PSU Trustees to Address Steam Plant, Other Campus Improvements

The Penn State trustees are expected to act Friday on a variety of facilities improvements at University Park, including a long-anticipated upgrade at the West Campus Steam Plant.

Built some 81 years ago, the plant runs largely on coal and supplies steam heat to much of the campus. It’s at West College Avenue and Burrowes Road.

Penn State has planned for some time to cut the plant’s emissions beyond prior reductions — part of a university-wide effort to trim greenhouse-gas emissions. The move likely will mean a switch in the plant’s fuel source, university officials have said. New U.S. environmental rules drafted in 2010 have been key as they develop formal recommendations for the facility.

At their meeting Friday, trustees will hear the administration’s formal recommendations for a steam-plant upgrade and architect selection, Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton said. He said he could not disclose immediately what the recommendations will say.

But they ‘obviously will be guided by the reliability of the solution, its cost-effectiveness, the environmental sustainability and its compliance with new federal guidelines,’ Rushton wrote in an e-mail message.

Recently, the plant has been completing state Department of Environmental Protection tests, prompting it to run ‘at full capacity to check all the systems,’ campus facilities spokesman Paul Ruskin noted.

‘Since the winter has been mild so far, this is probably more noticeable’ in terms of visible emissions, Ruskin wrote in an e-mail message. ‘The plume is also more prominent in the winter due to the low angle of the sun and possibly because of light reflecting off the snow.’

Among the other University Park facilities matters to be undertaken by the Penn State trustees Friday:

• An architect appointment for an expansion of the Intramural Building, on Curtin Road near University Drive. The expansion is meant to accommodate student demand, Rushton noted.

• A partial renovation of Boucke Building’s first floor. This project will include upgrades to heating, air conditioning and ventilation, plus the construction of an exterior tower for upgraded utilities and future projects, Rushton wrote.

• The conversion of kitchen and dining areas of Simmons Hall; they’ll become residence-hall space, Rushton reported. A newly renovated Pollock Dining Commons will handle the demands now met at Simmons, he noted. He said both of these projects are due for completion by the fall semester.

• An architect appointment for an upgrade and expansion of the University Park water-treatment plant. It’s located north of Park Avenue. Construction is expected take place from 2012 to 2014; the improvements will focus on treatment and filtration capabilities to ensure a good future supply of quality drinking water, Rushton reported.

More details on all these projects are expected at the trustees meeting. Open to the public, it will begin at 10:15 a.m. in the board room at the Nittany Lion Inn.

The board room is located on the inn’s basement level.