Heat pumps

Learn how heat pumps work and how they can drive UW's decarbonization.

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The University of Washington's Energy Renewal Plan (ERP) provides a framework for a phased decarbonization of UW’s campus utility and energy infrastructure, with the goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

On June 30, 2025, the UW submitted an initial Seattle Campus Decarbonization Plan to the Washington Department of Commerce.

At the core of the plan to decarbonize the power plant is a technological evolution that allows us to change the way we heat buildings on the campus. Presently, UW heats its buildings the same way most University campuses do, and that’s by combusting natural gas in boilers to make steam and then distribute the steam out to the campus buildings where it is transferred to each building’s heating system. Moving forward, UW will no longer combust natural gas for heating but rather will use electrically driven heat pumps to move energy from various sources to heat the buildings.

Learn more about the UW's Energy Renewal Plan and read the full documents below.

Part 1: Baseline conditions

The University of Washington’s existing Power Plant, in operation at its current location since 1908, has relied on natural gas to generate steam for heating for nearly four decades. The University is the second-largest public carbon emitter in the state, and over 93% of its emissions come from the Power Plant. This steam is currently distributed to campus buildings via an extensive underground tunnel network, much of which was constructed decades ago along with utility equipment that remains in service today. The plant's infrastructure is similarly outdated, with boilers ranging from 25 to over 75 years old and a turbine from 1968 that is long past its useful life. Additionally, the centralized electricity supply, constrained by aging cables and limited redundancy, cannot adequately support rising cooling demands during hot weather. Voltage sags in the Seattle City Light feed cause frequent chiller disruptions, requiring time-consuming manual restarts that leave the plant struggling to meet demand on hot days. As energy loads and utility costs rise in response to the climate crisis, and with carbon penalties projected to reach $15 million annually by 2029 without emissions reductions, the financial and operational incentives to transition to more modern, energy-efficient systems have become increasingly urgent.

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Part 2: Project identification

The Power Plant Renewal Project involves a comprehensive modernization of its campus energy systems to support a transition to carbon-free, electrified heating and cooling. Key components include recovering heat from campus waste sources, the King County sewer, and Lake Washington, while upgrading the Power Plant and West Campus Utility Plant with thermal energy storage, electric boilers, and heat recovery chillers. The plan also enhances the campus electrical system’s capacity and reliability, constructs a new hot water distribution network using existing tunnels and buried utilities, and expands the cooling water distribution system. A new substation will connect Seattle City Light and the University’s electrical infrastructure, ensuring future increases in electrical demand are accommodated. To support electrified heating, building systems will be retrofitted with new heat exchangers, pumps, and air-handling units, while chillers will be removed and tied into centralized cooling at campus utility plants. Campus-wide steam distribution systems will be phased out in favor of localized steam generation where necessary. Modern digital controls, metering, and advanced data analytics will also be installed to support the efficient operation and control of all new systems.

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Part 3: Implementation 

Due to uncertainty around the level of state funding available each biennium, the University of Washington has developed multiple project sequencing and funding scenarios to maintain flexibility. Project sequencing is driven by key factors, such as the desire to reuse existing tunnels for hot water distribution, the long permitting timeline for the Lake Water Interface project, and the need to ensure reliability and redundancy for critical buildings in the campus region south of Pacific Street. Reusing existing tunnels has the most significant impact on project sequencing, as it requires replacing current heating and cooling services in place, which must be carefully coordinated with building conversions and installation of new heating systems. The phased implementation begins with upgrades to utility plants, followed by hot water distribution and building conversions progressing outward from the plants. Priority is given to deploying the Lake Interface and Sewer Heat Recovery systems early in the sequence, with the final phases focusing on completing campus-wide conversions and eliminating the remaining fossil fuel use.  

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