New Multi-Purpose Athletics and Recreation Complex has Positive Environmental Impact
CEE Professor Matthew Eckelman talks about the new multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex at Northeastern University and how the building aims to make strides in sustainability.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News/ It was published by Cynthia McCormick Hibbert. Main photo: Matthew Eckelman, professor of civil and environmental engineering, said Northeastern is breaking new ground in sustainability and heat recovery with new multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex. Photos by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University and Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University.
The new multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex will be fossil-fuel-free and use rainwater for the ice rink
The new multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex replacing Matthews Arena will harness the power of nature available onsite to meet the building’s demands for water, heat and electricity.
Rainfall collected from the roof will be used for the ice hockey rink and rowing tanks, and to water native plants in a rooftop terrace garden.
A grid of geothermal wells under the 310,00-square-foot building will meet most of the complex’s cooling and heating needs, while solar panels on the roof will use the sun’s energy to offset part of the demand for electricity.
Even before construction has started, the complex is making history as a model of sustainability and heat recovery, says Jacob Glickel, Northeastern University’s director of sustainability operations.
The innovative technologies being employed are “leaps and bounds” over what was possible even a couple of years ago, he says. “It really shows where we’re headed” with campus sustainability.
Tyler Hinckley, team leader of the project for the architectural design firm Perkins&Will, said the new complex will include an all-electric system, down to electric induction cooking equipment for the concessions.
“There are no fossil fuels on the site except for a backup generator,” he said.
In constructing the new complex, Northeastern is seeking to attain Living Building Challenge (LBC) Core certification, one of the most advanced sustainable building standards in the country, Hinckley said.
Unlike LEED certification, which gives points for reduced negative impact, LBC Core projects have to meet verified standards in 10 areas, including responsible water use, energy, materials, ecology and even beauty, in order to be considered “regenerative.”
“It’s a very aggressive standard,” Hinckley said.
Geothermal energy
A major feature of the new complex is a geothermal exchange system that relies on relatively constant temperatures beneath the Earth’s surface to provide 80% of the new building’s requirements for heat and cooling, Hinckley said.
The system uses a geothermal loop, or network of underground pipes, filled with fluid to exchange heat with the Earth.
The network creates a source of heat in the winter and a sink for heat pulled out of the building in the summer using electric pumps, said Matthew Eckelman, a Northeastern professor of civil and environmental engineering.
“What’s different about a heat pump is that it’s not converting energy from electricity to heat,” said Eckelman, who visited the site with undergraduate and graduate students to see bore holes being drilled for the pipes.
“It’s just moving heat,” he said.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News