News
Memorial University completes facility renewal program, signs sustainability declaration

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland – Memorial University and Honeywell announced earlier this week the completion of a $13.2-million facility renewal program. Through energy-efficient building improvements and infrastructure upgrades, the program will help the university address deferred maintenance and save approximately $1.5 million in utility costs per year.

Those savings are accompanied by a substantial drop in the university’s energy consumption. For example, the program is expected to reduce annual electricity and heating oil use by more than 22.9 million equivalent kilowatt-hours, enough energy to power approximately 2,300 homes per year. In addition, it will cut carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 15 percent or 7,300 tonnes per year. According to Environment Canada, this is equivalent to removing 1,150 cars from the road.

The environmental impact has given momentum to broader eco-focused initiatives within the university, including a recently signed “Sustainability Declaration” that outlines its sustainability goals and long-term commitment to environmental stewardship. The declaration will help with the integration of sustainable policies and systems into university governance and operations, and encourage academic curriculum, research and outreach on sustainability.

The university also created a “Sustainability Day” to help foster a better understanding of energy conservation across the university and surrounding community.

“Working with Honeywell has helped put us on the path to becoming a greener and more sustainable institution,” said Dr. Christopher W. Loomis, President and Vice-Chancellor, Pro Tempore of Memorial University. “The work has had an immediate effect in reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. It has also had a positive impact on university culture and was instrumental in the creation of our Sustainability Declaration, which will help guide us well into the future.”

Memorial University is financing the facility renewal program from the energy and operational savings the improvements will generate. Honeywell guarantees those savings — projected to be approximately $1.5 million per year over the next 14 years — under a performance contract with the university. This ensures the program will be self-funded and will not place a burden on the university’s budgets.

The program focused on the central heating and cooling plant, and seven buildings on the university’s 250-acre campus. Specifically, Honeywell installed new high efficiency controls and burners on three boilers in the central plant, which will allow the facilities staff to respond to load changes caused by weather or equipment malfunctions more efficiently.

The university also installed Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI) — a facility management platform that helps lower energy and operating costs — for the seven other buildings. The installation includes an enhanced metering solution to accurately track where energy is being consumed on campus, making easier for the university to evaluate conservation strategies and identify additional efficiency measures.

As part of the program, Honeywell has completed a number of additional upgrades:

• Lighting Retrofits – fixtures upgraded to high efficient fluorescent lamps and electronic ballasts with infrared motion sensors for better control of lighting.
• Building Envelope – windows, doors and exterior gaps sealed to reduce drafts and minimize heat and cooling losses.
• Chiller Replacements – chiller dating back to the 1980s replaced with high efficiency models that use a non-ozone depleting refrigerant.
• Fume Hood Retrofit – fume hoods in the Chemistry/Physics Building modified to improve the removal of noxious gases, and recover and recycle usable heat.

“We are honoured to work with Memorial University in its commitment to promote an environmentally friendly environment while sustaining its investments in quality education,” said Luis Rodrigues, Vice President of Energy Solutions for Honeywell Building Solutions. “The strategic conservation measures Memorial has chosen will help to significantly reduce energy use and further the university’s energy efficiency goals.”

Memorial University of Newfoundland is the only university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the largest university in Atlantic Canada. 

For more information about Honeywell Building Solutions, visit www.honeywell.com/buildingsolutions.

October 8, 2009  By Newswire