DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, enrolls almost 2,000 students on a 655-acre campus. The university had specific goals related to its energy infrastructure: replace aging assets, reduce the environmental footprint, lower energy bills by at least 25%, and improve operational performance. To achieve these goals, Ecosystem’s first step was to develop a campus energy management plan.
The plan provided DePauw an opportunity to define a long-term energy strategy that would also accommodate campus growth over time. It included proposals to address the maintenance deficit, as well as an analysis of the life-cycle costs associated with the energy assets.
The university then embarked with Ecosystem on an integrated design-build project with performance guarantees, aligned with the plan. At the heart of this project was a major overhaul of the heating and cooling networks, requiring the replacement of almost four miles of buried piping and a steam to hot water conversion of the thermal plant.
The project provided for significant asset renewal and reduced operating costs, water consumption, and GHG emissions. Its deployment has also laid the groundwork for initiatives that will contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.
Campus-wide heating and cooling network upgrade
Centralized cooling plant
Controls optimization
Steam to hot water conversion
LED lighting upgrade
