Proposed decarbonization projects
As part of the 2025 state legislative agenda, the UW is requesting funding from the Climate Commitment Account for the 2025-2027 Biennial Budget for $292.6 million toward projects that support decarbonizing the energy systems on our campus in Seattle to meet the targets of the state’s Climate Commitment Act and Clean Building Performance Standard. The University of Washington has developed an innovative energy transformation strategy to transition the Seattle campus energy infrastructure to 100% clean energy. This monumental undertaking will modernize our energy infrastructure and better align UW’s sustainability values with daily campus operations.
The 2025-2027 Capital Budget Request includes:
District energy standards ($1.9 million): The UW Clean Energy Transformation will occur over a ten-year period and be executed by multiple design and construction teams. Updating the UW Facility Design Guidelines with district energy standards will ensure quality, consistency and efficient operation and maintenance of the system.
Micro District - South of Pacific ($31.1 million): The Micro District - South of Pacific replaces existing inefficient steam piping system with hot water piping and enables the implementation of heat recovery systems. This area of South Campus includes research buildings with year-round heating and cooling loads, a prime source of heat recovery. The hot water system enables heat pump technologies to utilize low-grade heat sources for campus heating demands which will play a critical role in the reduction of fossil fuel use for the UW campus.
Chiller Installation ($13.5 million): Centralized cooling is a more energy efficient approach, reduces overall power consumption and provides more reliability due to centralized maintenance than stand-along chiller equipment. This project is the design and installation of Chiller #5 in the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP) to increase centralized cooling capacity and eliminate deferred maintenance of stand-alone chiller equipment.
Micro District - West Campus ($76.4 million): The Micro District - West Campus extends the existing utility tunnel system to complete a looped system in the West Campus zone. The project replaces the existing steam piping with hot water piping and extends the chilled water system. The hot water system enables heat pump technologies to utilize low-grade heat sources for campus heating demands which will play a critical role in the reduction of fossil fuel use for the UW campus.
Sewer Heat Recovery Site Piping ($14.7 million): The University is fortunate to have large municipal sewer lines that run adjacent to the campus (generally along the Burke Gilman Trail) which present a large potential source for waste heat recovery. This enabling project only addresses one component of the sewer heat recovery system: the piping between the existing WCUP facility and the future heat exchanger facility near NE 40th St and 7th Ave NE. Installing the piping now coincides with other projects along the Burke Gilman Trail and provides construction efficiencies and one-time disruption to commuters along the Burke Gilman Trail.
WCUP Heating System Improvements ($28.6 million): As a first step towards transitioning from fossil-fuels to electrical heat sources, the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP) will be the first stage of converting the central power plants from steam heat to hot water heat. The expansion of the facility accommodates hot water heating equipment and space for heat recovery chillers, sewer heat recovery, and electric boilers that will allow for elimination of the majority of fossil fuel use for buildings in this region of campus.
Chilled Water Thermal Energy Storage ($73.3 million): The Chilled Water Thermal Energy Storage project provides resiliency and reliability for UW’s district energy system. The thermal energy storage tank acts as a “chilled water battery” to ride out voltage sags from the Seattle City Light power system and supplies cooling during hot weather to address central plant capacity shortfalls.
West Receiving Station Electrical Infrastructure Upgrades ($50.1 million): The existing electrical infrastructure from Seattle City Light (SCL) does not meet the current and future demands or reliability standards of the University. Transitioning the heating load from fossil-fuel to electricity creates additional load that cannot be met with the current infrastructure. To support the energy transformation, the campus requires new transmission-level service from SCL.
Lake Interface Advancement ($1 million): The UW Seattle campus is uniquely situated adjacent to Lake Washington, Lake Washington Ship Canal, and Portage Bay. Water from Lake Washington is a potential source of energy that UW, using heat pump technology, can heat and cool the campus buildings. This non-consumptive use of lake water may also have the benefit of discharging cold water where temperatures current impact salmon eco-systems. This project has the potential to support the Governor’s Salmon Strategy.
Power Plant Boiler Removal ($2 million): This make-ready project will create space at the Central Utility Plant for new low-carbon heating and cooling equipment that will replace the existing fossil-fuel fired equipment. The project consists of demolition and removal of one large steam boiler and associated systems, which are near the end of their useful life.
Funded projects
The 2024 state budget included $38.9 million in funding for energy renewal and decarbonization projects. Those project were:
UW Seattle Centralized Chilled Water Capacity Improvements ($14 million): This will fund the installation of piping to help distribute chilled water to the William H. Foege Building, Ocean Sciences and several wings of the Magnuson Health Sciences Center to the central cooled water system, shifting away from the existing decentralized cooling systems in those buildings. Cooling in these buildings is required to support the vivaria, laboratory, and teaching spaces and to mitigate heat gain from research equipment. The project would be more energy efficient, reducing the electricity needed to cool the buildings.
UW Bothell Central Plant Optimization & Gas Boiler Replacements ($6.5 million): This will support energy renewal upgrades at the UW Bothell campus, including upgrading the existing 1,000-ton chiller at the Central Plant and replacing 21 domestic gas heaters with electric heaters in campus facilities. These projects will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by installing more efficient equipment to bring the campus further into compliance with the State Clean Buildings Performance Standard.
UW Tacoma Gas Boiler Replacements ($8.4 million): UW Tacoma currently uses natural gas as the primary heating source. This project will replace five large gas-fired boilers, 11 unitary gas packs, and associated infrastructure with electric condenser boilers or heat pumps, dramatically reducing the use of fossil fuels for heating on the campus. The existing gas-fired boilers are increasing in maintenance costs due to the age of the legacy equipment, and this project is estimated to reduce operating costs by 50 percent while improving indoor and outdoor air quality.
UW Medical Center Montlake HVAC Systems Renewal ($8 million): Many parts of the existing HVAC systems are long past their expected life and are prone to failure. This project will replace equipment and associated building systems in the Cascade and Pacific Towers, allowing for more efficient and reliable operation.
UW Medical Center Northwest Central Utility Planning ($2 million): This will fund a feasibility and predesign study for developing a Central Utility Plant at the UWMC Northwest campus. The existing decentralized utility structure creates issues in terms of maintenance, reliability, and excess energy consumption. The development of a central plant to support existing and future development is critical to the goal of decarbonization.
Requested but not funded:
Clean Energy Institute ($10 million): The Clean Energy Institute is expected to move into a new West Campus building in 2025, which will nearly triple the institute's existing space. This funding would fully build out the project space and provide equipment for the Clean Energy Testbeds and other engagement programs.