Harper College to spend $3.2 million on new chillers

Harper College is gearing up to spend about $3.2 million to install new chillers that will serve six buildings around the Palatine campus. Helping to offset the cost is the $155,000 in projected annual electricity savings, since the new equipment is high-efficiency.

Harper's board of trustees approved the project last month.

Jim Ma, director of Harper's physical plant, said the old chillers are approaching the end of their useful life and they got low bids for the equipment and construction.

Some of the old air conditioners use chlorofluorocarbons considered harmful to the environment. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the chillers, which will serve buildings F, L, P, R, A and W, will reduce energy usage by about 60 percent.

New President Kenneth Ender lauded the move, given shrinking state funding.

"With more efficient equipment, we should be able to reap the benefits of lower costs to cool these buildings for many years to come," Ender said in a statement.

The project's cost includes related infrastructure improvements such as new cooling towers, pumps, controls, piping, masonry and concrete work. Money will be drawn from last year's referendum, in which taxpayers approved spending $153.6 million in capital improvements.