News

Residents of Beverly Farm in Godfrey will soon have a new heating and cooling system installed in their building, courtesy of the engineering prowess of students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 

“We are upgrading the entire HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) system in the Chappee Cottage in order to make it a more energy efficient and sustainable building,” said Paul Cefaratti, president of the student branch of the American Society for Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

The student branch of ASHRAE was given the opportunity to pioneer a Community Sustainability Project in cooperation with the St. Louis Chapter of ASHRAE. The Community Sustainability Project will be presented at the 2016 Annual ASHRAE Conference in St. Louis. These annual conferences set policies, modify the ASHRAE handbooks and attract close to 1,000 industry leaders and engineers from across the world. 

“The city hosting the annual conference typically also completes a Community Sustainability Project in order to share the knowledge of members and to improve the world around them,” said Cefaratti, project leader and a senior majoring in industrial engineering and minoring in mechanical engineering.

“The St. Louis chapter selected us because we are the most active student branch in the St. Louis chapter,” he added. “The SIUE branch was given the chance to gain rare undergraduate engineering experience in taking on this project with professional engineers Pat O’Brien and Vinny Stanec as advisers.”

 Nine student engineers began the project in January and are working on it with the help of professional engineer, Pat O’Brien, owner of Dynamic Engineered Systems in O’Fallon, Mo. Also working as a contractor is Kane Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in Alton.

“Beverly Farm is an assisted living facility for the mentally challenged. We chose it because it’s an excellent organization that is helping a lot of people,” Cefaratti said. “We are gaining invaluable engineering experience and an edge over other students hoping to receive jobs in related engineering disciplines.”

The Chappee Cottage, which is one of 23 buildings on the property, is a women’s facility that houses approximately 25 people, according to Cefaratti.

“It was built in 1973 and the heating and cooling is quite outdated,” he added. “The majority of the cost to run a building is in the energy.”

“We have completed the engineering documents and design. The next phase is to do more fundraising,” explained Cefaratti. “We will present the plan at the conference this summer. The projected completion date is May 2016.”

To donate, contact Cefaratti at (618) 979-8706, pcefara@siue.edu or Stanec at vstance3@acsystemsinc.net.

The SIUE School of Engineering offers one of the most comprehensive and affordable engineering programs in the St. Louis region with eight undergraduate degrees, five master’s degrees and a cooperative doctoral program, all housed in a state-of-the-art facility. Students learn from expert faculty, perform cutting-edge research, and participate in intercollegiate design competitions. Companies in the metropolitan St. Louis area provide students challenging internships and co-op opportunities, which often turn into permanent employment. All undergraduate programs are accredited by their respective accreditation agencies.

Photo:

Members of the SIUE student branch of the American Society for Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) helped design an updated HVAC system for Beverly Farm in Godfrey. L-R: Kyle DeProw, Paul Cefaratti, Clayton Gotts, Brandon Churchill, Tim Gilles and Nick Otto (plaid shirt).