Concordia College

Heating and Cooling

When Berg Steam Plant was expanded recently, in conjunction with the new Knutson Campus Center construction, the college took several steps to improve heating and cooling efficiency. The plant heats and cools several buildings on campus, including Ylvisaker Library, Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre, Hvidsten Hall of Music and more.
 
The college replaced the plant’s air-cooled air conditioning units with more efficient water-cooled units. Thanks to technology advances since the first units were purchased, the new units provide the same amount of cooling while using about half of the energy, says Ansel Hakanson, director of campus facilities planning.
 
“Now we are going to be able to add the Knutson Campus Center to the load (nearly four times the size of the original Knutson Center) without realistically seeing an increase in our electrical consumption,” he says.
 
Concordia also added a new low-pressure boiler, which will extend the length of which the college can run its more energy efficient low-pressure boilers in the fall and spring. During the winter, the college uses its high-pressure boilers to heat the buildings. The low-pressure boilers lose less heat and do not require 24-hour monitoring, freeing up Berg Steam Plant employees to do more proactive and preventative maintenance work.