Daily Lobo

Regents vote to pull funding from energy unit installation
By: Pat Lohmann

The Board of Regents voted at its meeting Oct. 24 to redirect $6 million that would have paid for a second cogeneration unit, which would produce energy for campus.

David Harris, executive vice president of Business and Finance Administration, did not specify where the funds would go.

One cogeneration unit, which produces electricity and steam, already exists on campus. It produces as much as one-third of the campus' electricity and one-quarter of the campus' steam, which is used to heat water, said Larry Schuster, an engineer in the Physical Plant Department.

Schuster said a second cogeneration unit isn't a necessity at the moment but that it will be if the University continues to grow at its current rate.

Schuster said it could take anywhere from two to 10 years for the need for a second cogeneration unit to become critical.

Any energy needed on campus that is not produced by the cogeneration unit is purchased from PNM, he said.

Josh Faulconer, a senior majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Sustainability Studies, said the cogeneration unit is efficient in its use of waste.

"Cogeneration is definitely useful, because basically you're capturing the waste," he said. "Any waste, any heat that is created, can be reused."

Schuster said the unit's electricity production generates hot gases, which are later recycled.

"We take those hot gases and send them through a boiler and make steam," Schuster said, "and that steam is used on campus."

Steve Beffort, vice president for Institutional Support Services, said the regents will revisit the possibility of funding a second cogeneration unit at a meeting Thursday.

"For the regents' meeting on the 4th ... they're going to talk about one of the items listed as 'approval to reallocate 2007 UNM Bond proceeds,'" Beffort said. "Funding for the cogeneration unit is from bond proceeds, so I'm assuming that there will be some potential discussion."