As I write this column, it seems to me like we were all just in Chicago together. Summer seemed to zoom by, and autumn, a favorite time of the year for me, never seems to last long enough. However, the good news is that it won't be long before we will all be together in San Diego for the 26th Annual IDEA Campus Energy Conference and Distribution Workshop, to be held Feb. 18-22, 2013. What a great winter break in beautiful San Diego! You have made your reservations, haven't you? If not, it's really simple. Just go to www-j43rn.hosts.cx and take advantage of the early-bird discount and lock in a great room in the beautiful Sheraton San Diego Hotel. I hope to see you there!
As you may recall, our theme for this year is "Building on Efficiency, Delivering Value." I have been encouraged by all the positive comments I've received after my speech at the annual conference as well as the remarks in my last column in District Energy magazine. Many of you have emphasized how important it is to not only deliver value from our plants but also provide ways to reduce energy demand.
From those same remarks it also is clear that lots of you have been hard at work on your own efforts to reduce energy consumption. I've heard about ingenious ways to use that "first fuel" - the fuel of energy avoidance that comes with zero emissions and a negative cost. I am willing to bet that many more of you have some really great stories to tell about how you have been helping your customers save energy.
Wouldn't it be great if all those ideas could be shared and replicated across our industry? We also think it would be fun to have a little contest so that the very best ideas are not only recognized but rewarded as well. With that in mind, we are announcing the IDEA Innovation Award.
The principal intent of this award is to provide a platform for members to share projects, programs and best practices that achieve greater energy efficiency, higher reliability and enhanced value to the stakeholder community while demonstrating the value proposition of district energy to the marketplace.
The IDEA Innovation Award will help our industry demonstrate how district energy systems deliver benefits to various constituencies including customers, communities, shareholders, institutions, the environment and society in general.
All entries must be submitted by an IDEA member in good standing, and all membership categories are eligible to participate - operating systems in cities and on campuses, consultants and manufacturers. We believe this approach will cultivate collaboration and participation from operating systems, consultants and business partners. There is no limit to the number of submissions per site, and no project is too small to enter. However, proprietary commercial content should be minimal, as all entries will be publically available.
Entries are due by April 1, 2013, and will be judged based on the ingenious methods used to achieve good technical, operational or business practices along the theme of "Building on Efficiency, Delivering Value." The project or program must be working and sustainable over time. The ability to widely replicate and deploy it in various applications will also be considered. There should be tangible economic benefits to the project, but small projects with good economics have just as much opportunity to win as large projects. All entries must be "sharable" so that they can be replicated by others.
Submittal forms are available on the IDEA website at www-j43rn.hosts.cx. We have made it simple to apply and have included some examples to help you fill out the forms. I am really looking forward to seeing all the great ideas. Please enter your ideas as soon as possible. We will be presenting the first IDEA Innovation Award at the 104th Annual Conference in Miami, Fla., in June 2013.
See you in San Diego!
Joseph Brillhart
Chair, 2012-13
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