Blogs

Brownfields Redevelopment Receives Boost Under the BUILD Act

By District Energy posted yesterday
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Amy P. Wang, The National Law Review Summary Redevelopment of environmentally-damaged property has seen steady growth in North Carolina and nationwide.  The attraction to dense, urban communities offering work/live/play opportunities and away from suburban living has provided profitable opportunities to resurrect older, derelict buildings on properties which redevelopment is complicated by the presence of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants under federal and state Brownfields programs.  Under the North Carolina Brownfields Program, properties with soil and groundwater contamination can be redeveloped without full cleanup of the property if ...
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$85 million USAID energy security project begins in Ukraine

By District Energy posted yesterday
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Igor Kossov, Kyiv Post Summary A U.S. Agency for International Development plan to improve Ukraine’s energy security saw its formal launch ceremony in Kyiv on Feb. 14. Under the plan, USAID awarded $85 million to U.S.-based engineering and consulting firm Tetra Tech to help reform and upgrade Ukraine’s energy production, governance and distribution. The project will try to liberalize energy markets, expand natural gas, push renewable energy investment and make heating more affordable at a district level. “At its core, the project is about nothing less than the security of Ukraine’s national sovereignty,” USAID mission director in Ukraine, Susan Fritz, ...
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David Adams: Energy Manager

By District Energy posted yesterday
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Melanie Groves, University of Victoria Summary David Adams, Energy Manager, Facilities Management Tell us about your work at the University  I am the energy manager in Facilities Management, I see myself as the ‘energy accountant’ for the campus. We are a staff of two in the energy management program, and we’re looking to add another person soon. Our objective is to reduce the environmental impact of fuel, natural gas, electricity and water use on campus. It’s a diverse role and I get involved in a lot of different things, including monitoring campus energy use, conservation projects, working with staff to tune up the energy systems in campus buildings, ...
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Asia set to cement position as global CHP leader

By District Energy posted yesterday
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Kelvin Ross, Power Engineering International Summary A new report concludes that the Asia Pacific region will continue to dominate the global market for new capacity additions of   combined heat and power plants . The study by analysts at GlobalData reveals that worldwide CHP capacity is estimated to grow significantly from last year’s 864.2 GW to 1050.5 GW in 2025, due to significant capacity additions by   China and India . Asia-Pacific was the largest region in terms of both net capacity additions and cumulative CHP capacity in 2018. GlobalData power analyst Anchal Agarwal said: “ Europe   was the region with the highest installed CHP capacity ...
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California gas network taps into dairy RNG

By District Energy posted yesterday
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Bioenergy Insight Summary Both US-based natural gas provider Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and biogas producer Calgren announced that renewable natural gas (RNG) from Calgren’s dairy anaerobic digester is being injected into SoCalGas’ pipeline network. According to the release, the project marks the ‘first’ time that carbon-negative RNG produced from cow manure has been injected directly into SoCalGas' natural gas network. “Developing renewable natural gas is a smart and cost-effective solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation and building sectors,” said Sharon Tomkins, SoCalGas vice-president of customer solutions ...
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Falkirk residents to benefit from £4m district heating upgrade

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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Scottish Housing News Summary 125 additional homes, three local schools and   Falkirk Council   offices are all set to benefit from a newly announced £4 million project to extend an existing district heating system and create a private wire network at Callendar Park. The local authority has appointed specialist contractor   McDermott Group   to reconfigure and extend the existing district heating network which currently serves six tower blocks at Callendar Park. The upgrade will extend the network to a further three tower blocks while doubling its heat generation capacity from three to six Megawatts. Electricity generated from the plant will serve ...
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City leaders representing 20 million people sign clean air plan

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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Johnny Bairstow, Energy Live News Summary City leaders representing 20 million people have signed up to what they claim is the world’s most ambitious   clean air plan . The National Clean Air Summit, held at the Tate Modern earlier today, saw mayors and representatives from Newcastle, London, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Bristol, Leicester, Sheffield, Reading, Southampton, Cambridge, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Nottingham, Cornwall, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bath unite in their mission to slash air pollution. They called for the proposed Environment Bill to be renamed the Clean Air and Environment Bill and make a number of changes. These amendments ...
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ENGIE builds on data centre capabilities with new acquisition in Singapore

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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Networks Asia Summary ENGIE South East Asia has announced a definitive agreement to acquire RCS Engineering Pte Ltd., a leading player in Singapore’s data centre industry specialised in delivering M&E infrastructure to large and mission-critical facilities and already exporting its services overseas. The acquisition marks yet another significant milestone for ENGIE, expanding its operations across Asia-Pacific, as the company looks to provide sophisticated and sustainable solutions for the region's rapidly-growing digital economy including a booming development of data centres. Data centres are heavy energy consumers and Singapore’s data centre market ...
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MAN commissioned CHP Power Plant

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide Summary MAN Energy Solutions said it has handed over a new combined heat and power generation (CHP) power plant to German energy company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG. The 30-MW plant is located in the Gaisburg district of the city of Stuttgart, Germany, and commenced commercial operations at the end of December 2018. The plant is powered by three MAN 20V35/44G gas engines, which produce not only electrical energy but also 30 MW district heating. The plant operates at a total efficiency of up to 90%, MAN said. The 35/44G is offered in a V-type version with 20 cylinders and an electrical gen-set output of 10 420 ...
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Energy from waste project gets funds to find site

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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Jenna Dulewich, Rocky Mountain Outlook Summary EXSHAW – One community’s waste could soon become another’s energy source. Officials from Southern Alberta Energy from Waste Association (SAEWA) announced this week they will be moving forward with finding a location for the project after being awarded a $400,000 funding from the Alberta Community Partnership program grant. “We are excited to move forward to identify an appropriate site for the energy from waste facility. Our process to date has resulted in six southern Alberta municipalities expressing interest in hosting an EFW facility,” said Paul Ryan, SAEWA vice chair/project lead and MD of Bighorn councillor. ...
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How can the Clyde heat your home, your office or our public buildings?

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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The Herald Summary Anyone walking along the banks of the Clyde at this time of year would find it virtually impossible to believe that it could be a sustainable source of heat. Most people probably think that the greatest danger from falling into the water during a Scottish winter is the risk of a fatal battering from chunks of ice. But appearances can, and do, deceive. The river on which   Glasgow built its history and its industry is about to serve the city’s population once again, this time as a source of renewable heat energy. Under an ambitious development plan, the new Queen’s Quay regeneration project in Clydebank will see the installation of ...
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Kerr Wood Leidal - Senior Mechanical Engineer

By District Energy posted 2 days ago
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​ Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. Senior Mechanical Engineer Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. (KWL) is seeking an experienced senior mechanical engineer with experience in consulting engineering related to, central heating and cooling plant design, district energy applications and building mechanical systems to work in our Burnaby office. Typical assignments include: feasibility studies and development of business cases; assessments of existing facilities for expansion and/or retrofit; integration of building heating and cooling systems with utility-scale district energy systems; planning and design of energy plants with various energy ...
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Puerto Rico's Utility PREPA Plans to Divide Island Into Renewable Energy Microgrids

By Microgrid Resources Coalition posted 3 days ago
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James Ellsmoor, Forbes Summary After the catastrophe caused by 2017’s Hurricane Maria, many Puerto Ricans were left without electricity for months.   Now, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has put forward a plan to radically reform electricity access on the Caribbean island   . The latest draft of the  integrated resource plan  (IRP) has been greeted with mixed reactions by environmentalists and clean energy advocates. Like many Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico has long depended on electricity generated from imported fossil fuels. The new plan has a heavy emphasis on utility-owned solar energy with battery storage but ...
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Tabreed Signs First District Cooling Concession in India

By District Energy posted 3 days ago
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Utilities Middle East Summary National Central Cooling Company PJSC (DFM: Tabreed), the leading UAE-based international cooling provider, has entered into a 30 year concession for a contracted cooling capacity of 20,000 refrigeration tons (RTs) with Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to build, own, operate and transfer India’s first district cooling system in Amaravati – the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. This will be Tabreed’s first plant outside its GCC market. Tabreed’s district cooling system is part of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh’s vision for Amaravati to create jobs and homes along with a world-class infrastructure, ...
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If Not Natural Gas, What?

By District Energy posted 3 days ago
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Eric Rempel, My Steinbach Summary Last week in this column I bemoaned the fact that we have become utterly, dangerously dependent on natural gas to keep us from freezing in our Canadian winter. That’s bad enough, but the key actors in the management of Canada’s natural gas reserves seem intent on selling and exporting our gas as quickly as possible. In lamenting our utter dependence on Alberta natural gas, I suggested last week that this dependence was and is avoidable. There have been and are alternatives. This week I want to expand on that thought. It is, of course, within our nature that we follow the course of least resistance. There is no doubt ...
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Planned solar array will provide 25 percent of electricity needs for Penn State system

By District Energy posted 3 days ago
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Mike Kennedy, American School & University Summary Penn State   is developing 70 megawatts of large-scale, offsite solar energy installations   with a goal of providing 25 percent of the university's statewide electricity requirements over 25 years. The university says in a news release that Lightsource BP will build the ground-mounted solar array. It will have more than 150,000 solar panels in three locations encompassing roughly 500 acres situated just outside Chambersburg, Pa., near Penn State’s Mont Alto campus. “Among the many benefits of this significant investment in solar-based electric generation include cost savings, lower greenhouse-gas ...
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Electricity intensity in commercial, residential sectors to fall through 2050

By District Energy posted 3 days ago
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Talk Business & Politics Summary Residential and commercial purchased electricity consumption is expected to increase more slowly than the number of households or total commercial floor space, according to the   U.S. Energy Information Administration   (EIA). As a result, electricity intensity, which is the amount of electricity consumed per household or square foot of commercial space, is expected to fall 0.3% and 0.4% annually, between 2018 and 2050, in the residential and commercial sectors, respectively. Nationwide, the total number of households is projected to rise 0.7% annually, from 2018 to 2050, according to the EIA’s reference case. Over ...
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Copenhagen turned a mountain of trash into a ski trail

By District Energy posted 3 days ago
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Reuters, New York Post Summary COPENHAGEN – What to do with the mountain of garbage a major metropolitan area produces is an age-old question. Copenhagen has come up with a brand-new answer: ski down the mountain. Well, not exactly. The waste is actually inside Copenhill, a waste-treatment plant 10 minutes from downtown Copenhagen. Its main facility is a futuristic building with a sloping roof 278-feet high that’s covered in a material called neveplast. It looks just like a ski slope, except it’s green. “I think everybody is surprised to start with when they look at it and it’s not snow,” said Christian Ingels, the director at Copenhill. “It’s green ...
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Congressional Democrats push FERC to act on aggregated DERs

By Microgrid Resources Coalition posted 4 days ago
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Gavin Bade, Utility Dive Summary Congressional Democrats on Monday   pressed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission   to issue an order clarifying how aggregations of distributed energy resources (DERs) may participate in wholesale power markets, more than two years after the agency first addressed the issue. FERC held a technical conference in April 2018 on aggregated DERs, 17 House Democrats and 18 Senators noted in Monday letters, but has not yet issued a decision. The group urged regulators to adopt a rule "as soon as possible" that "enables all DERs the opportunity to participate in … wholesale markets."  FERC last year also directed regional ...
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Moving towards a decentralised grid

By District Energy posted 4 days ago
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Olivia Gagan, Raconteur Summary The UK’s energy grid has been powered for decades by coal and nuclear plants. As these centralised power stations, designed to deliver large quantities of electricity across hundreds of miles of national power networks, are gradually shut down, they are being replaced with smaller, nimbler, decentralised sources of energy. The benefits of decentralisation – drawing power from   multiple, localised energy networks   – are numerous. Deploying local solar plants, small wind farms, battery storage and combined heat-and-power plants can drive competition up, and power prices down, as the number of energy providers increases. ...
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