Sen. Joe Nguyễn, Reps. Joe Fitzgibbon and Lisa Callan, and House Capital Budget Committee and House Democratic Caucus staff took a behind-the-scenes tour of the UW Power Plant last week. The tour showcases the Seattle campus’ existing energy infrastructure and unveils the University’s innovative clean energy transformation strategy.
The UW is committed to fully decarbonizing the energy system of the Seattle campus with the Power Plant being the main driver of our efforts. The Power Plant has served the campus for well over 100 years, but its aging infrastructure needs to be modernized to meet daily campus operations and its reliance on fossil fuels no longer aligns with the University’s sustainability goals. To move the campus to 100% clean energy, the UW has crafted a five-part strategy that relies on energy efficiency, transforms heating and cooling, and includes innovative opportunities such as sewer heat recovery, deep lake cooling and heating, and thermal energy storage. During the 2023 legislative session, the University requested and received $3 million in operating funds to fully develop our clean energy transformation strategy and to plan for implementation. This work is currently underway.
In the meantime, the UW has identified six projects to request Climate Commitment Account dollars for during the upcoming 2024 session that support foundational energy renewal and decarbonization efforts across all three campuses and UW Medical Center facilities. These strategic investments include: UW Seattle centralized chilled water capacity improvements, Clean Energy Institute tenant improvements and research-related needs, UW Bothell Central Plant improvements and gas boiler replacements, UW Tacoma gas boiler replacement, UWMC NW Campus Central Utility Plant planning, and UWMC Montlake Campus HVAC systems renewal.
For more information about the University’s energy strategy, visit UW sustainability.
Thank you, Sen. Nguyễn, Reps. Fitzgibbon and Callan, and House staff for touring the UW Power Plan and supporting the University’s decarbonization efforts.
