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Private Tennessee-Based University Cuts Energy Costs 40% with Chilled Water Plant Optimization"
Author: Eddie Roger
Published In: Facilities Manager
Date: March/April 2021

Laboratories, on average, use far more energy and water per square foot than office buildings and other facilities because their activities are energy-intensive and their health and safety requirements are more stringent. Labs can account for up to two-thirds of a large campus’s energy consumption, using up to five times more energy than other campus buildings due to the multitude of ventilation and fume hoods, electrically operated fans, specialized lab equipment, and large quantities of process-chilled water.

As such a large energy consumer, the university’s facilities and operations teams are constantly searching for ways to improve efficiency and cut energy usage, and recently focused their efforts on the expansion of a medical research building. The expansion project included 260,000 sq. ft. of new research and the renovation of a previously existing 85,000-sq.-ft. laboratory. This case study focuses on the energy team’s approach with the building’s cooling system, and identifying and analyzing costly inefficiencies.

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