Powering MIT’s Present and Future
The Utilities team maintains electricity, heating, and cooling resources. Implements conservation efforts in new and old systems. Plans for MIT’s future energy needs. This group runs the Cogeneration Plant, which produces most electricity, steam, and chilled water used on campus, and the East Campus Chiller Plant. Staff engineers, designers, and operating personnel are responsible for the underground utility distribution systems and electrical substations.
Energy Sources
The Central Utilities/Cogeneration Plant, a 10-year, $40 million initiative, won a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Energy award for increasing energy efficiency and reducing pollution. The plant meets about 80 percent of MIT’s energy needs.
Conservation Efforts
Utilities, working with other Facilities groups, works to build efficient new systems and to implement energy-saving improvements, such as the replacement of 3,000 radiator steam valves, which saves MIT over $200,000 a year. Find out how to help conserve resources on campus.
Utilities staff provides these services
- Administrative services for the purchasing, metering, and distribution of costs for electricity, city water, natural gas, chilled water, steam, and fuel oil
- All licensing and reporting functions for complying with government environmental and utility regulatory requirements
- Long-range planning for utility systems expansion and upgrading
- Engineering, designing, estimating, and managing construction and start-up services for expansion of utilities
- Identifying and implementing energy resource conservation projects
FAQs
What’s
the impact of the Cogeneration plant?
Read a Tech Talk interview with Peter Cooper, Manager of Sustainable
Engineering and Utility Planning.
