Scott Turner
Photo courtesy of Daytona State Marketing Department
By building 530 on the Daytona State Campus, a cylinder is being constructed.
Though seemingly out of place, this cylinder will be the new chill water tank for a completely renovated air conditioning system. Steven Eckman, Director of the Facilities Planning Department, and Bret Nielsen, Senior Facilities Planner of the Facilities Planning Department, elaborated on the details of the renovations.
“Building 314 is our Essential Energy Plant and it produces chilled water for everything during the day. Progress Energy offers a different rate on electricity at night which is much less expensive. With this new tank, we can chill water at night then during the day we can provide for all the air conditioners on campus.” Nielsen explained.
The project, which has an approximate cost of $3 million, has several elements to it. The tank, which will hold 2.5 million gallons of water, will chill the water that the air conditioning system uses. To fully update the system, the piping will be redone and changes to the control sequence will be made to increase efficiency. All of these changes lead to a large reduction in utilities costs. According to Dr Eckman, “These new renovations will save the college approximately $200,000 each year in utility costs. In addition to annual savings, we’re also receiving a one million dollar rebate for constructing this new system.”
While the new system is the largest renovation on the main campus, the News-Journal Center is also having renovations done, getting a new scene shop and having the air conditioning redone to be more efficient. Daytona State’s Flagler Campus is also having expansions done, which are projected to be done in the summer.