District Energy Now

Volume 12 Number 3 October 1996

Welcome New Members!

William Drewery
Industry Executive
Entergy Retail Services
639 Loyola Avenue
PO Box 61000
New Orleans, LA 70161
(504) 576-7177
(504) 576-6440 fax
referred by Jerry Pittman, Kattner/FVB

Craig T. Guevara
Facility Maintenance Asst. Manager
Guam Memorial Hospital Authority
850 Gov. Carlos G. Camacho Road
Tamuning, Guam 96910
(671) 647-2412
(671) 649-5508 fax

Joseph H. Lander
Vice President
Progress Energy Corporation
3401 - 34th Street South, MAC: K1B
St. Petersburg, FL 33711
(813) 866-4542
(813) 866-5368 fax
referred by Black & Veatch

Steve Marquez
Plant Manager
University of New Mexico
Ford Utilities Center
University & Martin Luther King Avenue, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-2464
(505) 277-3671 fax
referred by James Rawls, University of New Mexico

Harold L. Olsen
Program Director
University of Wisconsin, Madison
432 North Lake Street
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 262-2403
(608) 263-3160 fax

Vicki VanBlaricum
General Engineer
US Army CERL
Attn: CECER-FL-M (V. VanBlaricum)
PO Box 9005
Champaign, IL 61826-9005
(217) 373-6771
(217) 373-6732 fax

Calendar of Events

Europe's Cogeneration Market of the Future: Prospects and Challenges
October 10-11, 1996
ITT Sheraton Hotel, Brussels
Contact: COGEN Europe, Rue Gulledelle 98, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, 32-2-772-8290 or 32-2-772-5044 fax

Nordic District Heating Symposium
October 28-29, 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark
Contact: Danish District Heating Association, 45 75 52 88 11 or 45 75 52 89 62 fax

International District Heating Conference
October 30-31, 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark
Contact: Danish District Heating Association, 45 75 52 88 11 or 45 75 52 89 62 fax

National Congress of the Danish District Heating Association
October 31-November 1, 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark
Contact: Danish District Heating Association, 45 75 52 88 11 or 45 75 52 89 62 fax

Safety, Environment & Operations Workshop
November 7-8, 1996
Radisson Plaza Hotel, Minneapolis, MN
Contact: (202) 429-5111

Distribution and Measurements & Controls Workshop
November 13-15, 1996
Red Lion Hotel, Omaha, NE
Contact: IDEA (202) 429-5111

10th Annual IDEA College/University Conference
February 19-21, 1997
Omni Hotel Charlottesville, Charlottesville, VA
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111

88th Annual IDEA Conference & Tradeshow
June 14-17, 1997
Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego, CA
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111

Safety, Environment & Operations Workshop Planned

The Safety, Environment & Operations Workshop is planned for November 7-8, 1996 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In order to receive the lower registration fee IDEA must receive your registration by October 11.

As the title suggests, the workshop will include discussions on environmental issues (air, water and solid waste), safety issues, and operations issues, such as boiler overhauls, boiler efficiency, maintenance programs, personnel issues, and controls improvements. Attendees should bring their questions or solutions on any of these issues.

For more information on the workshop, contact, IDEA at (202) 429-5111 or Jan Sockel, Safety, Environment & Operations Forum Chairman at (717) 234-4600.

Outsourcing Your Chilled-Water Needs

In an article in the September issue of Engineered Systems, Howard McKew, P.E., C.P.E., recommends that building engineers consider outsourcing their cooling needs.

McKew calls outsourcing your chilled-water needs to third-party management firm a "creative solution."

McKew lists the following issues to consider when evaluating a central plant:

• "Equipment service life -- Chillers are reaching the end of their useful life when they are more than 20 years old."
• "Utility rebates are not as abundant to help in the replacement of these equipment systems."
• "The Clean Air Act has phased out the production of the CFC refrigerant that is probably in your existing chiller. The replacement cost of this refrigerant has increased by a factor of five."
• "Certification of HVAC technicians to work with CFC refrigerants is required by law. This an become a liability if not correctly managed on-site."
• "The deregulation of electricity will now change chilled-water load management."

He then lists the valid reasons to consider outsourcing cooling needs:

• "You can avoid major capital costs for new central plant equipment. What you will get will be new, energy-efficient equipment that provides reliability and flexibility to the end-user."
• "With fewer utility rebate funds available, third-party financing is a proven option."
• "In compliance with the Clean Air Act, the new chiller plant will be CFC-free. Certification of the HVAC technicians will become the responsibility of the chilled-water plant provider."
• "The deregulation of electricity will put the onus on the outsourcing firm strategically to map its load management plan. This will most likely lead them to thermal storage."

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Euroheat and Power - unichal Issues Call For Papers

Euroheat and Power - unichal has issued a Call For Papers for its 28th Biennial Congress and International District Heating Exhibition to be held in Arnhem, the Netherlands, June 9-11, 1997.

The general theme of this congress is No Power Without Heat Utilization? Contributions to the Future Development of CHP.

Abstracts are due October 31, 1996. For more information, contact Euroheat & Power - unichal by phone: 41 1 211 3635, fax: 41 1 221 7063 or by e-mail: euroheat@access.ch.

The complete Call For Papers is listed on the World Wide Web at www.energy.rochester.edu/euroheat/.

People in the News

John Andrepont has joined Trigen Energy Corporation as manager of product development. He will be based in Chicago. John was employed for 20 years with Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI). While at CBI, John played a leading role in the Trigen-CBI Strategic Alliance which was formed to promote application of chilled water storage. He holds B.S. and Masters in Mechanical Engineering degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He is a board member of IDEA, serving on the executive committee and is a active member of ASHRAE.

Glenn A. Swinehart has joined Thermal Engineering Group in Hendersonville, Tenn. as vice president in charge of corporate engineering and design. Glenn is a P.E. with forty-four years total professional experience in the engineering field related to thermal power plants, waste-to-energy, cogeneration and district steam and chilled water systems.

IDEA Works with Administration on Global Climate Change

IDEA is actively involved as the administration works intensively on analysis and policy development related to reducing emissions of Agreenhouse gases@ such as carbon dioxide. Most scientists who have intensively studied the evidence now agree that there is a Adiscernible human influence@ on the global climate.

During international negotiations in July, the U.S. pushed for and obtained commitments to negotiate binding targets and timetables for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. These targets and timetables will be negotiated during 1997, culminating in December 1997. The shift to binding targets is a very significant change in approach to climate change, which has heretofore been limited to voluntary, non-binding commitments. Governments all over the world are now examining what specific targets they could support, and how they would meet the targets.

IDEA Legislative Director Mark Spurr has been working with many agencies and individuals in the administration to ensure that the U.S. climate change strategy includes measures for encouraging the development and expansion of district energy systems. Based on past efforts, we have achieved credibility that district energy has the potential to provide significant reductions in greenhouse gases.

Our current efforts are focused on what specific, politically realistic policies and programs the federal government could implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through district energy. IDEA is also mounting a related effort on the analytical back-up on the policies and programs, which has to pass muster with the right people as well as fit in with the broader analytical framework being developed by the administration.

Minnesota to Hold Conference on Climate Change

The Sierra Club with the University of Minnesota Humphrey Policy Institute and the Minnesota Environmental Initiative (MEI) are sponsoring a Global Warming and Climate Change conference on December 11, 1996 at the Sheraton Midway Hotel in Saint Paul. This conference objective is to provide the latest scientific information on this complex problem and to initiate an informed policy dialog. Nationally recognized scientists will discuss the Climate Change science, global impacts, Minnesota effects on agriculture, forestry, wetlands and fish and game and the status of current international negotiations. The public is invited. Contact MEI at (612) 334-3388 for additional information.

Independent Power Producer Trade Groups Agree to Merge

The two national trade associations representing the independent power industry, the National Independent Energy Producers (NIEP) and the Electric Generation Association (EGA), agreed in principle on Friday, September 6, to a merger of the two organizations before the end of this year. Noting that the agreement is subject to ratification by both Boards, officials of both organizations said the goal of forming the new merged organization is to enable the industry to be represented by a single, unified voice C especially as the federal and state efforts to restructure the electricity industry intensify.

The new organization will be governed by a Board of Directors comprised of members of both organizations. The new trade association will represent independent power producers, power marketers, and suppliers of goods and services in the industry.

Employment Classified

Regional Manager - Build/grow world class regional force. Hire, motivate account managers, report to national operations manager. Ten plus years sales leadership in energy related services (district energy). Competitive, salary, bonus, car and expenses. Contact: C.B. McFee, Dunhill Search (904) 282-2216. Confidentiality assured.

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