New Cooling Towers Deliver Improvements

Work is nearly complete on the Energy Center’s new cooling tower atop Forbes Garage.

Not unlike automotive radiators, the cooling tower will transfer the heat produced by the campus’ chillers, used to produce air conditioning as well as heat from the auxiliary systems of the Energy Center. As the key factor in Duquesne’s energy-efficient operations, the Energy Center provides most of Duquesne’s heating, cooling and electrical power.

Plans call for the current Energy Center cooling tower, adjacent to Gumberg Library, to be decommissioned and the new facility to be online by mid-October, according to Energy Center Manager Mark Johnson of facilities management. As early as November 2014, Johnson said, work could begin on removing the old cooling tower, which is nearing the end of its service life.

In addition to the age of the structures, Johnson pointed out that the current cooling tower location provides no room for expansion, and the campus has grown dramatically since the Energy Center was constructed in 1997. Also, the old cooling tower is factory-built, then installed in its current location, while the new tower is field-erected, designed for the space it occupies. This means that no significant compromises impinging efficiency or appearance are required.

The windowless beige exterior of the new cooling tower, which is difficult to detect from Forbes Avenue, houses a bank of four enormous radiators, with their fans aimed skyward. The facility’s greater capacity will allow the Energy Center to heat and cool a larger share of campus, starting next spring. With room for a fifth radiator, along with its related supply and return pipes, the Forbes Garage cooling tower was designed to accommodate growth, should new buildings be erected on campus and increase the demand for cooling.

Starting in April 2014, workers began adding steel girders from the top level of the garage to the building’s foundation. This buttressing bears the additional weight of the cooling machinery and its attendant network of large diameter pipes, which every hour will deliver a minimum of 50,000 gallons of water to the tower. Beams and braces went in place so they are nearly undetectable—and not a single parking space in Forbes Garage was lost.

The new facility will produce efficiencies while the loss of the old tower will result in other improvements. Once the tower is torn down, its whirring fans will no longer be heard in areas that are among the busiest on campus. Pedestrians also will have an unrestricted view to the north from street level in front of the Duquesne Union.