UA Wins Award for Putting the Chill on Energy Consumption
Joel Valdez and Al Tarcola of the UA, at left, and Ned Morris, senior sales engineer for Trane's Tucson office, and Scott Candrian, president of Sun Mechanical Contracting, celebrate the UA's Energy Efficiency Leader in Education Award.
Facilities Management was recognized today with the Energy Efficiency Leader in Education Award for an innovative air conditioning system that uses ice to cool buildings across campus.
The Univesity of Arizona's chilled water production and distribution system spends the evening and early morning hours freezing water that is then used to cool buildings across the main campus and at the Arizona Health Sciences Center. The system is part of the Thermal Ice Storage Project.
Instead of starting some chillers during the day to cool water for the air conditioning system, the system uses the ice as it melts to cool buildings. This helps lower emissions because the chillers, which are powered by electricity, are in use less often, and also lowers the amount of energy used during the most active parts of the day.
Freezing the water at night during off-peak hours, UA and industry officials say, also saves the University money because nighttime electricity is less expensive, said UA Facilities Management Director Al Tarcola.
Representatives from Trane Inc. recognized Facilities Management with the award before a crowd of University employees and contractors, engineers and manufacturers at the UA's Central Heating and Refrigeration Plant, 640 N. Mountain Ave.
It is the first time the company has given the award to a higher education institution.
“The UA is not just a teaching institution, it’s a teaching facility,” Jim Pape, Trane’s vice president, said, speaking not only about the UA’s conservation efforts but also about its devotion to educating others about the importance of sustainability.
Pape and others emphasized that organizations and institutions must not only pay attention to issues related to sustainability, but that they also make active changes where necessary.
“The mandates are clear to make sure that we do the right thing,” Pape said.
Joel Valdez, the UA’s senior vice president for business affairs, and Tarcola were primarily responsible for getting the system built.
“It takes a team,” Valdez said, adding that “it also took the courage of the University administration, during a time of tight budgets, to do what we have to do to help save the future.”
Tarcola added that the reason for implementing the chilled water production and distribution system is “sustainability for energy conservation.”
Read more about about Facilities Management at http://www.fm.arizona.edu and about UA sustainability efforts at http://www.sustainability.arizona.edu.