A Major Move Creates Multiple Opportunities for Efficiency at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus

By Colorado Energy News

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

Most colleges don’t get the chance to build a new campus from the ground up. But the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado did almost exactly that.

In 1995, when the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center closed, officials from the Health Sciences Center, University of Colorado Hospital and the City of Aurora presented an innovative proposal to the Department of Defense: to reuse the decommissioned base to build - from the ground up - a world-class, academic health and research center, including state-of-the-art health care facilities.

They made the move and have included efficiency into just about every building they’ve constructed on the 217 acres conveyed to the university.  From concept to occupancy, from lighting to mechanics, from inside to outside, every building is constructed with efficiency in mind.

HOLISTIC APPROACH

Efficiency often comes piecemeal. A company might decide to upgrade its heating and cooling equipment or install higher efficiency lighting. But a holistic approach - though more expensive on the front end - can render better long term savings. The university administration was committed to overall efficiency from the start. But fast growth presented both an opportunity and a problem.

“We needed so many buildings that it afforded us an opportunity to build green - except on the first building,” says Dave Turnquist, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Operations at UC Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus. “Planning for efficiency takes time and often the initial costs are higher. The life cycle analysis for the projects we plan often has a payback of less than five years. However, we lost a portion of our funding for the construction budget and our energy efficiency projects had to be scrapped. But when the Vice Chancellor saw our first utility bill, efficiency was moved from the back seat to a top priority for all future projects.”

They also added Energy Engineer Pete Bloomquist to the staff.  Bloomquist was able to focus entirely on the projects and be a strong operations presence on all design committees involved in planning new buildings.

There was another plus to having so many projects happening at once.

“They were able to bundle together their programs and qualify for bigger rebates from us,” says Xcel Energy account manager Mark Schwartz. “We conduct audits to identify costs, payback terms and energy savings. In one building project it turned out that they were able to bundle several programs together and get a $300,000 rebate.”

“We have been able to put the rebate money back into reserves for future energy projects,” says Turnquist. “That sustainability is important to us. If you can reduce the need and save money in the meantime, that makes good business sense.”

From there, the partnership grew until the campus had conducted more than a dozen energy saving measures. Each included a partnership with its utility. 

Xcel Energy Efficiency Programs used by UC’s Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus

2005 — Upgrade administration building, 483,000 sq. ft.
Program/upgrade — Recommissioning: A process of finding and solving mechanical system problems that makes facilities expensive to operate. A typical recommissioning project results in savings of 5 to 20 percent of total building energy costs, with many measures having simple paybacks of less than one year.

2005 — Central utility plant chiller Expansion #1
Program/upgrade — Added 4,000 tons of cooling to existing 2,400 ton chilled water plant. Cooling is the number two user of electricity in most commercial buildings. New equipment is typically 20 percent more efficient than equipment that is 15 years old or more. Custom Efficiency: Many energy-efficiency investments exceed standard options but aren’t covered under standard conservation programs. In this case it included high efficient chillers, premium efficient motors and  VFDs. (variable frequency drives)

2005 — School of Dental Medicine building, 95,000 sq. ft.
Program/upgrade — For new construction, this program involves an integrated approach to bring all disciplines to the table in the planning stages including architects, building owners, facilities managers, utilities, engineers, contractors and others. The goal is for each entity to apply its advice and expertise with increased knowledge of the building as a whole.

2005 — 2008 — 7 new buildings: office, research, education, library and parking structure, 1.8M sq. ft.
Program/Upgrade — Motor Efficiency: Energy bills, downtime, maintenance and labor costs an all be reduced with more efficient motors. It’s now standard practice at Anschutz Medical Campus to use only premium efficiency motors. The result is increased output quality, overall machine operating efficiency, and longer life. Lighting Efficiency –For most businesses, lighting is a main driver of energy bills, accounting for up to 44 percent of monthly energy bills.

2005 — Present
Program/upgrade — Replace magnetic ballast T12 fluorescent lighting in various buildings

2005 – Present
Program/upgrade — Occupancy sensors to turn lights on and off installed in various buildings

2007 — Education building, 115,000 sq. ft.
Program/Upgrade — Energy Design Assistance

2007 – Central utility plant chiller expansion #2, 80,000 sq. ft.
Program/Upgrade — Added 8,800 tons of cooling to existing 6,400 ton chilled water plant, utilizing high efficient chillers, premium efficient motors and variable frequency drives. Replaced high-bay metal halide lighting with energy efficient T8 fluorescent lighting

2008 — Present — Administration building
Program/Upgrade –Various remodels lighting retrofit, cooling efficiency, motor efficiency

2009
Program/Upgrade — Pharmacy school building Energy Design Assistance, 156,000 sq. ft.

MARKED IMPROVEMENT AND FUTURE PLANS

The results of the team’s efficiency measures speak for themselves. The combined efforts will save over 11 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year. They’re projecting a minimum of 25% energy reduction per square foot. And if those numbers aren’t enough, they’ve achieved a total of $532,521 in Xcel Energy rebates and expect another $350,000 after finishing two current projects.

In addition, all new buildings are now committed to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. They’re also tracking their carbon emissions now and have plans to further reduce their greenhouse gasses to become carbon neutral.

Their practices, policies and procedures are all linked to conservation. That includes teaching others how to be green through single stream recycling, education and training. “We want the students to graduate with this knowledge so they can take it with them and spread the word,” says Turnquist.

With conservation, efficiency and sustainability surrounding them, it’s hard to imagine graduates, faculty and staff won’t get the message. To learn more about saving energy and money in your business, visit www.xcelenergy.com/rebates. For more about University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus, visit www.ucdenver.edu