Hamline University

Green Energy Study

Dunham developed a Green energy study for Hamline University to assess options for reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions throughout their 77-acre St. Paul, MN campus. Our team focused on identifying strategies and technologies that could transition the campus away from fossil fuels, improve efficiency, and reduce annual energy use. These strategies included converting steam to low temperature heating water and replacing central plant systems with renewable energy sources, such as geothermal. Our team studied the viability of, and potential locations for, traditional ground-source heat pumps and convective aquifer geothermal energy sources. The study also looked at the potential for supplementing a geothermal system with high-efficiency boilers to get the campus buildings off an aging and inefficient steam plant system. Our team also identified potential chiller and boiler locations throughout campus based on the peak heating and cooling load requirements of each building.

The study included recommendations for implementing these technologies into the campus infrastructure, considering costs and budgets, as well as a construction schedule with high-level phasing outlining potential building and campus disruptions. This effort included a campus plan showing equipment locations, well locations, and interconnecting piping. Finally, our study provided cost estimates with potential federal tax credits, energy and carbon reduction analysis, and payback calculations to give Hamline University the information they needed to implement changes for the most efficient system upgrades.

Anderson Student Center

The Anderson Student Center was the first building constructed as a result of a University Master Plan and designed to be the Gateway building to the campus. The facility’s design was highly flexible and integrated to provide for the student’s needs into the foreseeable future.

Our services included mechanical, electrical, and low voltage engineering for the new, three‑story, 133,000 SF building with a two-level, 50,000 SF underground parking garage. The facility consists of office space, a 600-seat event center, student organization spaces, conference rooms, classrooms, meditation rooms, a convenience store, a Starbucks, and a dining center. The 25,000 SF dining center features a prep kitchen, serving area, and dining space to accommodate 400 students. Sustainable elements of the project include high‑performance glass, energy‑efficient lighting, a green roof, and recycled materials throughout the space. 17kW of vertically mounted and rooftop‑mounted solar panels produce 2.5% of the building’s total energy needs. Natural daylight illuminates more than 75% of the space, with an automated lighting system that picks up the slack during the evenings.

Campus Master Plan

Dunham has provided ongoing master planning engineering services for chilled water, steam, medium voltage, and low voltage systems serving the Hamline University Campus since 2007. The planning began with a chiller replacement project, which included the removal of 14 secondary chilled water pumps, and a complete redesign of the primary/secondary piping loop. As a result of this project, the campus experienced an increase in system capacity and efficiency and the ability to cool spaces that were unable to be cooled previously. This project was the cornerstone to the master planning effort. Since this initial project has been completed, Dunham’s engineers have developed master plans for the mechanical, electrical, medium voltage, and low voltage systems to correspond to the overall campus master plan for growth. Dunham is currently working on a multi-phase project to decentralize the campus steam system and replace it with high-efficiency heating hot water boilers throughout the campus.

Ongoing Partnerships and Projects

• Top Project-Anderson Student Center
  Finance & Commerce
• Facility Design Award of Excellence-Anderson Student Center
  Association of College Unions International (AXUI)
• Honor Award for Excellence in Masonry
  MN Concrete Masonry Contractors Association