Feasibility Analysis of Low Temperature Hot Water Systems at UMass Amherst

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is currently seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. A major component of this task is converting the current heating systems, which function using hot water and steam, to low temperature hot water (LTHW), which is expected to significantly reduce energy demands. However, implementation of this strategy requires the campus to address several key flaws. Most importantly, the campus lacks the geothermal energy supply to heat the water exclusively with renewable sources. Metasys, the database used to track key variables such as pump speed and water temperature, often outputs data at low temporal resolution and cannot be used in its current state to measure variables that determine the performance of hot water systems, such as hourly fluctuations in hot water demand in some buildings. Lastly, the heating systems throughout the UMass Amherst campus are highly irregular, with some systems modifying supply temperature to accommodate for demand, and others modifying flow rate. Many of these buildings also use their hot water supply to provide heat for domestic uses such as sinks and showers, which may not be feasible using a low-temperature system. In this document, we seek to address many of these concerns, as well as potential future steps that the Physical Planning department can take to mitigate these issues in the future.