NEW ENERGY-EFFICIENT CENTRAL UTILITY PLANT OPENS AT LAX; FIRST-EVER SUSTAINABLE PLANT AT A U.S. AIRPORT TO PROVIDE RELIABLE HEATING AND COOLING WHICH IMPROVES PASSENGER COMFORT
$423.8-Million Facility Is 25% More Energy Efficient – Saving $7 Million Annually In Electricity, Natural Gas; High-Tech Equipment Reduces Emissions Equal To Removing 1,000 Cars from Roads
(Los Angeles, California – April 23, 2015) Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin and Board of Airport Commissioners Vice President Valeria Velasco were joined today by airport officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate completion of a $423.8-million replacement Central Utility Plant (CUP) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The new CUP will provide additional capacity for heating and cooling of airline terminals and other buildings in the Central Terminal Area (CTA) – significantly improving passenger comfort for the more than 70 million travelers who pass through LAX annually. The four-year project finished under budget.
The new CUP is considered the first sustainable utility plant at a U.S. airport. Designed to achieve Gold certification in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council, the new facility is 25 percent more energy efficient and more environmentally friendly than the 50-year-old facility it replaced.
The replacement CUP will save LAX an estimated $7 million annually in electrical and natural-gas use. State-of-the-art, pollution-control equipment also will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions equivalent to removing 1,000 cars from road. The facility generates its own electricity for operations that will result in an estimated $2 million in rebates from the L.A. Department of Water and Power.
“This is the first sustainable utility plant at any airport in the nation and it is a beacon for how modernization at LAX is turning our airport into the world-class facility and first-class neighbor Los Angeles deserves,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, whose 11th District includes LAX. “The CUP and its state-of-the-art pollution-control equipment shows our commitment to sustainability and solidifies Los Angeles’ leadership role in the march toward a cleaner future.”
“The opening of the replacement Central Utility Plant is a major milestone in our ongoing multi- billion-dollar effort to modernize and improve the passenger experience at LAX,” said Board of Airport Commissioners Vice President Valeria Velasco.
“While Los Angeles World Airports and the airlines undertake billions of dollars in terminal renovations, our new CUP allows us to meet the added demands for air conditioning and heating and to meet passengers’ expectations of a comfortable, temperature-controlled environment,” said Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey.
The ceremony included an announcement that the new CUP’s Central Control Room is named in honor of Walt Garrick, a 45-year employee at the original CUP until his retirement 13 years ago. In 2014, Garrick and a team of retired employees returned to LAX to manage the original CUP’s operations while current employees trained and transitioned to the new computerized systems and machinery of the replacement CUP. When the original CUP opened in 1961, Garrick was hired as senior building operating engineer to ensure smooth operations of the machinery. He promoted to chief building operating engineer in 1969 and later oversaw the plant’s first upgrade in 1983. Since retiring in 2002, Garrick visits the current CUP staff monthly for lunch and to share stories about construction and operations. He was present when the original CUP was demolished on April 1, 2014.
Sitting in the heart of the LAX Central Terminal Area (CTA) on the west side of the LAX Air Traffic Control Tower, the new facility includes:
· Huge, natural-gas-powered combustion turbine co-generators that create the electricity needed to operate the entire CUP and to chill water for air conditioning throughout the CTA. The heat exhausted by the combustion engines is captured by heat-recovery steam generators and “recycled” to heat the terminals.
· A thermal-energy storage tank that holds 1.6 million gallons of water chilled at night when electrical costs are lowest and distributed during the hottest hours of the next day to cool terminals. Above ground, the cylindrical storage tank will be lit externally at night with blue lights filtered through a moving screen to create a wave-like aesthetic for passing motorists.
· Nearly 100 miles of wire/cable, 35 miles of electrical conduit, and nine miles of distribution piping installed underground throughout the Central Terminal Area.
· Replacement cooling/heating equipment in all the airline terminals, Theme Building, and airport administration building.
· A state-of-the-art computerized building information and management system for the entire CTA, monitored by CUP personnel in a new central control room with large-screen monitors and information-technology systems that control facility operations and centralized cooling/heating – replacing the dials, meters, and needles of the old facility.
· Water cooling towers, water refrigeration/heating equipment, and ancillary pumps.
· New maintenance shops and offices for the 40-member CUP staff scheduled 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The replacement Central Utility Plant required more than 1.5 million man-hours to build and employed more than 300 construction workers daily during the different phases of the project’s four-year construction schedule.
The $423.8-million replacement Central Utility Plant was funded using LAX airport revenues and proceeds from revenue bonds. NO monies from the City of Los Angeles general fund were used.
Environmental Sustainability
The project addresses Los Angeles World Airports’ goal for a “greener” LAX. In accordance with LAWA’s Sustainable Design and Construction Guidelines approved by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners in 2007, the replacement Central Utility Plant optimized the use of recycled building materials, minimized the amount of energy used during construction, and optimized energy efficiency. The architecture and construction of the new facility are designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
In addition, as part of the program’s environmental requirements, the construction project incorporated practices developed to minimize adverse environmental impacts on the surrounding areas, including, but not limited to: recycling construction materials; placing key pieces of equipment on site to reduce the number of trips to and from the construction site; designating specific routes construction vehicles must use when traveling to and from the site; controlling dust; and retrofitting construction equipment with emission-and noise-reduction devices.
Construction Team
LAWA Deputy Executive Director for Airports Development Group Roger Johnson and CUP Project Manager Van Thompson managed the design and construction of the new facility. Design-build contractor was Clark McCarthy Joint Venture of Los Angeles, which is comprised of Clark Construction and McCarthy. Arup of Los Angeles was the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural, and civil engineering firm. Gruen Associates of Los Angeles was the architect. Additional project partners included commissioning engineers Capital Engineering Consultants of Rancho Cordova, CA; sustainability consultant Greenform of Los Angeles; and cogeneration consultant PID Engineering of San Diego. Over 100 companies were subcontractors or vendors on the project, of which all but 14 companies are based in the City of Los Angeles or in the Southern California region.
About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
LAX is the fifth busiest airport in the world and second in the United States. LAX served nearly 70.7 million passengers in 2014. LAX offers 692 daily nonstop flights to 85 cities in the U.S. and 928 weekly nonstop flights to 67 cities in 34 countries on 59 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with over two million tons of air cargo valued at over $91.6 billion. An economic study in 2011 reported that operations at LAX generated 294,400 jobs in Los Angeles County with labor income of $13.6 billion and economic output of more than $39.7 billion. This activity added $2.5 billion to local and state revenues. LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
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