District Energy Plant IV, a water plant that will break ground Feb. 1 on the northeast side of campus, will produce both chilled and hot water to cool and dehumidify buildings on campus, including the under-construction Research 1 Building, formerly called the Interdisciplinary Research and Incubator building. The plant鈥檚 energy-efficient materials combined with its overall life-cycle cost is estimated to save the university $121,000 annually in operation costs and resources.

鈥淭his project has been developed over three years and in many phases to ensure we meet our current and future energy demands in the most efficient way possible,鈥� said Curtis Wade, director of 麻豆原创 Utilities & Energy Services. 鈥淥ur goal always is to ensure that energy at 麻豆原创 remains as affordable and reliable as possible.鈥�

Historical data of campus cooling and other energy demands were used by Utilities & Energy Services and Facilities Planning and Construction to design this project.

District Energy Plant IV will have the capacity to produce 8,000 tons of chilled water, but only 4,000 tons will be put in place in the first phase. One thousand tons of chilled water will be used by the Research 1 Building alone, and the remaining 3,000 tons will be added to the existing underground infrastructure that serves nearly 75 percent of main-campus buildings. Research 1 Building is a 100,000-square-foot, three-story building that will have a mix of research labs, conference rooms and offices when it opens later this year. At maximum capacity, District Energy Plant IV can support six additional buildings the size of the Research 1 Building.

The $14 million District Energy Plant IV project also is designed to serve as an educational tool for students. Interior pipes will be color coded, rather than just a 鈥渟ea of pipes,鈥� to better show the various water circuits involved in the plant鈥檚 operation, Wade said. Plus, an electric dashboard will display in real time the plant鈥檚 metrics, including efficiency, energy usage and dollar per ton being saved, to name a few. Plant tours will provide educational opportunities outside of the classroom for engineering disciplines.

鈥淭he campus grounds and the building itself can be used as a teaching tool, where we can blend academics with operations,鈥� said Wade, who added that LEED certification, a high-performance green building rating system, will be pursued for the new plant. If granted, this will be 麻豆原创鈥檚 first industrial LEED certified facility on campus.

RLF Architects is the architect and engineer of record for the project, Exp is the third-party commissioning agent and LEED consultant, and Charles Perry Partners Inc. is the construction manager. 聽The plant is expected to be complete in November.

The work is meant to meet the university community鈥檚 needs, from more parking to new research labs to another place to grab a cup of coffee. Here鈥檚 a sampling of what鈥檚 in progress, what鈥檚 on the horizon and what鈥檚 been completed.

Pollo Tropical and Caf茅 Bustello

Students and administrators saw a need for additional food service options on the south side of campus, particularly since the Neptune housing community opened in 2013, adding 650 residents to the 1,640 in the Nike and Hercules complexes.

Construction of a new eatery began recently next to the Recreation and Wellness Center along Gemini Boulevard near the leisure pool. The 3,200-square-foot building will house a Pollo Tropical restaurant as well as another Caf茅 Bustello location.

The building is targeted for LEED Silver certification, a measure of the sustainable features in its construction and operation. Construction is targeted for completion around the end of January. None of the funding for the project came from tuition or tax dollars.

Knights Plaza

Knights Plaza, the popular gathering spot in front of CFE Arena, is getting a complete makeover. The centerpiece will be a large Pegasus seal fashioned from black granite tiles. Even more dramatic: The two tall spires along Gemini Boulevard are being retrofitted to add a flame bowl at the top, and they鈥檒l be capable of emitting four- to 10-foot flames fed by natural gas during special events.

The Pegasus seal will be flanked on three sides by planters with palm trees. In addition to the palms, six of those planters will also contain fountains. The west side of the plaza that featured seating areas and shade tarps will be refreshed with new furnishings. The east side near the box office is getting a larger landscape area with crepe myrtles and other shrubbery. It will also have additional seating areas.

Construction started around Memorial Day and is scheduled for completion by the end of August, around the start of the fall semester and football season.聽None of the funding for the project came from tuition or tax dollars.

Garage C

Workers have almost finished expanding Garage C on the east side of campus. Late last year, crews began building an addition connected to the existed garage structure.

Like the original garage, the addition has four levels. The expansion adds another 604 spaces to the existing 1,290 spaces. Work is expected to be completed in August.

Interdisciplinary Research and Incubator

Construction is well underway on this building near Engineering II. It includes more than two dozen labs 鈥� most of them wet labs 鈥� that will enable additional research. In addition to the labs, the building will have meeting space, conference rooms and offices.

It鈥檚 called 鈥渋nterdisciplinary鈥� because researchers from various 麻豆原创 colleges and centers are expected to use it, such as physics, chemistry, biology, materials characterization, optics and photonics, nanoscience and more. By bringing them together, university officials expect the facility will spark collaboration.

Work on the first phase is expected to be completed in mid-2017.

College of Optics & Photonics

The College of Optics & Photonics has grown in stature, students and faculty 鈥� and has also outgrown its building. It鈥檚 already been expanded once, with a three-story addition built onto the original two-story structure.

Plans are in the works to add another addition, also three stories, to the east side of the building. The project would give an extra 13,900 square feet of space to the existing 103,532 square feet. The project brings additional labs and offices, as well as the shell of an auditorium that will be completed later.

The project is now in the design phase. Construction is expected to take 14 months and be finished in early 2018.

Libra Drive

Improvements to Libra Drive, the only way to access the 麻豆原创 campus from the south, are finished. The project has made the drive easier for students who live in the Nike, Hercules and Neptune housing communities, as well as those entering or leaving campus to the south.

The project widened the road from two to four lanes on the mile-long stretch between Research Parkway and Gemini Boulevard near the water tower. It also added turn lanes at the intersection with Gemini, and elevated low areas to eliminate occasional flooding.

The 麻豆原创 Facilities & Safety staff will conduct the session from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 246 of the Health & Public Affairs聽I building, 12805 Pegasus Drive. Free parking for visitors will be allowed in Parking Garage D.

A giant Mitsubishi engine measuring 30 feet long by 10 feet wide will generate power for 麻豆原创’s main campus from a natural gas line. Just like a car, power is generated when the engine burns the gas.

The engine will be housed in a 5,000-square-foot plant at the corner of Gemini Circle and Libra drive, across from the water tower. The facility will be located next to the main utility plant.

麻豆原创 broke ground on the $9 million plant last week, and is scheduled to be completed in December. The university projects the plant will generate about $2.5 million in savings per year.

The energy produced from natural gas will reduce 麻豆原创’s environmental impact by 30 percent. This means that the electricity produced by the new plant will be one-third cleaner than the equivalent energy purchased from the university’s current energy supplier.

麻豆原创’s plant will go a step further in reducing energy waste. The plant is designed to capture rejected heat from the engine and use it to fuel a chiller. Known as an “absorption chiller,” it will produce 1,000 tons of chilled water to supplement the campus underground cooling system.

“We’re doing this because natural gas is clean, abundant and cheap,” said David Norvell, 麻豆原创’s director of Sustainability and Energy Management. “That’s why energy companies across the country are investing billions in natural gas.”

麻豆原创 is the only university in Florida to invest in natural gas by building its own plant.

To connect into the natural gas source, pipes will be pushed into place underground, eliminating the need for Gemini Circle traffic to be disrupted during the plant’s construction phase.

The plant will feature an advanced system that will continuously monitor emissions, and will be designed to reduce emissions beyond current federal and state mandates.

Safety measures are a top priority. Norvell emphasized that 麻豆原创’s commercial-grade natural gas system will be more complex than a residential gas line. The system will be monitored 24-7 and features sophisticated detectors that constantly check for leaks.

麻豆原创 will hire a full-time coordinator to oversee the plant’s operation.