Title
Advanced Utility Services University Corners Project (B)
Staff is proposing to provide chilled water, emergency electrical generation, and communications services including Internet, high speed data, telephone, and video to University Corners on a contractual basis. The terms and conditions for these services have been broadly defined in the Memorandum of Understanding and staff needs authorization to negotiate the required final agreement(s).
Explanation
Since the summer of 2004 staff and the developers of the University Corners project have been exploring ways to make it a model of energy efficiency and advanced utility services. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is the result of those discussions to date, and provides a framework to provide University Corners with chilled water for air conditioning, emergency generation, and a communications network for the delivery and installation of advanced communication services such as Internet access, private line data, telephone, and video. The provision of television type entertainment services is among a range of issues currently under consideration as part of a previous referral to the Regional Utilities Committee.
Chilled water for air conditioning can be very energy efficient but is only cost-effective for large installations. Two municipal utilities in Florida, JEA and the Orlando Utilities Commission, provide chilled water as a utility service to their downtown areas as a way to make these systems more cost-effective and available. Staff is proposing to provide similar services to the University Corners development, with a long-range intent to potentially offer these services to other projects. Compared to a conventional direct expansion air conditioning system (similar to most apartment buildings in Gainesville), chilled water can reduce energy consumption for air conditioning by as much as half. Space for the chilled water plant has been reserved by the developer within the project ...
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