Case Studies
The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)
The Challenge
The University of Nevada Las Vegas had a problem common to schools with quickly growing enrollments: maintenance budgets lag well behind the construction of new facilities. The University had a difficult time funding urgently needed replacements of cooling equipment, upgrades in controls, and saving energy by improving lighting systems to the latest technology.
Our Solution
This project replaced four centrifugal chillers with new, higher efficiency units with “green” refrigerants. This project necessitated wall demolition and crane work to lift units up to one seventh floor equipment room. Electronic variable speed drives were installed on several air handler systems, and several constant volume air systems were modified to variable air volume. Controls and condenser systems to use tower free cooling were installed and upgraded interfacing with the existing campus Direct Digital Control System, and several buildings controls were connected back to the central system. Several chiller pumps were upgraded and replaced. Thirteen buildings upgraded lighting systems to T8 technology and compact fluorescent replacements for incandescent lamps. Exit signs were upgraded to light emitting diode technology.
Impact
A high point of this project was the lighting retrofit of the indoor arboretum at the White Life Sciences Building. Originally designed to replace existing fluorescent lights with new T8 units, Ameresco worked with the facilities maintenance group and the building occupants to redesign the lighting system on the fly. The final system used a new system of T5 fluorescent lamps, with light output in the Kelvin range appropriate to either ground plants or trees. Also, the lights could be maintained for the first time.
