The Board of Regents for the three state universities in Iowa — the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University — wanted to complete an environmental strategies study to help the schools strategically plan to meet the proposed Boiler MACT regulations. They also wanted to consider the future impact of other proposed environmental regulations. Each university operates a coal-fired combined heat and power (CHP) facility to provide electricity and steam for their campuses.
To complete the process, the three universities jointly hired Burns & McDonnell to identify alternatives that would satisfy present and future campus energy demands while considering future environmental regulations, campus sustainability goals and life cycle costs. The alternatives considered included the addition of pollution control equipment on all coal-fired boilers, conversion of the coal-fired boilers to fire natural gas and oil, the addition of new combustion turbine (CT)/heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for power and steam generation and the addition of new natural gas-fired package boilers. After completion of Phase I, each university will select two to three alternatives for further development.
During Phase II, Burns & McDonnell will work with each university to further refine the selected alternatives at each campus to determine project costs, project schedule, benefits and environmental performance with the goal of selecting the best alternative.
