In May, the Corporation of Brown University’s Committee on Budget and Finance authorized campus planners to identify an architect and construction manager to design and build a new central energy hub addition to Page-Robinson Hall on Brown Street. The hub will serve as the centerpiece of Phase I of the Sustainable Thermal Energy Program, a multiyear initiative that will establish a microgrid — a unified, resilient, highly efficient campus heating network — with an eye toward an eventual transition from natural gas to full electrification.

“As we continue to explore innovative solutions to combat threats posed by climate change, this plan enables Brown to reimagine thermal heating and cooling on campus while setting us up to successfully achieve our ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by 2040,” said Jessica Berry, assistant vice president for sustainability and resiliency at Brown.

In addition to supporting sustainability efforts, the program will enable the University to replace aging infrastructure and reduce energy waste. By connecting buildings to a new thermal heating network, the University will eliminate one third of the current network of underground piping and (importantly) what is currently a single point of failure — a stretch of deteriorating piping that carries campus heat from the University’s central heat plant near the Brown Athletics complex to Sidney E. Frank Hall for the Life Sciences, from which it then travels to supply heat to a majority of campus buildings.

From a financial standpoint, the Sustainable Thermal Energy Program will enable the University to implement a sustainability measure with significant environmental benefits for approximately the same annual cost it takes to maintain the aging infrastructure of Brown’s high temperature hot water system. 

“Rather than continue to devote resources to aging infrastructure and associated reliability challenges, we are investing in a sustainable thermal energy microgrid that will strengthen campus operations, boost energy resiliency and make important progress toward greenhouse gas reductions,” Guglielmo said. “We’re confronting the challenge of an aging energy system and catalyzing an opportunity to increase resiliency and continue to serve as a leader in decarbonization.”

A new central thermal energy hub

University leaders anticipate selecting an architect and beginning the design phase of the program, which could take up to 18 months, before the start of Brown’s Fall 2026 semester. As one among many steps required before construction can begin in the years ahead, the University must secure an amendment to its Institutional Master Plan, which it expects to submit to Providence’s City Plan Commission in the fall.

The most visible portion of the effort to create a high-efficiency energy network is a proposed central thermal energy hub enclosed within a 14,000-square-foot addition to Page-Robinson Hall. The hub would serve as the primary energy generation core and automated control center for the full thermal network. As envisioned, the addition would expand the five-story building’s footprint north toward Angell Street. Pending approvals and the design process, site work, utility routing and structural work are projected to begin in 2028. 

“This is a multiyear process during which the University will coordinate closely with local community leaders, neighbors, and members of the Brown community who use Page-Robinson Hall and adjacent spaces who may be temporarily impacted during construction,” Guglielmo said. “We envision an addition that enhances Page-Robinson’s façade, provides seamless, low-impact energy operations, and substantially modernizes campus heating operations.”

Project planners expect that Page-Robinson Hall — which houses administrative offices, classrooms and the campus Mail Services — will remain open during construction with some temporary modifications. 

Two additional elements of Phase I of the Sustainable Thermal Energy Program will be less visible but equally essential in advancing energy efficiency and resiliency: Brown’s legacy central heating plant is expected to transition to a local, independent heating system dedicated solely to the Erickson Athletics Complex; and the current Sidney Frank Hall heating system will be augmented with advanced heat recovery systems to capture and recycle energy, reducing peak heating demands. 

The estimated timeline is for the new energy system to be fully online by 2030, yielding an immediate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 8% to 10%.

“This is part of a dynamic, evolving planning process designed to minimize infrastructure vulnerabilities while enhancing campus resiliency and efficiency,” Berry said. “We will establish a vital structural foundation required to pivot toward decarbonization of campus heating and cooling in the years to come.”

Building toward decarbonization

The Sustainable Thermal Energy Program is part of Brown’s larger commitment to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2040 and builds on a set of ambitious actions and milestones, first outlined in 2019. Chief among those is the landmark Dry Bridge solar energy project, which is one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects in Rhode Island and generates enough power to offset two-thirds of on-campus electricity consumption for Brown, which is the project’s exclusive off-taker.

Brown has continued to strategically and aggressively combat climate change through other measures, too, from using more sustainable building and cleaning materials and reducing meat consumption in campus dining, to electrifying campus vehicles and grounds equipment and advancing strategies to reengineer campus to eliminate fossil fuels entirely, including the exploration of geothermal energy. 

Brown now offsets 100% of its campus grid-based electricity use with renewable energy credits. With the integration of the thermal energy microgrid and the ongoing exploration of pathways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, the University is taking key steps toward its long term greenhouse-gas reduction goals, according to Berry. In an era of volatile energy markets and challenging headwinds to renewable energy, Brown is creating a localized energy infrastructure to help the University control its climate destiny, she said.

“The launch of a high-efficiency thermal energy network is a source of pride for the Brown community as we continue to take bold campus action,” Berry said. “Modernizing our infrastructure through this project provides the immediate operational resiliency we need today, while establishing the space and systems necessary to lead us toward future full-scale electrification and a decarbonized, net-zero future.”