RMF Engineering's $26 Million Duke University Restoration Project Wins Nine Awards

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RMF Engineering

Feb 15, 2011, 09:30 ET

RMF Recognized for Sustainable Energy Innovation on Campus

BALTIMORE, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- RMF Engineering, a Baltimore-based full-service engineering firm with expertise in sustainable energy, has won multiple national awards following the completion of a $26 million restoration to transform Duke University's East Campus into a state-of-the-art, natural gas-fueled steam plant.

Prior to the renovation, Duke University originally ran on three coal-fired boiler plants to provide steam for campus heating, constructed in the 1920's. The East Campus Steam Plant was decommissioned in 1978, so for over 30 years the university relied on the West Campus Steam Plant for steam generation. Amidst increasing environmental concerns and a quickly growing green energy market, in 2007 campus president Richard Brodhead pledged to make the campus carbon neutral by 2024. As a result, the East Campus Steam Plant has been renewed to utilize natural gas in order to improve steam production sustainability and ultimately reduce Duke's carbon footprint.

"Renovating the plant with gas-fired boilers allows Duke to stop burning approximately 138 tons of coal per day," said Tim Griffin, RMF's North Carolina division manager. "With this conversion and a planned conversion at the West Campus Steam Plant, they can stop using coal entirely by the spring of 2011."

One facet of the rapid campus expansion involved reducing the university's carbon footprint while preserving the detailed brickwork and windows of the original historic steam plant buildings.

Sustainable features of the new East Campus plant include:

  • 15 new Miura gas-fired boilers, the largest implementation of this modular system in the country. Choosing these boilers increases overall plant turndown from 18:1 to 38:1, which allows Duke to be very flexible in choosing when and how to operate the plant. This boiler selection also allows for a five minute startup time, which saves fuel that is usually wasted with the typical 30 minute startup time of larger boilers.
  • The plant uses propane as a backup fuel, allowing Duke to choose to burn any of three fuels: gas, fuel oil, or propane, whereas most facilities are limited to just two fuels. Fuel flexibility allows Duke to select the most cost effective fuel under different market scenarios and provides reliable operation in the event of utility interruptions due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, which is critical since this facility supplies steam to Duke's hospital.
  • The renovation introduced a second plant into the existing campus distribution network. The plant was changed from a uni-steam-flow system to a bi-directional system, allowing both plants to operate at optimal capacity. Now, the East Plant can fully satisfy the load of the East Campus or it can back-feed the West Campus, which provides a high level of redundancy and flexibility to Duke's year-round operations. For instance, now Duke can shut-down either of its two plants completely in the summer for equipment maintenance and still without interrupting service to the university campus or medical center.

"This project was a huge step for Duke in becoming a fully sustainable, climate-neutral university," said Griffin. "People are interested in and attracted to organizations and institutions moving in that direction."

The Duke East Campus Steam Plant won the following awards in 2010:

Design Team

Engineer: RMF Engineering, Durham, NC

Architect: SmithGroup, Raleigh-Durham, NC

Construction: Balfour Beatty Construction of Dallas, TX

Mechanical Contractor: Boiler Masters, Greensboro, NC

About RMF

Founded in 1983, RMF Engineering provides planning, design, engineering, commissioning and facility assessment services globally to clients in the healthcare, higher education, laboratory/research and government sectors. The firm leads the industry in the development of new engineering production methods and technologies, including Building Information Modeling (BIM), carbon reduction strategies, and in-depth assessment technologies. A privately held company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, RMF has more than 200 employees in seven offices on the east coast, from Massachusetts to South Carolina.

About Duke University

Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world. www.duke.edu

SOURCE RMF Engineering

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