I expected it to be intentional that the steam line passed under the sidewalk. Another thing I found a little confusing was that the LEED certification would require that much more documentation than straightforward building; shouldn’t those sort of details be laid out and planned in some form, anyway? If it’s just a matter of organizing the details, it’s unintuitive for a thorough outline of the building requirements to be only a third of the required documentation. What else to they require for LEED certification, and how much money do they make doing it? It’s all in a name.
Samuel T. Brennan
A few quick thoughts on the tour today. First off I thought Paul was great I am really glad you got him to speak to the class.
A few quick thoughts on the tour today. First off I thought Paul was great I am really glad you got him to speak to the class.
I also really enjoyed seeing both the heating and cooling center for some reason I thought they would be together, but it makes sense keeping them apart. I found it incredible that we are still using boilers from the 60's as well as the information about how energy cost more from between 11am to 7pm.
I did not know about that we may have to change the way we heat our house. I also am amazed at all the pipes running around campus, it would be really cool to see a x-ray of that. Overall I thought that was a really beneficial tour of how our campus utilizes energy and water.
Kari Larson
Well, I don’t really have anything to compare the bowels of our college’s heating and cooling systems to except my imagination. My only prior experience with what we saw today was when the sidewalks were torn up outside Severn when the steam line was getting repaired, so I guess I knew there was some large system somewhere but I never thought much of it and I think that goes for almost everyone at K. When I thought about it I guess I was expecting to see a cramped dingy room that was full of dust and cobwebs with some rusty pipes and a huge hot water heater. The tour certainly opened my eyes to the expanse of the heating and cooling system and all the energy it takes. I was incredibly impressed with how well labeled everything was and how clean it was. I could definitely tell that Paul and the college have taken the time to maintain the system, which seems to go hand in hand with trying to make the system as efficient as possible. I thought that it was interesting that not every building had there own systems, but Paul explained that it was easier for maintenance and also more cost effective and contained. I asked Adam why the system in Hicks was on the roof because I thought that because heat raises it would be more efficient to put the system in the basement but Adam explained that it’s much easier to build, run the piping and maintain the building and the system if it is on the roof. When I think of making a heating and cooling system I always assumed you would put it in the basement but apparently that is not always the most practical.
Adam Smith
I had seen much of what we looked at before, although I'd never been that deep in the boiler complex or seen the chillers before, so that was neat to do. I spent a bit of time on the tour ruminating about the
benefits of central heat, such as we have. Paul said one of the big advantages is the lower maintenance load, which makes sense to me. With the high efficiency of new boilers though, I think a lot of the efficiency gains that used to be an argument for district heating have lost effectiveness. On our campus you notice this in terms of Hicks being moved to its own heat supply and plans to install local boilers in Trow and Dewaters. The times that district heating is very efficient is when you can reclaim process heat that would need to be rejected anyways, which is what Paul was suggesting when he talked about tying into Western's power plant for our steam needs. That would be very exciting. Other local options for that are limited, as there is no industry near campus. The other thing I was thinking about is that I
want to look up what percentage of energy is actually used on air conditioning, as I expect it is a good bit higher than the 3-4% Paul suggested. The overall cooling load is much much lower than heating, but
cooling is 3+ less efficient than heating, so the total energy use may in fact be similar.
Christine Voss
Before our energy tour I had never really thought about how the campus was powered, how the water was heated, and how building were air-conditioned. At first I was really impressed with the magnitude of the system we have, especially the process to keep building air-conditioned. But, as we walked around the system’s large size made sense, as there are many, big buildings on campus. It also amazed me the underground tunnels, and I was really happy to finally learn why certain sidewalks were snow-free! Ultimately the tour made me a lot more conscious of the amount of energy we use on out small campus, and how much other larger businesses and schools are using. Every time I wash my hands under hot water, or enjoy the coolness of air conditioning I’ll be wondering about its source and thinking about the complicated and energy-using system that provides us with these luxuries. Thanks again to Mr. Manstrom for taking us on the tour; I really enjoyed learning more about our campus and energy sources in general.
Ada McCartney
Mr. Manstrom is wonderful, I am very excited for his class visit. I have never had the opportunity to see those inner workings of the college. I was especially interested in the tunnel that follows the boiler pipes around the campus--did I understand correctly that people can walk in there? The tour of Dow was incredible, I had no idea that a science building would require more energy than, say a library or a student center, but now that I think about it, that does make a lot of sense. I would be interested to see more of the campus water and energy components and talk more about collaboration with WMU and the city of Kalamazoo, I'm really fascinated by Oberlin and the initiatives there and am excited to read that document.
Adam Smith
I had seen much of what we looked at before, although I'd never been that deep in the boiler complex or seen the chillers before, so that was neat to do. I spent a bit of time on the tour ruminating about the
benefits of central heat, such as we have. Paul said one of the big advantages is the lower maintenance load, which makes sense to me. With the high efficiency of new boilers though, I think a lot of the efficiency gains that used to be an argument for district heating have lost effectiveness. On our campus you notice this in terms of Hicks being moved to its own heat supply and plans to install local boilers in Trow and Dewaters. The times that district heating is very efficient is when you can reclaim process heat that would need to be rejected anyways, which is what Paul was suggesting when he talked about tying into Western's power plant for our steam needs. That would be very exciting. Other local options for that are limited, as there is no industry near campus. The other thing I was thinking about is that I
want to look up what percentage of energy is actually used on air conditioning, as I expect it is a good bit higher than the 3-4% Paul suggested. The overall cooling load is much much lower than heating, but
cooling is 3+ less efficient than heating, so the total energy use may in fact be similar.
Christine Voss
Before our energy tour I had never really thought about how the campus was powered, how the water was heated, and how building were air-conditioned. At first I was really impressed with the magnitude of the system we have, especially the process to keep building air-conditioned. But, as we walked around the system’s large size made sense, as there are many, big buildings on campus. It also amazed me the underground tunnels, and I was really happy to finally learn why certain sidewalks were snow-free! Ultimately the tour made me a lot more conscious of the amount of energy we use on out small campus, and how much other larger businesses and schools are using. Every time I wash my hands under hot water, or enjoy the coolness of air conditioning I’ll be wondering about its source and thinking about the complicated and energy-using system that provides us with these luxuries. Thanks again to Mr. Manstrom for taking us on the tour; I really enjoyed learning more about our campus and energy sources in general.
Ada McCartney
Mr. Manstrom is wonderful, I am very excited for his class visit. I have never had the opportunity to see those inner workings of the college. I was especially interested in the tunnel that follows the boiler pipes around the campus--did I understand correctly that people can walk in there? The tour of Dow was incredible, I had no idea that a science building would require more energy than, say a library or a student center, but now that I think about it, that does make a lot of sense. I would be interested to see more of the campus water and energy components and talk more about collaboration with WMU and the city of Kalamazoo, I'm really fascinated by Oberlin and the initiatives there and am excited to read that document.
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