by Ann Withanee — April 15, 2011—Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that the 6.5-megawatt cogeneration facility it designed and built for Oregon State University (OSU) has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. This rating is the highest achievable level of LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making the OSU Energy Center the nation’s first LEED Platinum power plant, as well as the first on-campus LEED Platinum building, according to Jacobs.
Jacobs served as engineer-of-record for the energy center and provided pre-design and consulting, schematic design, design development, construction documents, bid support and construction administration for the project.
OSU’s old heat plant, built in 1923, had outlived the useful life of its boilers and was seismically unsound. The new energy facility generates about 50 percent of the university’s electricity demand on site, provides an annual cost savings of $600,000 to OSU and reduces carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions by an estimated 38 percent over the old plant, said the company.
The Energy Center’s green features include rainwater harvesting for makeup water, hot water generated by using heat recovery from the steam system, a white reflective roof, water-efficient landscaping, recycled building materials, natural ventilation and natural lighting.
Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional, and construction services. For more information, see the Web site.
