The Rozell Plant is responsible for heating and cooling all of the buildings on campus. This is a big undertaking because the plant takes a lot of work to maintain. The comfortable temperature in the buildings on campus is something that we don’t pay much attention to, but it’s essential to our experience at EWU. Engineers strive to keep the plant running efficiently and sustainably-minded.
The Rozell Plant is a central building that houses the boilers and coolers that maintain the temperatures in the buildings on campus. Boiler heat is very common for universities, hospitals, and other large facilities. Our boilers use natural gas to heat water and create steam. This steam is sent out to other buildings through pipes in large tunnels under campus (pictured above, right). Excess steam comes out of the smokestacks on the top of the Rozell Plant. Our buildings are cooled with large chillers that use electricity to cool water (pictured below, right). This cool water is also sent through pipes in the underground tunnels to cool buildings on campus.
Engineers must constantly monitor and maintain the machinery at the plant. It is easy to forget that something as simple as the temperature in our buildings requires difficult work 24/7. They make sure that the plant follows guidelines to monitor energy utilization.
The Rozell plant is mindful of energy consumption, and what equipment is being run during certain times of the year. During summer, more energy is consumed by the chillers, and less by the boilers. In winter, more energy is consumed by the boilers, and less by the chillers.
The Rozell plant is getting a lot of upgrades to improve energy consumption. Cooling was recently updated with new chillers that improve efficiency. Many of the electronics in the facility are also being updated to improve efficiency. As the main source of all the heating and cooling on campus, the efforts to improve efficiency at the Rozell Plant go a long way to improve our environmental impact.
The Rozell Plant has an open door policy, so if you would like to learn more about how heating and cooling on campus, or if you would like a tour of the facilities, contact Matt Deppa mdeppa@ewu.edu.