Feature
Story
Think Globally, Invest
Locally: Recycle Energy
Annual conference draws hundreds
to St. Paul
More than 420 attendees, presen-
ters and exhibitors filled the
Radisson Riverfront Hotel in
downtown St. Paul, Minn., June 26-29,
2005 for District Energy/CHP 2005 – the
96th Annual IDEA Conference & Trade
Show. They had the
opportunity to
hear dozens of
panel discus-
sions and tech-
nical presenta-
tions, visit with
exhibitors, and
tour multiple
world-class dis-
trict energy
facilities. The conference was a great success, demonstrating the strong business
climate in the district energy industry.
Conference Technical Chair Doug
Maust opened the conference with an
overview of the technical program. He
was followed by IDEA and General Conference Chair Anders Rydaker, who greeted
attendees before introducing St. Paul
Mayor Randy Kelly, who welcomed all to
the city.
Think Globally
The program began with an outstanding panel of industry leaders from
Canada, China, France, South Korea,
Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and
United States of America. Each panelist
presented an overview of the district
energy industry in his country.
Many highlighted the solid growth
that district energy systems were experiencing in their countries and in most sectors. For example, Jae Sun Kim of Korea
District Heating Corp. explained how
KDHC is projecting growth from 1. 3 million households served in 2003 to more
than 2 million households by 2010. The
Middle East and China are also growing
dramatically, with nearly 4 million tons
of new district cooling investment forecast by Tabreed CEO Dany Safi over the
next five to six years in the Middle East.
China has begun to implement efficient
combined heat and power (CHP) with district energy to support the massive infrastructure growth in its major cities and
deal with emissions challenges. Both
Stockholm and Paris boast very large district heating networks that have seen
rapid growth in newly developed district
cooling systems.
Invest Locally
The conference featured a strong
technical program – long a hallmark of
IDEA conferences – with topics including
Panelists from seven countries echoed recurring themes related to the increase in fossil fuel costs and
the challenges of developing energy infrastructure in tightly monitored urban environments.
