Getting Greener: Duke's Steam Plant Renovation

A historic steam plant at Duke is scheduled to reopen this winter after a $25 million renovation that marks another era at Duke: natural gas, not coal, will fuel the new boilers. The new system will provide 35 percent more steam to heat academic and medical buildings, sterilize surgical equipment and maintain proper humidity for art and lab research.
The plant, which sits off West Pettigrew Street, will become Dukes base system, supplying the equivalent of enough steam each hour to heat 2,500 houses. Dukes other steam plant, built in 1929 on West campus near Research Drive, will be a peaking plant with the capacity to burn coal, oil, recycled oil and natural gas when demand is high during the coldest days of the year.
The effort is part of Duke's overall goal to become a climate-neutral campus, a pledge made by President Richard Brodhead in 2007, as part of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.
Converting the plant on East campus to natural gas isn't the only sustainable feature of the system. In hopes of earning a silver rating in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council, Duke is reusing 87 percent of the original building and making use of recycled water, including rainwater off the new roof to operate the plants only toilet.