District Energy Now
Volume 13 Number 9 April 1998
Welcome New Members!
We hope you will join us in welcoming the following new members of IDEA!
Gerald "Jerry" Pelofske
Manager
Duluth Steam Cooperative Association
One Lake Place Drive
Duluth, MN 55802
218-723-3601
218-723-3600 fax
referred by: Karl Marietta, Kattner/FVB
Narcis "Bacon" Reville
Assistant Manager
Duluth Steam Cooperative Association
One Lake Place Drive
Duluth, MN 55802
218-723-3601
218-723-3600 fax
referred by: Karl Marietta, Kattner/FVB
Peter L. Cooper
Assistant Director for Utilities
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Physical Plant, Room E18-260
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
617-258-8317
617-253-3737 fax
E-mail: plcooper@mit.edu
Greg Murphy
Assistant Director, Physical Plant
University of California
3401 Watkins Drive
Riverside, CA 92521
909-787-4724
909-787-5404 fax
E-mail: gjmurphy@ucrac1.ucr.edu
referred by: David Johnson, UCLA
Bill May
Supervisor, Plant Operations
University of California
3401 Watkins Drive
Riverside, CA 92521
909-787-4677
909-787-5404 fax
E-mail: bill.may@ucrac1.ucr.edu
referred by: David Johnson, UCLA
Terry Crews
Texas Utilities Integrated Solutions
1601 Bryan Street, Suite 10-118
Dallas, TX 75201-3411
214-812-3047
214-812-2168 fax
E-mail: terry.crews@tu.com
Scott Harrison
Texas Utilities Integrated Solutions
1601 Bryan Street, Suite 10-118
Dallas, TX 75201-3411
214-812-3639
214-812-2168 fax
E-mail: scott.harrison@tu.com
Gary Matteson
Associate Director
University of California
300 Lakeland Drive, 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
510-987-9268
510-987-0752 fax
E-mail: Gary.Matteson@ucop.edu
Bill Major
Project Manager
Onsite Energy Corporation
701 Palomar Airport Road, Suite 200
Carlsbad, CA 92009
760-931-2400
760-931-2405 fax
E-mail: busunitc@onsiteenergy.com
Terry L. Miller
Assistant Director of Airport Maintenance/Utilities
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board/Airport Maintenance/Utilities
P.O. Drawer 619428
DFW Airport, TX 75261
972-574-9568
972-574-3157 fax
E-mail: Tmiller@DFWAirport.com
Donald M. Waters
Corrosion Engineer
Corrpro Companies, Inc.
8840 Complex Drive, Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92123
619-565-6580
619-569-1743 fax
E-mail: psgsd@incom.net
referred by: Ray Humphries, Corrpro Companies
Jeff Pollei
Project Manager
Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
625 North Segoe Road
PO Box 5039
Madison, WI 53705
608-238-2616
608-238-2614 fax
E-mail: jpollei@aeieng.com
David T. Ercole
Marketing Manager
Enron Energy Information Systems
220 Regent Court
State College, PA 16801
814-238-4181 x572
814-238-4673 fax
E-mail: dercole@faser.com
Company URL: www.faser.com
referred by: Steve Bergstrom, Enron Energy Information Systems
Kurt Homan
District Sales Manager
Enron Energy Information Systems
220 Regent Court
State College, PA 16801
814-238-4181 x572
814-238-4673 fax
E-mail: khoman@faser.com
Company URL: www.faser.com
referred by: Steve Bergstrom, Enron Energy Information Systems
William G. Bartley
Vice-President, Sales and Marketing
EVAPCO, Inc.
5151 Allendale Lane
Tarrytown, MD 21787
410-756-2600
410-756-6450 fax
Craig A. Goralski
Assistant Product Manager
EVAPCO, Inc.
5151 Allendale Lane
Tarrytown, MD 21787
410-756-2600
410-756-6450 fax
Robert Gribble
President
Techtrol, Inc.
PO Box 668166
Charlotte, NC 28266
704-393-5959
704-393-5946 fax
E-mail: grib@techtrol.com
Todd Gribble
General Manager
Techtrol, Inc.
PO Box 668166
Charlotte, NC 28266
704-393-5959
704-393-5946 fax
E-mail: todd@techtrol.com
Robert Balzar
Director
Sierra Pacific District Energy
6100 Neil Rd.
Reno, NV 89520
702-689-4028
702-689-3047 fax
E-mail: bob_balzar@sppco.e-mail.com
referred by: Jerry Pittman, Kattner/FVB
Stephen Altizer
General Manager
Clark Services, Inc.
7500 Old Georgetown Rd.
Bethesda, MD 20816
301-272-8195
301-272-8250 fax
E-mail: salti@clarkus.com
Gerald England
General Manager
Aurora Energy, LLC
100 Cushman Street, Suite 210
Fairbanks, AK 99701-4659
907-452-8767
907-451-6543 fax
Calendar of Events
Third Annual House Renewable Energy Expo
May 21, 1998, 11:00 am - 4:00pm
Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC
Contact: Sustainable Energy Coalition, (301) 270-2258
89th Annual IDEA Conference & Trade Show
June 13-16, 1998
San Antonio Convention Center & Hilton Palacio del Rio Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111
13th Annual IDEA Cooling Conference
October 7-9, 1998
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111
People in the News
Jeff Hayter left the IDEA staff on March 13 to accept a position as a financial analyst with American Financial. He can be reached via E-mail at Jeffery.Hayter@worldnet.att.net. In bidding him farewell, association president John Fiegel commended him for three years of dedicated service to the association, particularly for his role in assisting technical chairmen of conferences and workshops, for his superb management of the membership database, and his interaction with magazine advertisers and trade show exhibitors. While he will be missed by members and his colleagues on the staff, Fiegel noted this is a good move for Jeff--it will give him valuable experience prepatory to his eventual pursuit of an MBA.
Fiegel announced that Evan Davis has joined the IDEA staff to replace Jeff. Evan is a 1996 graduate of Gettysburg College who comes to us from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Members will be able to welcome him on board when phoning IDEA headquarters.
Congratulations to Kevin Brown, Vice President of Trigen Philadelphia Energy Corporation, in being awarded the "Good Scout Award" by the Cradle of Liberty Council, Boy Scouts of America. Kevin will be presented this award at the 1998 Leadership Luncheon being held on Thursday, April 30 in Philadelphia.
COGEN Europe’s Director, Michael Brown, left COGEN Europe at the end of March 1998 to set up a consulting practice. He has been replaced by Dr. Simon Minett. Simon has been working for some years with the UK energy/environment consultancy, ETSU, and has been head of its CHP section. He is well known in the world of cogeneration and has extensive experience in the broader energy field, both nationally and at the European level.
Unicom Thermal Technologies Awarded Midway Airport Heating and Cooling Contract
Unicom Thermal Technologies (UTT) was awarded the contract to heat and cool the new Midway Airport terminal and concourse last week after a two-year, intensive competitive bidding process. The agreement will save the city more than $500,000 annually and was unanimously supported by Chicago City Council.
"We are extremely pleased to be a part of the Midway Airport redevelopment project and welcome the opportunity to meet Chicago’s growing demand for the greater efficiencies and environmental advantages provided by district energy," said UT Holdings Inc. President & CEO Donald A. Petkus. "By outsourcing heating and cooling requirements, the city can ensure greater reliability and dependability."
Unicom’s Northwind technology takes advantage of off-peak, lower electricity rates by manufacturing ice at night. The ice is then melted during the day to produce chilled water for air conditioning. For the Midway project, UTT will manufacture approximately 1.5 million pounds of ice each night.
The cooling system replaces freon and other traditionally-used ozone-depleting refrigerants. Heating of the Midway terminal and concourse will be provided with traditional gas-fired hot water technology.
The Midway Airport redevelopment project is an approximately $400 million project that will expand the existing terminal from 200,000 square feet to 800,000 square feet, including the relocation of Cicero Avenue.
11th Annual College/University Conference Best Ever
February’s College/University Conference proved to be the best ever with over 150 attendees and 16 exhibitors. The conference took place at the Crowne Plaza Redondo Beach and Marina Hotel, February 24-27, 1998. This was the third time that this conference included exhibitors. We would like to thank the following exhibitors for participating in the conference:
Baltimore Aircoil Company
BetzDearborn
Controlotron
DriTherm, Inc.
Enron Energy Services
Evantage
Nationwide Boiler Inc.
Perma-Pipe, Inc.
R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, Inc.
RMF Engineering, Inc.
Rovanco Piping Systems
Spence Engineering Company
The Trane Company
Trigen/PCS
Urecon Ltd.
Washington State University
IDEA would also like to thank Kattner/FVB District Energy, Inc., Parsons Energy & Chemical Group, RMF Engineering, Inc. and Syska & Hennessy for their generous sponsorships of this conference.
We would also like to thank David Johnson, General Chairman of the Conference and Jonathan Smithers, Technical Chairman of the Conference for all of their hard work toward ensuring the success of the meeting.
The proceedings, which contains the papers presented at the conference, are available for sale from IDEA at 202-429-5111, $50 for members and $100 for non-members.
Whitehall Turns on to Combined Heat & Power for the Millennium
Combined Heat & Power (CHP) is experiencing a watershed year in 1998 with the changes to the energy market, and there has never been more help available for industry, Environment Minister of England Michael Meacher said on February 18.
Addressing leaders from the engineering profession at the CHP 2000 Conference, Mr. Meacher welcomed an announcement by Transco that it is providing a further half a million pounds for industry to carry out CHP feasibility studies in 1998. He also highlighted the environmental significance of the announcement by John Battle that the British Sugar CHP scheme is to be the first exception to the current deferral of decisions on approvals for power stations over 10 megawatts.
Mr. Meacher spelled out the detailed range of measures Government is now pursuing with industry for CHP to meet the environmental and business agenda for the Millennium. As well as the ongoing CHP campaign these include the current policy reviews. He also pointed out the Government’s take up of CHP on its estate: "It’s not simply a case of Government exhorting industry to take action - we are practicing what we preach. My own Department’s two new HQ buildings have CHP. The RAF is already running CHP on six sites. And we’re currently commissioning a Gas Turbine to bring CHP to the heart of the Government machine - the new Whitehall District Heating Scheme includes 10 Downing Street and the Foreign Office and will be opened in May. We, like industry, need to control our energy costs and meet environmental commitments."
"We also encourage innovative approaches to funding in the public sector. Two pilot PFI projects at Manchester and Tower Hamlets are very likely to be based on CHP with Community Heating. My Department is monitoring the success of these pioneering schemes with a view to replication."
Third Annual House Renewable Energy Expo To Be Held on May 21, 1998
The Third Annual House of Representatives Renewable Energy Expo: Featuring Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will be held on Thursday, May 21, from 11:00 am - 4:00 pm in the Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building. The event is being sponsored by the Sustainable Energy Coalition in cooperation with the House Renewable Energy Caucus.*
More than 50 businesses, government agencies, and trade associations will exhibit technologies featuring the latest advances in solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric, fuel cells, and district energy as well as efficiency improvements in the buildings, industrial, and transportation sectors. Last year, there were more than 1,400 attendees including members of Congress and their staff, media, and interested members of the public. IDEA will be exhibiting this year, as will Trigen Energy Corporation.
*The Sustainable Energy Coalition is a coalition of 40+ business, environmental, and consumer organizations promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. IDEA has been a member since its inception in 1992. The House Renewable Energy Caucus is an officially recognized Congressional Member Organization comprised of 121 members of Congress (58 R’s, 62 D’s, 1 I) who support the research and development of renewable energy sources.
Delmarva Power & Light and Atlantic Energy, Inc. Merge
The merger involving Delmarva Power & Light Company and Atlantic Energy, Inc. has cleared the final regulatory hurdle in the companies’ plan to combine under a common holding company named Connectiv.
Operations that will carry the "Connectiv" name include Connectiv Energy (retail energy), Connectiv Communications (telecommunications), Connectiv Solutions (energy services) and Connectiv Services (HVAC). A district heating/cooling company named Atlantic Thermal Systems will soon change to Connectiv Thermal Systems. These five operations have nearly 100,000 customers.
FVB Creates New International Subsidiary
Swedish district energy consulting firm FVB-Fjärrvärmebyrån ab today announced the formation of a new subsidiary, FVB District Energy, to support the corporation’s plans for global expansion. FVB executive Bernt Andersson heads up the new firm as president.
Launched March 1, 1998, FVB District Energy is responsible for the business planning, preliminary engineering and final design of district heating, cooling and combined heat and power projects in all markets outside Sweden. Based at FVB corporate headquarters in Västerås, Sweden, the subsidiary includes the company’s North American unit, Kattner/FVB District Energy Inc. where Andersson remains board chairman.
"For many years, FVB has been instrumental in designing district energy systems around the world," said Andersson. "With the creation of this new international subsidiary, the corporation is well-positioned to continue growing throughout Europe, North America and beyond."
As its first geographic areas for expansion, FVB District Energy has targeted Eastern Europe and Russia. To facilitate its growth in the region, the firm plans to open an office in Riga, Latvia, in spring 1998.
Andersson is currently directing projects in both of Latvia’s two largest cities, Riga and Daugavpils, where FVB is studying the feasibility of making improvements to existing district heating networks. FVB has also worked with other district energy projects elsewhere in Latvia, as well as in Estonia, Lithuania and other Eastern European and former Soviet-bloc countries.
Other expansion plans include providing consulting services for a growing number combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant and district cooling projects, particularly in the European Union nations. According to Andersson, "Throughout the European Union, interest is increasing in both these technologies. We have extensive experience with district heating and cooling and CHP that can help projects get off the ground--or in the ground, if you will--even faster."
Trigen to Provide Energy to Navajo Nation
Trigen Energy announced March 12 that a Letter of Intent has been signed with leaders of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), based in Fort Defiance, Arizona, to provide 20 megawatts of electric power to NTUA and 110,000 lbs./hr. (33 megawatts equivalent) of process steam for a food processing facility to be owned by the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI), an enterprise of the Navajo Nation near Farmington, New Mexico.
Initial design work will begin immediately with construction of a potato processing plant expected to begin as early as 1999. Trigen’s participation will assist in capital cost reduction for electricity generation for NTUA and steam production for NAPI. Trigen will serve NTUA from a highly efficient steam generators and backpressure steam turbines. The project is expected to go on line in the year 2000 and to provide significant savings for NTUA, its customers and the potato processing plant.
Malcolm Dalton, General Manager for NTUA, said, "We welcome the Trigen team with their approach to ensure certainty and stability to the power supply for the Navajo Nation and NTUA customers. Their proven track record with a number of industrial customers, including Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado, is a strong indicator that their performance will meet our needs at the lowest all-in cost and with the reliability we require."
Thomas R. Casten, president and CEO of Trigen said, "We’re delighted to provide NTUA with clean, efficient energy without expensive-to-build, energy-consuming transmission. In addition, by applying our specialized knowledge, we are able to save NTUA considerable capital. We believe the future of power generation is with combined heat and power plants that burn fuel one to produce two energy products, lowering both cost and pollution."
A Green Building Rating System
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently posted the latest draft of its green building rating system on its web site (http://www.usgbc.org/). It was developed by USGBC members who volunteered to participate on the rating system committee. The rating system could use a solid review by its intended audience--especially building owners and professional mechanical engineers.
You are encouraged to visit the USGBC web site to take a look at the rating system. When you go there, look for a document called the LEEDÔ Building Rating System. LEED stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design." Please send your comments to the Council--its contact information is on its web site.
CCUM & Union Sign Agreement
CCUM and its union (CAW) have signed a new three year agreement effective January 1, 1998.
CCUM is the district energy system in downtown Montreal. CCUM owns and operates a thermal plant (4 boilers; 390,000 lbs/h). It supplies 20 buildings with steam (500° F, 325 psi).
CCUM was created by the privatization of the Canadian Railway district energy asset in 1990. It is an unregulated and private corporation. However, it is now fully owned by Gaz Metropolitain, the gas utility company in the Province of Quebec.
The plant has always been unionized. Twelve out of the fourteen unionized workers are former CN workers. The team of operators (8) and maintenance staff (6) are members of the Canadian Automotive Workers of Canada.
U.S. ‘Green’ Groups Greet Clinton Plan with Mixed Reaction
Leading U.S. environmental and public interest groups gave a decidely mixed reaction to the Clinton administration plan for restructuring the U.S. electricity industry, which was forwarded to Congress on March 25. The reaction appeared to stem from whether the group viewed the environmental and energy efficiency provisions of the White House plan as a glass half full or half empty.
Groups that had pressured the administration to include a firm mandate for utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deemed to be destabilizing the world’s climate system gave the plan a definite thumbs down. Anti-nuclear power groups also criticized the administration’s support for utility stranded-cost recovery, which they decried as a ‘bail-out’ for nuclear power.
Other groups, meanwhile, cheered the White House for advocating renewable energy.
The Natural Resources Defense Council criticized the restructuring plan for failing ‘to deliver on the President’s promise to make a significant down payment on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.’
The Campaign for a Sustainable Energy Future called the White House plan ‘a major disappointment.’ The proposal’s ‘weak’ renewable energy mandate ‘will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while exposing consumers to a massive nuclear bailout.’
But energy-efficiency groups welcomed the Clinton proposal, which would create a $3 billion ‘public benefits fund’ for matching grants to states for energy efficiency and low-income service protections.
‘The administration’s pro-competition, pro-efficiency utility restructuring proposal shows, once again, that a strong economy and a healthy environment can go hand-in-hand,’ said the Alliance to Save Energy.
The International District Energy Association believes that the administration’s Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan represents a useful step forward in moving to a competitive electricity industry. The plan addresses key issues, including jurisdictional issues, stranded costs, environmental impacts and support for renewables, low-income programs and efficiency programs, in substantive ways that are politically realistic. The plan represents a balanced approach which forms a sound basis for crafting comprehensive legislation. IDEA believes that restructuring legislation ultimately passed by the Congress should also: 1) incorporate incentives to recover power generation waste heat; and 2) ensure that exit fees on highly efficient generators should not be used to recover stranded costs.
World Wildlife Fund Releases Poll
The World Wildlife Fund has released a new poll on climate change issues conducted January 30. It found that 72% of the 1,014 respondents had heard "at least some" about the climate change issue and 56% say this problem is at least a "somewhat serious" threat today. A majority (53%) continue to support unilateral action on the part of the U.S. to take action to reduce emissions regardless of what other countries do. A majority (52%) also are in favor of the U.S. signing the Kyoto treaty while only 8% are opposed; however, 41% are undecided on the agreement. More than a quarter (27%) say the agreement does not go far enough while another quarter (26%) believe the protocol’s provisions "seem about right." A plurality (26%) believe the government has "the most important role to play" in fixing this problem followed by business and industry (24%) and by individual consumers (11%); another 24% say all three must share responsibility equally. More details on the poll results can be found at <www.panda.org/climate/newpoll.shtml>.
February Warmest on Record
On March 30, Dow Jones reports that the World Meteorological Organization says that February 1998 was the world’s warmest since global record-keeping began in 1856. The average air temperature around the world was 0.75° C (1.35° F) above normal for the month. The average temperature for the United States for the month of February was the sixth warmest on record.
Conference Update
Get the Power....
We’re only four months away from the International District Energy Association’s
89th Annual Conference and Trade Show
Community District Energy: Power to Change our World
San Antonio Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas
June 13-16, 1998
We would like to thank the following companies for their commitment to exhibit at the Annual Conference:
Advanced Thermal Systems, Inc. Paul Mueller Co.
Alfa Laval Thermal, Inc. *Perma-Pipe, Inc.
Ashland Chemical Co./Drew Industrial Div. Pittsburgh Corning Corp.
*Baltimore Aircoil Co. *R.G. Vanderweil Engineers
*BetzDearborn *RMF Engineering, Inc.
Black & Veatch *Rovanco Piping Systems
Carrier Corporation *Spence Engineering Co.
Carter & Burgess, Inc. Thermacor Process, Inc.
CES/WAY Int’l, Inc. Thermo Power Corp.
Contrec-USA, LLC *The Trane Co.
*Controlotron Corp. Trigen-Ewing Power
*DriTherm, Inc. *Trigen/PCS
*Enron Energy Services Tuthill Corp./Murray Turbomachinery Div.
*Evantage *Urecon, Ltd.
Fisher-Rosemount Vanessa Valve Co.
Flow Control Industries, Inc. *Washington State University
Hesky GmbH Yokogawa Industrial Automation
Honeywell, Inc. York Int’l Corp.
Kattner/FVB District Energy, Inc.
Marley Cooling Tower Co.
Mycom America Corp.
Nalco Chemical Co.
*Nationwide Boiler, Inc.
Nova District Energy Services, Inc.
(*Indicates companies who also had a tabletop exhibit at the IDEA 11th Annual College/University Conference.)
There are still exhibit and sponsorship opportunities available for this conference. To secure a sponsorship, please contact Marie Williams at (202) 429-5111. For information on exhibiting at IDEA's conference, contact Tammie Jackson at (301) 464-0059.