The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) has been a significant contributor to human resource development in the province of Alberta since its establishment in 1916. SAIT's success can be attributed to strong working relationships with industry leaders to ensure that the education the Institute provides for students is current, skill oriented and relevant. Sixty-eight diploma and certificate programs , twenty seven apprenticeship and pre-employment programs and two applied degree programs are now offered to over 10,000 learners a year. SAIT also provides continuing education, outreach, teleconference and correspondence courses to over 3 5,000 teachers in Canada and 15 countries around the world.
SAIT's advanced and well equipped training facilities are located on two campuses which encompass 262,000 sq. m. of space on 41.2 hectares of land in the city of Calgary. Eleven separate buildings, made up of 21 wings, provide the environments for a broad range of services, including recreational, residential, food preparation, industrial shops, laboratories, computer classrooms, administration, health sciences TV/Radio studios, business, applied arts and sciences and even an aircraft hangar.

OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE
The Campus Operations and Maintenance (COM) department is comprised of 104 people working in the sections of maintenance (carpenters, electricians, general services, locksmiths, machinists, millwrights, mechanical, painters), operations (buildings), power plant, security, custodial, grounds keeping, occupational health & safety, planning & design, computer managed maintenance and administration. The COM department is a complete facilities management team, responsible for all aspects of operation maintenance and development of the campus physical facilities.

CENTRAL PLANT
The major utility services, with the exception of domestic water, originate from the central power plant in the Eugene Coste building. Natural gas, chilled water, high pressure steam , compressed air and electrical services are distributed from the plant to the buildings on the main campus via a network of almost 2 km of subsurface tunnels.

CHILLED WATER SYSTEM
The chilled water system includes two 1,200 ton R-11 centrifugal chillers with an adjacent containment vessel , and one 1,200 ton absorption chiller which operates on steam . Each chiller has a constant flow primary pump, feeding into a secondary system that delivers up to 9,600 usgpm using two 150 horsepower pumps into a 460 mm loop serving the campus.
Distribution pumps located within each building deliver chilled water from the main tunnel loop to the building air handling unit coils and back to the return loop. This is accomplislied through a variety of primary/secondary connection arrangements.
The system operates between mid-April and mid-October. In the winter the air handling unit coils are drained to prevent freezing and coil damage.
The cooling tower is a built-up treated wood structure with two 6.8 m diameter, 2-speed propeller fans. It has a heat rejection capacity in excess of 4,000 tons.

STEAM HEATING SYSTEM
Three high pressure steam boilers in the power plant deliver up to 230,000 pounds per hour of 185 psig steam for humidification, domestic hot water heating and building heating throughout the campus. Steam is also used to run a 600 kW steam turbine generator for electrical peak shaving as well as up to 15,000 pounds per hour to operate the 1,200 ton absorption chiller.
A high pressure condensate return system from the steam mains and a low pressure condensate return system from building heat exchangers bring condensate back to a main receiver where it is deaerated , polished and reused as boiler feedwater. Steam pressure powered condensate return pumps are replacing electric-driven pumps to reduce maintenance and energy costs.

COMPRESSOR AIR
The central plant system consists of three rotary-vane and two oil-free compressors delivering 100 psig air through 75 nun mains for control and instrument air. Air is cleaned and dried prior to leaving the plant in a dual-chamber , automatic regenerative silica gel desiccant drier. Pressure reduction is done at the building mechanical rooms to accommodate the terminal equipment requirements.

NATURAL GAS
A 102 mm intermediate pressure natural gas main is metered at the central plant . It is then piped through the utility tunnels to the various buildings at 26 psig . Gas pressure is reduced at each mechanical room before being distributed to gas-fired heating equipment, kitchen equipment, laboratories and shops. Gas is also used to fire the three main steam boilers as well as a 500 kW gas-fired generator that is used along with the steam turbine generator as part of an electrical demand limiting program.

ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
Two 1,200 amp feeder mains provide power to the campus at 13,200 volts. Voltage is then reduced to 4,160 volts at three transformers from a common main bus which feeds three main distribution buses.
These buses then distribute electrical energy through tunnel conduit systems to each building , where it is transformed to 600v , 347v , 208v and 120v as necessary for low voltage distribution.

BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEM
A "Johnson Controls " JC-80 central computer-based system was recently replaced with a " Metasys DDC control workstation located in the power plant control room. Two buildings, the Colonel Walker and the Bob Edwards Northeast campus have been converted to "Metasys" stand alone DDC systems, while all other buildings have had the 40 JC-80 loop remote panels interfaced to the new workstation through "Centaurus" panels, and communicate to the workstation over the original coaxial cables. A CSI I-Net 7700 DDC system controls one air handling system in the E.H.Crandell building and monitors utility usage in H-wing of the Senator Bums Building.
There are approximately 2,000 points presently monitoring and controlling air handlers, heat exchangers, pumps, fire alarms refrigeration equipment sumps etc. connected to the building automation system. Future plans include the replacement of the JC-80 loop remote panels and pneumatic controllers with new DDC standalone controllers, communicating peer-to-peer over an existing dedicated fiber-optic network. Expected utility reduction from this upgrade should be in the 5%-15% range through optimized equipment operation and improved control strategies.

BUILDING AIR HANDLING SYSTEMS
There are a variety of different air handling systems types among the 100 or so that provide safe and comfortable indoor environments . Central station and compartmental , packaged and built-up, constant and variable volume, single and dual duct, make-up and mixed air, have all been selected and installed to suit the needs of the building function and reflect the era in which they were built. Some of the central station air handlers have supply fans as large as 200 horsepower, while smaller compartmentalized units can be as little as 2 horsepower.
The majority of the units have glycol preheat coils , but there are a few with steam coils and hot water coils, and some without preheat. Most are also equipped with chilled water coils and a few with DX coils. Many air handlers have direct injection steam dispersion tube humidification and all of them have some form of air filtration, including flat, bag and roll filter sections. Winter " free-cooling" with outdoor air economizer control is incorporated into all mixed air units.

BUILDING HEATING SYSTEMS
Heating is generally accomplished using perimeter radiation terminals. Constant volume air handling systems also have terminal reheat coils at the supply air boxes. Exceptions to this include Heritage Hall which uses perimeter steam radiators , the central plant make-up units which have steam coils installed and NR-wing which is an air supply heating system using a hydronic heating coil in the air handler and terminal reheat coils at the supply air terminal boxes.
TD-wing was recently converted from steam to hydronic heating through a steam-to-water exchanger. This eliminated the noise in the classrooms generated by the steam traps and reduced the associated maintenance calls and expense.

DOMESTIC WATER SYSTEM
City water supplies enter the main campus from three separate vaults located on 10th Street , 16th Avenue and 14th Street. Here the water is metered and the mains are equipped with approved backflow prevention devices . A looped feed main connected to all three service entries provides redundant service capacity in the event that a service vault must be taken off-line.
A full backflow prevention upgrade program has been underway over the last four years to provide protection in compliance with City of Calgary requirements.
Domestic hot water heating is done using steam-to-water converters in each of the building mechanical rooms . High temperature ( 82"C ) water for food service area dishwashers is similarly generated.

FIRE PROTECTION
Buildings are protected in a variety of ways, including stand pipe systems , preaction sprinklers , wet sprinklers, smoke and fire detectors hand held fire extinguishers, halon and C02 The type of protection is dependent upon the size , function and era in which the building was constructed.
Over thirty fire hydrants protect the main campus , Alberta College of Art and Design and Jubilee Auditorium property. These are connected to the main water loop, both buried and within service tunnels.
A fire alarm system upgrade that incorporates state-of-the-art fully addressable end devices , programmable voice messages and fully automated central monitoring and alarm was recently completed in the Senator Burns Building.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Reducing the negative impact on the environment and minimizing utility costs are important issues for SAIT's COM department. Several initiatives have been developed and implemented successfully over the past several years towards these ends. Included in these are the following:
-load shedding program.
-lamp and ballast replacement program to T-8's and electronic ballasts and incandescents replaced with low-wattage fluorescents.
- exterior lighting conversion to High Pressure Sodium. -power factor correction.
- electronic boiler controls.
- initiation of a variable frequency drive plan to replace existing constant volume/terminal reheat systems.
- initiation of a building automation system replacement program to stand-alone DDC.
These measures have resulted in annual savings of over $700,000. , with further savings of at least another $500,000. per year when programs are completed.

CONCLUSION
SAIT's commitment to providing quality working and learning environments that are safe, comfortable, efficient and effective has resulted in recognition from its' peers. The Calgary "Building Owners and Managers Association " (BOMA ) awarded SAIT with the Building of the Year Award in Facilities Management in 1996. This was followed in 1997 with the BOMA Environmental Award for facilities dedicated to promoting and implementing health, safety and environmental programs. SAIT will continue to strive toward improving upon its' recognition as a leader in the facilities, environmental and energy management arena.