Energy & Utilities

If you have questions or concerns about energy issues on campus
please contact Terry Ledford at 974-2415 or email: energyinfo@utk.edu

Water is taken from the Tennessee River , processed and delivered to the UTK Campus by the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB).  Open our Water Cycle presentation to see the complete trip water takes from the river to your faucet, and back again.

Water uses on the UTK Campus include:

• Drinking
• Cleaning
• Cooling
• Cooking
• Showers & Lavatories/Sinks
• Landscape Watering
• Other Domestic Uses

Most of the water used on the UTK Campus is returned to KUB via the sanitary sewer system and is properly treated before being returned to the river.

Between July 2004, and June 2005 the UTK Campus consumed approximately 76 million cubic feet (10.2 million gallons) of water at a total cost of about $2.77 million for water and sewer.  It should be noted that due to increases, sewer costs increased by 50% in the Spring of 2005, and are scheduled to increase by an additional 50% in January, 2007.

Water saving initiatives on the UTK Campus:

• Low water usage plumbing fixtures.  All new fixtures installed are of water saving design.  
• Toilets use only 1.6 gallons per flush, in lieu of older units that used in excess of 2.5 gallons per flush. 
• Urinals use only 1.0 gallons per flush in lieu of older designs that used over 1.5 gallons per flush.
• New faucets use aerators that decrease the volume of water needed.
• Residence Halls has installed low flow shower heads in dormitories that reduce flow by about 25%.
• We are also in the process of replacing existing higher flow fixtures with low flow in buildings such as Humanities.
• A recent conversion done at the Facilities Services Building has shown about a 20% reduction in water use for the complex.
• In cooling uses, we are looking at different processes for cooling tower water treatment that will reduce the amount of water that has to be blown down to maintain proper conditions for cooling systems.

Water cooling equipment in laboratories in Science/ Engineering , Dabney, Buehler, and Plant Sciences Biotech is accomplished by recirculating systems that eliminate the need for once through water that is sent to the sanitary system.

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Electricity

Electricity used on the UTK Campus is purchased from the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), who in turn is purchasing the electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).  Open our Electricity Cycle presentation (coming soon) to see where our power comes from and where it goes.

Electricity is used on the UTK Campus for:

• Lighting – indoor and outdoor
• Air Conditioning
• Ventilation
• Heating
• Cooking
• Refrigeration
• Office Equipment and Computers
• Instructional Equipment in Classrooms
• Television
• Radio

Between July 2004, and June 2005 the UTK Campus consumed approximately 246 million kilowatt-hours of electricity at a cost of about $13 million.

The UTK Campus also purchases 3,375 blocks of green power from KUB/TVA.  This amounts to about 506,250 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month that is purchased from clean energy sources such as wind and solar power.  This has enabled the University to become an EPA Green Power Partner.

Electricity saving initiatives on the UTK Campus:

• New buildings are equipped with energy efficient lighting and lighting control systems that turn lighting off when not in use.
• When Facilities Services renovates areas, energy efficient lighting and motors are used.
• The UTK Campus used to have chilled water air conditioning systems that were dedicated to only individual buildings.  As equipment is being replaced, regional chilled water plants are being built.  Each regional plant provides chilled water for air conditioning for multiple buildings.  This allows cooling systems to operate at more efficient operating conditions, and also provides for better service as each building is served by a plant that has reserve capacity should equipment fail.  The new cooling equipment is also 40% to 50% more efficient than equipment that was replaced.
• Exit lights across campus have been retrofitted with LED illumination to replace old incandescent fixtures.  The LED fixtures give the same, or more, light for about 10% of the energy of the previous fixtures.  In addition, the LED lamps last over ten times longer than incandescent.
   

 

• Where possible, air conditioning and heating systems are turned off during unoccupied hours.

In the Summer of 2005, the Board of Trustees approved an increase in the student facilities fee that will provide about $400,000 per year for environmental initiatives on the UTK campus.  $144,000 of this funding is dedicated to the purchase of green power.  The remaining funds will be dedicated to environmental and energy saving projects such as lighting retrofits, heating controls, low flow plumbing fixtures, and hybrid vehicle purchases.

Even though UTK is making strides in conservation of electricity, we have a long way to go, and may never see an actual reduction in our overall usage.  As we continue to strive to reduce, new additional buildings and equipment are being continually added to the campus.  As these are added, overall usage does increase, but we will strive to do as much as we can with each watt-hour used.

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Natural Gas

Natural Gas used on the UTK Campus is purchased from the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), who in turn is purchasing the gas from various market sources.  Open our Natural Gas Cycle presentation (coming soon) to see where it comes from and where it goes.

Natural gas is used on the UTK Campus for:

• Laboratory experiments
• Steam
• Heating
• Electricity Production (when economically feasible)

Between July 2004, and June 2005 the UTK Campus consumed approximately 1.7 million therms of natural gas at a cost of about $1.6 million.

Natural gas saving initiatives on the UTK Campus:

• At the present time, the largest use of natural gas on the UTK Campus is at the Steam Plant for the production of steam.  With current economics, the cost to produce steam with natural gas is more than twice the cost to produce the steam with coal.  However, natural gas is still used to take up gaps in our steam production capacity to maintain the coal fired boilers at a load that allows pollution control equipment to run more efficiently.  In other words, more expensive natural gas is being used to minimize emissions from coal.
• Initiatives that reduce the uses of hot water on campus also reduce the use of natural gas that is heating the steam that is heating the water.

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Coal

Coal for the UTK campus comes from southern Kentucky .  The University contracts for coal every five years via sealed bid through the UTK Purchasing Department.  Open our Coal Cycle presentation to see where it comes from and where it goes.

Coal is burned at the Steam Plant exclusively for the production of steam. 

Between July 2004, and June 2005, the UTK Campus consumed approximately 36,688 tons of coal at a total cost of $2.5 million.  The previous year saw a usage of 26,624 tons at a cost of $1.3 million.  The increase was due to the fact that we were able to reduce our usage of natural gas due to a shorter summer outage on coal related equipment.

All of the components of coal will not burn.  The carbon in the coal burns off and gives the heat for making steam.  About 10% of the coal is ash and has to be dealt with in one of three ways.

There are three major ash by-products of coal:

Bottom ash – as the coal burns on the stoker, most of the ash stays on the grates and falls into the ash hopper under the boiler.  This ash is conveyed by air into a silo for loading into trucks for disposal.  The ash is currently removed by our waste contractor and delivered to a landfill.

Flyash – The ash that does not stay on the grates is carried out of the boiler by the combustion air (flue gas).  About 80% of this ash is forced out of the flue gas by centrifugal force as it passes through the dust collectors.  This ash falls into a hopper and is reinjected onto the stoker to burn as much of the residual carbon as is possible.  The remaining flyash (20%) then goes through the electrostatic precipitator where 96% of the remaining ash is removed.  This flyash falls into a hopper and is also trucked to a landfill.

We are currently looking for ways to recycle both bottom and fly ash.

Emissions – any remaining ash goes to the atmosphere as it exits the 300 foot tall stack.

In addition to the ash (particulate) by-products, other gaseous by products of combustion from coal are sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, hydrogen chloride, mercury, hydrogen fluoride, and volatile organic compounds.  Although controls for these emissions are not currently required by the EPA, we do calculate these emissions and annual fees are based on these emissions in addition to particulate emissions.  We also have upper limits for these emissions based on the calculations.

In September, 2004, the EPA published a new rule, commonly called Boiler MACT, that will require the University to install controls for mercury.  This project will entail removing the electrostatic precipitator and dust collectors and installing a dry scrubber (baghouse).  This upgrade must be completed by September, 2007.

Coal saving initiatives on the UTK Campus:

• Reducing use of steam by reducing use of domestic hot water by use of low water flow faucets and shower heads.
• Reducing use of steam by shutting comfort heating equipment off when not in use.
• Reducing the steam distribution pressure to the campus.

These reductions in steam use result in less fuel use at the Steam Plant which not only reduce costs, but reduce emissions to the environment.

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Steam

Most of the steam for the UTK Campus is produced at the Steam Plant and is distributed to the campus through a large system of underground piping.  Both natural gas and coal are used for steam production at the Steam Plant.  There are other outlying locations on campus where steam is produced from natural gas for use in individual buildings.  Open our Steam Cycle presentation (coming soon) to see how it is produced and used.

Steam uses on the UTK Campus include:

• Comfort Heating
• Domestic Water Heating
• Sterilization
• Humidification

Between July 2004, and June 2005, the UTK Campus consumed approximately 700 million pounds of steam.

Steam saving initiatives on the UTK Campus:

• Reducing use of steam by reducing use of domestic hot water by use of low water flow faucets and shower heads.
• Reducing use of steam by shutting comfort heating equipment off when not in use.
• Reducing the steam distribution pressure to the campus.

These reductions in steam use result in less fuel use at the Steam Plant which not only reduce costs, but reduce emissions to the environment.

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Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Systems

The energy for all of the air conditioning and refrigeration on the UTK campus comes from electricity and is accomplished by several different types of systems:

• Window Air Conditioners
• Packaged Through-the-Wall Systems
• Packaged Rooftop Systems
• Split Systems
• Computer Room Systems
• Chilled Water Systems

The simplest system is the window air conditioner.  The most complex is the chilled water system.

In all of these systems, the heat from interior spaces is absorbed by a refrigerant or by cold water, and the heat is ultimately rejected to ambient outside air.  Open our Air Conditioning Cycle presentation (coming soon) to see how this is accomplished.

Air conditioning is used for cooling various spaces such as:

• Classrooms
• Offices
• Laboratories
• Assembly Areas (such as auditoriums and sports facilities)
• Computer Machine Rooms

Refrigeration is used for spaces such as:

• Walk-in or Reach-in Refrigerators
• Walk-in or Reach-in Freezers
• Environmental Chambers

In essence these two systems operate under the same principles, with the main difference being the temperatures involved.

The UTK Campus has approximately 30,000 tons of air conditioning capacity.  Of this, about 23,000 is from chilled water systems with individual chiller capacities of from 10 to 1,000 tons.

The UTK Campus is taking several measures to reduce energy consumption from air conditioning systems:

• Turning comfort systems off during unoccupied times
• Use of energy efficient motors on fans and pumps
• Use of chilled water systems versus window units or split systems whenever possible
• Use of variable speed drive technology where possible on fans and pumps
• Use of economizer systems that use outside air for cooling when there is less energy in the outside air versus the indoor air
• Use of energy recovery systems that take the energy from the air being exhausted and transfer it to outside air entering the building
• The UTK Campus used to have chilled water air conditioning systems that were dedicated to only individual buildings.  As equipment is being replaced, regional chilled water plants are being built.  Each regional plant provides chilled water for air conditioning for multiple buildings.  This allows cooling systems to operate at more efficient operating conditions, and also provides for better service as each building is served by a plant that has reserve capacity should equipment fail.  The new cooling equipment is also 40% to 50% more efficient than equipment that was replaced

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