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The Central Plant
With average summer temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, Merced is a place that relies heavily on air conditioning. To minimize its impact on the city's infrastructure (there are no significant power plants to be spoken of in the area), UC Merced built its own energy efficient power plant.
"The Central Plant, which is usually not the most exciting building on most campuses, is a key component of a sustainable campus and is a visual manifestation of UC Merced's commitment to sustainability," said SOM Managing Director Carrie Byles.
To reduce the University's carbon footprint and cut energy costs, SOM collaborated with ARUP and the California Institute for Energy Efficiency to design a central plant complex that would meet and exceed the University of California's goal that UC Merced be 20% more energy efficient than any other existing UC campus.
The Central Plant, a 41,000-sf complex including a thermal energy storage tank and telecommunications hub, is able to save energy by drawing energy from the grid at night, when the demand for electricity is lower and the prices are cheaper. It uses this energy to chill water—two million gallons in total—stored in the thermal energy storage tank. The water is distributed to the buildings during the day when air conditioning is necessary.
Since the campus opened in 2005, the Central Plant, in combination with other energy efficient buildings on campus, has provided 30-50% energy savings per year. Furthermore, because the University is able to buy power when it is cheaper, the Central Plant has saved the campus up to 75% in energy costs, according to Tom Lollini, Associate Vice Chancellor of Design and Construction at UC Merced. These savings, along with other sustainable design elements, have earned the plant LEED® Gold certification.
For SOM, designing a sustainable central plant was not only about the engineering, the clever use of forms, "green" materials, and construction—it was about facilitating a sustainable academic discourse around climate change. To this end, SOM made the interior processes of the plant visible, so it could function as a pedagogical tool.
"A glass channel wraps around the building, allowing views into the plant while also acting as a light shelf," Byles explained. "By bouncing daylight deep inside, we reduced the amount of energy needed to light the building."
The building is clad in a thin veil of perforated metal that masks the opaque areas of the building and lets light and views into areas where the program allows. "The metal continues the theme of lightness and transparency," said Craig Hartman, Design Partner at SOM, "and is a reference to agrarian buildings in the Central Valley."
To date, the Central Plant has been honored with three awards from the American Institute of Architects.
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