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The Straits Times

Summary

Deep in the bowels of the UN headquarters, a pump sucks in huge amounts of water from the East River to help cool the complex with an old but energy-efficient mechanism.

As more and more people want to stay cool in a planet that is steadily heating up, energy experts point to this kind of water-based system as a good alternative to air conditioning.

But in many cases they are hard to set up.

The system has two independent loops to prevent contamination of the water that flows back into the river at a higher temperature, said the head of the cooling system, Mr David Lindsay.

Some big organisations have been able to run such systems on their own, like the United Nations or Cornell University in New York State, which relies on water from Lake Cayuga.

But for the most part these systems require a lot of coordination among multiple stakeholders, said Ms Riahi.

“We know it’s technically possible, and we know actually there are many cases that prove the economics as well,” said Mr Rob Thornton, president of the International District Energy Association, which helps develop district cooling and heating networks.

“But it requires someone, some agent, whether it’s a champion, a city, or a utility or someone, to actually undertake the aggregation of the market,” he said.

“The challenge is just gathering and aggregating the customers to the point where there’s enough, where the risk can be managed,” Mr Thornton said.