District Energy Workshop

Conference Registration - Ballroom Gallery

Workshop Breakfast - Ballroom B

Opening Remarks and Setting the Context - Laxmi Rao, IDEA

Cities, campuses, counties, states and nations across the globe are engaged in setting objectives and targets for a low carbon energy infrastructure. The focus is predominantly on electric technologies and often ignores the need to serve heating and increasingly cooling loads from end use sectors including campuses, airports, data centers, hospitals and industry. District Energy and combined heat and power can play incorporate thermal energy at scale and play a vital role in the path to a low–carbon energy infrastructure that is also reliable, efficient and resilient.

Session 1 - Global Approaches and Best Practices for Low Carbon, Reliable and Resilient Energy Infrastructure

Panelists from the City of Boston, City of Pittsburgh, London, UK, and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency serving the people who live and work in the 101 cities and towns of Metropolitan Boston, will be invited to share insights into best practices and what local activities are being undertaken to embrace a path forward to an energy infrastructure of the future. Invited panelists include:

• Bradford Swing, City of Boston, Boston, MA
• Grant Ervin, City of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• Michael King, District Energy Development Ltd, London, UK
• Cameron Peterson, MAPC, Boston, MA

Session 2 - Planning & Development of Thermal Networks

This session will present THERMOS, a data driven tool that helps accelerate the planning and development of Thermal Networks, including designing a new network based on an existing energy source, adding new sites and connections to an existing network, and discuss approaches to methods and models for high resolution energy mapping data.

10:00am - 10:30am

Refreshment Break - Ballroom B

10:30am - 11:00am

Session 3 - Technology Deep-Dive on GeoExchange

This session will cover a variety of considerations that are critical for successful design and deployment of GeoExchange Systems to meet Decarbonizing objectives. 

11:00am - 11:20am

Overview of Critical Design Factors – Mark Spurr, FVB Energy

• Annual heating and cooling energy balance and/or more generous well spacing to ensure no long-term degradation in performance
• Impact of new vs. retrofitted building space on temperature requirements and thus heat pump COP
• Open loop vs. closed loop
• Geologic variables
• Distributed vs. district implementation

11:20am - 12:00pm

Expert panelists will discuss the opportunities and drivers for the development and deployment of GeoExchange systems in cities, towns and campuses. Invited panelists include:

• Daniel Dixon, Lincoln Electric Utility, District Energy Corporation, Nebraska Utilities Corporation
• Tom Nyquist, Princeton University
• Jeff Urlaub, MEP Associates

Moderator:  Mark Spurr, FVB Energy

Workshop Luncheon -Ballroom B

Session 4 - Pittsburgh Local Action & Path Forward

• The Champion City – Grant Ervin, City of Pittsburgh
• The Evolving District Energy Systems Landscape in Pittsburgh – Cliff Blashford, Clearway Energy
• Energy Mapping for Decarbonization – Katrina Kelly-Pitou, University of Pittsburgh; Tom Tarka, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)
• The Aarhus Case: Cutting Carbon Emissions in Half with District Energy – Bjarne Munk Jensen, Aarhus AffaldVarme
• Moving District Energy Projects from Concept to Completion: DE Handbook As A Tool – Shirin Karoubi, Danish Consulate in Toronto; Niels Vilstrup, Embassy of Denmark

Refreshment Break - 406 & 407 Foyers

3:15pm - 4:00pm

Hwang Chang-hwa, CEO, Korea District Heating Corporation

4:00pm - 5:00pm

Forums- Multiple Locations

Open meetings for IDEA members to discuss current industry issues by specialty area.
District Cooling Forum - Room 315
Microgrid Forum - Room 316
Operations & Safety Forum - Room 317

Exhibit Hall Ribbon Cutting & Business Partners Welcome Reception - Exhibit Hall B

Poster Exhibit - Exhibit Hall B

Welcome Dinner - Exhibit Hall B