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IDEA
History
Member Reflections
From National to International:
IDEA Celebrates More Than 90 Years
It
was high summer in Toledo, Ohio, July 15, 1909. Horse-drawn
carriages shared the streets with the occasional new Model
T. Businessmen in high, starched collars and wool suits tipped
their derby hats to ladies twirling parasols to shield themselves
from the noonday sun. In spite of the heat, work in the unair-conditioned
buildings went on, and the Ohio Electric Light Association
gathered for its 14th annual convention inside the old Boody
House Hotel.
The
convention was held in a room off the hotel's steamy, unventilated
upstairs corridor. After lunch, some of the attendees used
the room for a special meeting: They wanted to talk about
"the formation of an organization of central station
men interested in district heating." "It was a pretty
hot day to consider that subject," noted the association
secretary in later chronicles.
Headed
by A.C. Rogers of the Toledo Railways & Light Co., six
Ohio conventioneers that day founded the National District
Heating Association (NDHA). Today that organization is the
International District Energy Association, comprised of more
800 district heating and cooling professionals from 18 countries.
The
road from the founders' first meeting in Toledo to the IDEA
of today has been a long and eventful one. Not only has the
organization's membership gone global in the intervening nine
decades, but its focus has expanded from "central station
heating" to include district cooling and combined heat
and power.
Laying the Groundwork
Although
times have changed dramatically since 1909, IDEA continues
as a leader in the promotion of district energy - for that
it can thank its visionary founders. At their initial meeting
in Toledo and in committee meetings to follow, they labored
long to put their new organization on solid footing. They
established NDHA's basic framework: determining membership
classes; setting dues ($5 per year); preparing a preliminary
constitution and bylaws; and choosing Columbus, Ohio, as the
site of the first NDHA convention, held Nov. 10-11, 1909.
In
the four months between NDHA's formation and that first convention,
the founders faced their greatest challenge: identifying and
soliciting prospective members from across the country. Nevertheless,
Acting Secretary W.A. Wolls, Columbus Railway & Light
Co., sent out a letter about the first NDHA convention to
all known U.S. district heating businesses. As a result, 41
individuals signed up to attend. Most participants came from
light, heat and power companies in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan,
but many represented companies from other states, including
American District Steam Co. of Lockport, N.Y.; The Paducah
Light & Power Co., Paducah, Ky.; Phoenix Electric Co.,
Butte, Mont.; The Topeka-Edison Co., Topeka, Kan.; American
Foundry & Construction Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
At
the Columbus convention, Acting President A.C. Rogers delivered
an address titled "The Objects of the Association, Past,
Present and Future." The preliminary constitution and
bylaws were reviewed, amended and adopted. Officers were elected,
with Rogers officially voted in as NDHA's first president.
Convention
participants also presented papers on such topics as the Venturi
meter and its use in power plants; the depreciation of underground
heating mains and the method of determining same; air leakage
around windows, its prevention and effect on radiation; district
steam heating; and the heating and ventilating of modern buildings.
Building
on Success
After
Columbus, the fledgling association grew at an impressive
rate. By its second annual convention, held in June 1910 in
Toledo, NDHA's membership had increased nearly 200 percent.
In that same year, it already began attracting the attention
of energy professionals abroad: Memberships came in from Hamburg,
Germany, and Paris, France. The association also broadened
its focus, doing more research and publishing papers on topics
never before covered in the field of district heating.
NDHA's
original constitution included a statement of the organization's
reason for being: "…to foster and promote the common
interest of its members and to advance scientific and practical
knowledge in all matters relating to Hot Water and Steam Heating,
especially district Central Station Heating; also to establish
cordial and beneficial relations with kindred associations
and between manufacturers of Heating equipment and appliances
and installers of same and the members of this Association."
More
than 90 years later, IDEA remains dedicated to promoting not
only "central station heating," but also district
cooling and combined heat and power. And its reach is now
global. Reflecting such changes in scope, the organization
that began as the National District Heating Association became
the International District Heating Association in 1968, then
the International District Heating and Cooling Association
in 1984, and finally the International District Energy Association
in 1994.
Throughout
its history and name changes, the organization and its conferences
are built around NDHA's original goals of fostering members'
common interest, advancing industry knowledge and furthering
relationships among district energy professionals. It is fitting
to look back on the organization's beginnings in Toledo and
reflect on just how much the world has changed - yet what
a vital role IDEA continues to play, now worldwide, in promoting
environmental quality and energy efficiency.
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