The Board of Trustees will vote Friday on the installation of a new air conditioning system that would cost $963,660.

The purchase would include the labor, materials and equipment needed to remove the current steam-powered chiller and install a new electrical chiller to the air conditioning system.

The system is located in the Doudna Fine Arts Center mechanical room, and it cools various buildings on campus through a water-loop system.

Paul McCann, the university treasurer, said the current system is about 20 years old and was not replaced when Doudna was rebuilt.

“Last summer we noticed we were starting to have some problems with capacity of air conditioning, so we decided that this would be a good solution for that,” he said. “We weren’t able to cool as much as what we wanted to keep the temperatures as low as what we wanted to.”

The new chiller would have an 840-ton processing capacity.

The materials needed include a cooling tower, electrical work and piping connections.

McCann said the new equipment would cool water with electricity and send it through a loop cooling system.

“This one is electric; the other one was steam driven,” he said. “So if it makes sense at all, during the middle of the summer when it’s 100 degrees out we’re generating steam to make air conditioning.”

The price includes $656,530 in mechanical costs and $219,525 in electrical costs.

“Our hope is we can have it designed and in house this summer so that we’ve got it ready for the cooling season,” McCann said.

The board will also vote on an investment of $151,660 for design services for the Clean Energy Research and Education Building that will be constructed next to the Renewable Energy Center.

Construction on the building, which is supposed to become a research center, will begin Friday.

The board will also vote on various investments in architectural, mechanical and electrical companies.

McCann said the companies would be kept on retainer for when their services are needed.

“We’re just keeping them in our back pocket so we’re ready for something if it ever comes up,” he said.

Recommendations for tuition increases for the 2013- 2014 school year will also be brought up at the meeting.

Additionally, Bob Martin, the vice president for university advancement, will give a summary of the EI&U Expect Greatness capital campaign that began in October 2010 and ended last September.

The campaign ended two years early and earned $13.7 million more than its $50 million goal.

Julie Sterling, president of the EIU Annuitants Association, will also give a presentation about the association during the meeting.

The board will meet 1 p.m. Friday in the 1895 Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].