The zipping-sound of a duct tape roll is cut off by the beeping of a radio. Employees mill about, some in Tyvek suits on an 80-degree day, others wearing high-visibility gear and hard hats. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit at 8:08 a.m., but luckily chaos hasn’t ensued because it’s just a drill.
UW Recycling, of Facilities Services' Building Services Department, is the proud recipient of a Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA) 2016 Recycler of the Year award.
The power plant electrician asks the group if they’re ready with their stopwatches, then counts down. Three—two—one—the lights go black for a beat. Five giant diesel engine backup generators, each larger than a pickup truck, begin to roar.
The lights are back on; surgeries continue without missing a beat, and priceless research continues to stay frozen in a lab on campus. It’s a monthly test of the University’s backup power generation capabilities down at the Power Plant.
In preparation for this weekend's Windermere Cup and the opening day of boating season, crews from Facilities Maintenance & Construction installed a bronze plaque commemorating the 1936 UW men's crew team featured in The Boys in the Boat.
In a disastrous dream schemed up by UW Emergency Management, a substation just west of campus has exploded. The power is out across most of north Seattle, including the University. Smoke clouds are billowing toward campus and generators will only last so long.
The IMA’s racquetball and squash courts have 204 mercury-vapor light fixtures using 250 watts each, requiring heavy and unsustainable ballasts, warm-up and cool-down times of 5-10 minutes, and plenty of maintenance calls to maintenance electricians to replace burned-out bulbs.
But now those headaches are gone, replaced with the ease and energy savings provided by LED upgrades.
On March 29, 2016 at its annual awards ceremony, the U-District Partnership recognized UW Facilities Services with its Keep the U-District Beautiful award.
