While campus construction remains a perennial inconvenience, University officials insist the orange cones, detours, dust and noise are all for a good cause.
"We're modernizing and expanding the capacity to meet the growing needs of the campus," said Jeff Eastman, chief executive officer of Lobo Energy, Inc.
Lobo Energy is an independent corporation established by the University to direct improvements in its use of energy with an emphasis on upgrading equipment and conserving energy.
Outside of building the Hibben Anthropology Center and renovating the Student Union Building, construction on main campus centers on utility upgrades.
Large holes west of Mitchell Hall and south of Scholes Hall are the final stages of the domestic water project, which upgraded the water tunnels that run throughout the campus.
The next major phase of utility upgrades involves laying pipes for chilled and steamed water that will run from the Chilled Water Plant on Las Lomas Road and Stanford Drive through main campus to the Student Union Building.
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The construction will begin at the end of this month.
"The project will be most noticeable because we are going to be digging a wide, deep trench and laying large pipes in that area," Eastman said.
The University also is working on renovation of the old Ford Utility Center, which was built in 1948 and produces all heating steam and a large portion of supplemental cooling for the main campus.
The upgrade will include new steam boilers and new electric chillers so that additional cogeneration of electricity and steam can be established. The renovation won't be completed until the end of 2004.
Most noticeable renovation is underway outdoors, but another major Lobo Energy project is improving lighting in nearly every building on north and main campus.
Workers are replacing all lighting installed in current buildings, which consists of removing old lamps and ballasts and replacing them with more energy efficient parts.
"We will see lighting efficiency gains of 30 percent, thereby lowering costs to the University," Eastman said.
Another energy conservation project involves removing chilled water pumps and motors, implementing a new system that doesn't use motors and, in turn, electricity.
In its place, direct digital controls for heating and cooling systems are being installed to regulate heating and cooling according to when a building is in use.
The more efficient temperature control also saves money.
"When all those projects are done, reducing the quantity of energy consumed, we'll have more control of how much and when energy is used," Eastman said.
While all the upgrades to energy efficient materials save the University a substantial amount of money, Eastman said it also will benefit the campus in other ways.
"The academic and administrative community will see improved lighting, with Zimmerman Library as an example of one place we have done our lighting upgrade," Eastman said. "Second, we'll have comfortable temperature conditions, with buildings cool in the summertime when we need cooling the most and well heated in the winter when it's needed. The heating and cooling also will be better distributed."
Replacing the antiquated system also ensures greater reliability and would substantially reduce the chance of major power outages that have affected the campus at inopportune times in the past, such as when the library lost power near finals week.
While the pockets of construction throughout campus can be difficult to work around, Eastman said they are essential.
"Without doing this work, the campus wouldn't be able to meet a 20-year master plan to grow significantly in health sciences, academics and research," he said. "We are not at capacity to serve the existing community and will use the efficiency gains, which results in lower energy costs, to pay for the upgrades."
