District Heating & Cooling

2nd Quarter 1994 | Volume 79 Number 4

On the Cover

Boys Town National Research Hospital is an internationally recognized, state-of-the-art center for research in human communication and its disorders. In 1993, the hospital provided care and treatment to more than 17,500 children and their families from across the United States and several foreign countries.

Outsourcing Heating and Cooling: Across the country, it's the wave of the future. In Omaha, it's the wave of the past. (p12)

Judith Mariz Studt, President, Studt Communications, Inc.

With an eye on cutting costs and improving operating efficiency, more and more corporations and institutions across the nation are outsourcing their heating and cooling, turning to professional energy managers who make a living operating high-capacity steam and chilled-water production equipment. For more than 25 years, many building owners and managers in Omaha, Neb., have outsourced their heating and cooling to Energy Systems Company, the city's district heating and cooling provider. And demand for the service continues to grow.

Monroe County Cuts Utility Costs Through Demand-side Management Measures (p5)

Henry Manczyk, CPE, CEM, Director of Facilities Management, County of Monroe, N.Y. and Michael Leach, Management Analyst

Power plant construction in the United States has slowed significantly in recent years, mainly due to escalating costs of fuel, plant operation and pollution control. To cope with these challenges, power utilities have been shifting from aggressive, growth-oriented strategies to conservative approaches such as demand-side management (DSM). The County of Monroe, N.Y., which has its own district heating and cooling system, avoided $257,876 in energy costs during 1992 in four major building complexes by applying DSM strategies to routine operations, reflecting a consumption reduction of more than 10 percent.

Vented Double-wall Heat Exchangers Mean Safety and Convenience (p23)

Rick Roseke, National Sales Administrator, Doucette Industries, Inc.

In an ongoing effort to bring District Heating & Cooling readers up-to-date information on technical applications being used in the industry, this issue brings you an article on heat exchangers to supplement the two articles featured in first quarter 1994. This article focuses on the use of vented double-wall heat exchangers, particularly their installation and use in buildings connected to the hot water district heating system in St. Paul, Minn.

NRG Energy Sees National and International Expansion (p26)

Ron Will, Vice President of Operations and Engineering, NRG Energy, lnc.

Whether it's developing and operating a cogeneration plant in Michigan, providing steam to a window manufacturer in Minnesota, or working with a consortium in Germany to provide heat to local industrial plants and universities, NRG Energy Inc. has its sights for expansion set high. NRG Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern States Power Company (NSP) based in Minneapolis, Minn., is an umbrella corporation for unregulated energy-related businesses worldwide. The company recently purchased the Minneapolis Energy Center, one of the nation's first commercially operated district energy systems to provide both steam and chilled water.