Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler or
Cristina Arana,
(818) 677-2130
cchandler@exec.csun.edu or carana@exec.csun.edu

CSUN Celebrates Opening of Energy-Saving Facility

The new plant, which uses hot and chilled water supplies to control the temperatures of campus buildings, replaces a 39-year-old system that relied on leaky steam lines for heating and individual chiller units for cooling. University officials project that the new system will eventually save CSUN $700,000 annually.

"This will be the most modern and efficient utility plant in the country," said Arthur Elbert, vice president for administration and finance at Cal State Northridge. "It takes advantage of all modern technology and equipment that's available on the market, and provides much better heating and cooling for classrooms and labs."

Department of Water and Power officials were on hand to laud the new facility's opening.

Before a crowd of about 150 people, Bonita Lahey, DWP assistant general manager, presented CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson with a $2.15 million check, a grant to help defray the costs of the project's construction.

"DWP is dedicated to seeing that its customers pay the least amount of their bills as they can, and with that in mind, we have grants available to help them construct facilities that will do that," Lahey said.

Wilson said the grant money was welcomed, and served as a reminder of the university's efforts to conserve energy. She promised that CSUN would continue to do everything it can in that mode.

Construction on the new central plant began in the summer of 1996. University officials took advantage of ongoing reconstruction from the 1994 Northridge earthquake to start the project so it would not cause additional interference with classes.

The new plant includes approximately 11 miles of underground piping and 2.8 miles of hot and chilled water pipe trenching necessary to connect the buildings on campus as well as a new communications conduit and an expanded fire water system.

Under the new, more efficient system, large fans in buildings will use the hot and chilled water supplies to control indoor temperatures.