Q&A: What it Takes to Keep the Heat Flowing on Campus

Two men with beards stand on a catwalk in an industrial setting in front of two stories of massive boiler equipment.
James Stalker, left, and David Huber oversee the operation of UAlbany's massive Central Heating and Cooling Plant with the help of more than 80 University employees on the Plant and HVAC staff. (Photo by Patrick Dodson)

By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 13, 2024) — When a cracked weld in a 10-inch high-temperature water line that feeds much of the Uptown Campus began leaking in the Podium tunnels recently, James Stalker got the call.

For most on campus, the crack meant an inconvenient interruption to heat and hot water service. For Stalker and his colleagues, it was another day in the life of those who mind the critical, but often invisible, services that keep UAlbany running.   

Stalker, a Plant Utilities Engineer 3 who has worked at UAlbany for nearly 16 years, oversees UAlbany’s massive Central Heating and Cooling Plant — a round-the-clock, 365-day-a-year operation that relies on the skills and experience of more than 80 team members from the HVAC and Plant staffs to keep more than 6 million square feet of campus buildings comfortable.

A photo of a metallic gray pipe with a a white ring showing a recent weld.
In early March, a crack in this since-repaired high-temperature hot water pipe in the tunnels required an emergency shutdown of the central heat and hot water system serving much of the Uptown Campus. (Photo by Patrick Dodson)

The tunnels are your workspace. If you could get everybody on campus to follow one rule in the tunnels, what would it be?

Please be mindful of your surroundings. Stay off your phone, stay alert and stick to the designated walking path. When I was a building engineer, I once had a student who was so engaged in what was happening on her cell phone that she walked head on into my parked Cushman cart. The tunnels need to be treated as an active job site at all times — because they are.

Sustainable new technologies are changing how we heat and cool buildings. What will that mean for UAlbany’s Plant/HVAC system? 

There is definitely a big push toward reduced energy consumption and a greater reliance on sustainable energy here on the campus. There are many tentative plans for the future of the plant, including replacing two of our high-temperature hot water absorption chillers with heat pumps with a geothermal well field, similar to the all-electric technology used to heat and cool ETEC. There have even been talks about building a satellite plant on a different part of the campus to house these units as the shift toward electrification progresses to reduce the amount of carbon used to heat and cool our facilities — even as cooling demand increases. We know that’s where we’re headed; what we’re working on now is the best path to get us there.

(According to UAlbany’s Office of Sustainability, the plans currently in development with the help state funding will allow the campus to reduce its annual natural gas usage by 16 percent.)

You’re responsible for massive, complex building systems at work. What’s one home repair you’re calling in an expert for? 

My roof. I have no desire to do any work in, on or around my roof. I’m also not above calling someone in to brush down my boiler for me. The shoemaker’s children go barefoot, you know!