Jul 17, 2008 3:41 pm US/Eastern
Duquesne U. Unveils Eco-Friendly Cooling System
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Another Pittsburgh institution is going green and doing its part to help the environment.
Duquesne University unveiled a new cooling system for campus buildings today that they say is about as earth-friendly as you can get.
Officials say it uses 26 giant water tanks that make ice during the night, so that by day it will help to air condition campus buildings.
"It freezes these big tanks solid and then in the daytime it's melting that ice and pumping it out to campus," said Steve Alauzen, of Trane Corporation.
The University said they decided to build the new facility after realizing that the current campus cooling capacity was not enough to handle the needs of the new Powers Center on Forbes Avenue and that the A.J. Palumbo Center needed a new cooling system too.
The ice-tank cooling system complements Duquesne's already earth-friendly heating system, which uses natural gas co-generation. As well as the school's practice of buying electricity only from companies that use renewable resources.
"We're showing that we have a sense of stewardship here at Duquesne that we're watching out for future generations," said George Fecik, the facilities director.
"We're going to be under extreme pressure in the next generation to conserve energy and we want to set an example for young people not only in our education but also in the way we care for our own environment," said Duquesne President Charles Dougherty.
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