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Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

Energy Management wins "system of the year"
By: Shawn Davis, Corner Post staff

There is one thing every American takes for granted in their everyday life. It is used every time you walk into a room, take a shower and log onto the Internet. Energy is used to power lights and water heaters as well as computers. Without that energy, the University of Missouri would not be able to function.

So to the people at MU’s Energy Management Department, energy is not something to take for granted, in fact providing energy is something that they take pride in and excel at.

“Our power plant won System of the Year for 2004 from the International District Energy Association,” said Assistant Director of Energy Management Ken Davis. “It recognizes an exemplary district energy system that provides a high level of service.”

The IDEA bases their selection on five categories: The quality of customer service, the efficiency rate, the reliability, employee safety and training and environmental initiatives. Energy management has found a way to succeed in all these fields, but the one that stands out is its efficiency rate. Energy Management is a co-generation power plant. That means they are able to have simultaneous production of more than one kind of energy. In their case those energies are steam and water, which is the reason for increased efficiency rates.

“Efficiency is converting resources into usable energy without waste,” Davis said. “We run at about a 62 percent efficiency level while a normal power plant runs at about 30 percent.”

What many people do not realize is how many people Energy Management serves on a day-to-day basis. There are over 70 miles of underground utilities on campus and the power that they provide for campus is enough energy to power a small city. With all the new buildings on campus, Energy Management has been staying very busy.

“We provide a utility service to meet the University’s research needs, its hospitals needs and its educational needs,” said Gregg Coffin, superintendent of the power plant. “We provide reliable and cost effective services to the university.”

Despite the fact that Energy Management is up to par on all five of the categories, the thing that sets them apart is their innovation. Back in 1994, Energy Management gained approval from the state to start burning waste tires with their coal to help save money and improve efficiency. That was the start of a breakthrough method of providing energy known as Tire Derived Fuel (TDF). After the test burnings, Energy Management was granted permission to burn TDF on a full-time basis.

“We try to minimize emissions whenever it’s economically feasible, and that is why we use TDF,” Davis said. “We work closely with the Department of Corrections who have inmates clean up tire dumps around the state and send them to Jefferson City to be ground up as fuel to supplement our normal coal supply.”

TDF has been a revolutionary way of providing energy to MU. Not only does it provide efficient energy to MU and clean up unsightly tire dumps around the state, but it also has saves the University up to $300,000 a year. A ton of tires costs $22 less than a ton of coal.

“ TDF shows our innovative methods to have cost efficiency initiative,” Coffin said. “We take waste and turn it into energy, which lowers our utility budget and saves the university money.”

With all the money TDF has saved the university and all the awards and recognition that it has received, the TDF program is still in danger of being cut out of Energy Management’s system.

“In 1990 a bill was passed that gave $0.50 from every tire sale to waste tire clean up, waste education and finding uses for waste tires,” Davis said. “The fee wasn’t renewed in the last legislative session, which jeopardizes the future of the program.”

Since Energy Management has gained so much praise and done so much for the university with its TDF program they are trying hard to get the legislation renewed.

“We are working with our lobbyists in Jefferson City to get the legislation we need,” Davis said. “There is also a group of students on campus called Sustain Mizzou that encourages students to lobby for legislation that will allow the program to continue.”

With the approval of the new legislation, Energy Management will be able to continue providing exemplary service to the university.
“I think the program is really good. It is a win for both the university and the state of Missouri,” Davis said. “There is really no down side, so I am pretty optimistic that the legislation will pass.”

With or without the legislation needed to keep the TDF program going, Energy Management will continue to fulfill the energy needs of all the students, professors, researchers and employees on the University of Missouri and continue to save the university $2.4 million a year on total energy savings.

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