Towson University: Athletic Fieldhouse

Background

The Athletic Fieldhouse is a four-level building that constitutes two-thirds of the Unitas^® Stadium complex square footage. Though a small building, the Fieldhouse’s energy consumption of electricity and fuel oil were above campus norms from its initial occupancy in 2003. The heating boilers’ fuel oil delivery and firings were problematic from the start, and occupant complaints about inadequate cooling soon surfaced, too.

The Fieldhouse itself adjoins the Stadium’s south concourse and houses a mixture of home/visiting team locker rooms, athletic offices, meeting spaces, sports medicine treatment spaces, and a large multi-purpose/event space with glass curtain walls. It was completed in the fall of 2003 with the stadium construction project. Other components of the stadium complex include a press box, bathroom facility, and north/south stadium concourses and spectator stands.

Solutions

Over the years since the building’s opening, Towson University Operations and Maintenance leaders identified a number of energy conservation opportunities. Fortuitously, the nearby construction of a basketball arena brought natural gas into the site which allowed fuel conversion in 2012 and eliminated the heating plant operational issues.

In the summer of 2014, university HVAC trades personnel accomplished the following work:

replacement of two 2,000 MBH heating boilers with two Lochinvar Crest modulating condensing boilers;
replacement of two 1,250 gallon hot water boilers with six Noritz instantaneous hot water heaters;
installation of a run-around heat recovery coil on the exhaust side of a 100% outside air constant volume handling unit (AHU) with 24,000 CFM capacity;
installation of VFDs on the supply and exhaust fans of this same AHU;
installation of VAV dampers with occupancy sensors in locker room areas to minimize ventilation rates during unoccupied times.

ANNUAL ENERGY USE

(Source EUI)

ANNUAL ENERGY COST

ANNUAL WATER USE

ANNUAL WATER COST

ANNUAL PLANT ELECTRICITY USE

ANNUAL PLANT ELECTRICITY COST

IN BUILDING ENERGY USE

IN BUILDING ENERGY COST

ACROSS NETWORK USE

ACROSS NETWORK COST

ANNUAL EMISSIONS

USE

COST

Towson University Fieldhouse

Fieldhouse Boilers

Fieldhouse Heat Recovery Coil

Towson University: Athletic Fieldhouse

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