(bell chime)
(upbeat pop music)
- [Bruce] The Central Utilities Plant has been here
since the campus has been here.
If you look at any of the old drawings
or pictures of the plant you're gonna see the building here.
(pop music)
Originally it was set up as a coal fire plant,
and later on it was upgraded to oil firing
and we fired number six oil,
sometimes called Bunker C.
Our primary fuel today is natural gas,
which as most everybody knows is the greenest fossil fuel.
(melodic pop music)
- At the Central Utility Plant we provide steam,
chilled water, electricity at near the campus.
Support all the building infrastructure,
all the research, all the classrooms,
and all the support services here at MIT.
(upbeat pop music)
- [Bruce] In 1995 this school
installed a co-generation plant.
And then co-generation used one fuel
to perform more than one function.
In our case we burn gas in a gas turbine,
which is very similar to a jet engine
that you would find in an aircraft.
The difference is we actually take that hot exhaust
coming out of a jet and put it through a boiler
called a heat recovery steam generator.
(pop music)
- [Jon] One of the big advantages of a new
cogen plant is resiliency.
We only meet about 50 percent of the electrical needs
of the campus as we stand now.
The new plant will be able to meet 100 percent
of those needs here on site without external help.
- [Bruce] The plant is very exciting.
The building is very old,
and a lot of the technology is very new.
The plant operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We are here on Christmas, Thanksgiving,
Easter, Fourth of July,
all the days when other people on campus might be out
someone like me, is here and making sure you have heat,
lights, hot water, and chilled water, as needed.
- [Jon] You know the Central Utilities Plant
is the heartbeat of the campus.
I personally feel privileged to be working
with all of the great team here.
Great engineers, great mechanics, great instrument techs.
They all do a fantastic job.
They're incredibly dedicated to what they do,
and I think we're lucky to have, you know,
a strong team like this standing behind this plant.
- [Bruce] Fun place to work.
Great people.
Most of us here have been in the business
for a minimum of 10 years,
and we've come to MIT probably for the prestige,
I mean we are engineers.
We are licensed as engineers.
And when you are an engineer working at MIT
well, that's a pretty cool thing.
(upbeat pop music)