Contacts: Jeff Zumwalt, (505) 277-1143 Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821

December 8, 2003 CEREMONY TO BE HELD TO DECOMMISSION OLD BOILERS AT UNM’S FORD UTILITIES CENTER The Utilities Division of the Physical Plant Department (PPD) at the University of New Mexico will host a ceremony to commemorate the decommissioning of the five old boilers Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the Ford Utilities Center, building 116. The “last fire” ceremony, which will begin at 10 a.m., will consist of short speeches from UNM officials, a final extinguishing of the boiler and light refreshments. “The term ‘last fire’ is used because when a new boiler is built, one of the milestones is the ‘first fire,’ when a boiler is lit for the first time,” said Jeff Zumwalt, associate director, PPD Utilities Division. Two new boilers, which were put into service in October, are currently undergoing commissioning. The boilers are each rated at 80,000 pounds per hour (pph) with an expected efficiency rate of 83.5 percent. The oldest boiler in the Ford Utilities Plant is boiler No. 1, which was commissioned in 1948 with a capacity of 45,000 pph and an approximate efficiency rate of 65 percent. Boiler No. 2 was also commissioned in 1948. Since then, three additional boilers have been commissioned over the years (1959, ’68 and ’75) due to the growth of the UNM campus. The five boilers provided all of the steam heating for UNM from 1948 to 1988. In 1988, a cogeneration plant was built and began supplementing the old boilers. Renovation of the Ford Utilities Center began in June 2002 and is expected to be completed in 2005. The renovated center will include approximately 15,000 square feet of new space to complement its current 22,391 sq. ft., which is also being replaced. In addition to the renovated facility and the new boilers, other renovations will include a new 4,000-ton, all-electric chilled water plant and various cogeneration system additions. UNM issued system revenue bonds in the amount of $52.7 million in April 2001 to fund renovation of the Ford Utilities Center, which is UNM’s central heating plant, to construct a new cooling plant, and fund other associated energy conservation projects. # # #

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The University of New Mexico
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