District Energy - 2006 First Quarter

Iam truly looking forward to greeting old

friends and meeting new ones at the

upcoming 19th Annual Campus Energy

Conference, “Partnering for Success,” in

Albuquerque, N.M. I must confess that of all

the IDEA conferences and workshops held

each year, the campus conference holds

particular meaning for me. That’s because I

first became acquainted with IDEA by

attending the campus conference hosted by

Ray DuBose and his team at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993. At

the time, I was so pleased to have finally

found an association whose focus was cen-

tralized energy generation and distribution

at universities, colleges, airports, school dis-

tricts, military bases, hospitals and cities.

One challenge every district energy

manager has experienced at some point in

his or her career is resistance from building

owners to connect to the centralized system.

And yes, campus energy and utility managers

have to worry about getting ’customers‘ to

connect or stay connected to their central

systems, too. What do you typically hear from

those customers? They want control over

their own building systems? Your rates are

too high? The cost of financing the central

system and its infrastructure is too high?

Capital is not available?

Those of us in the district energy busi-

ness know the benefits of a centralized

approach to meeting energy demand. As

district energy managers, our challenge is

being able to articulate those benefits in a

clear and concise way. I have found IDEA to

be the association that provides the support

and strategies to help us describe those ben-

Chair’s
Message

efits. It is the association where district energy leaders and managers, service providers, manufacturers, suppliers, and related professionals come together to help meet the technical, legislative, marketing, educational, and networking needs for each other.

I have been to many IDEA conferences and workshops since that first one in Chapel Hill and have without fail come away from each one armed with new ideas and information about the latest issues impacting the district energy business. That is one of the many reasons I look forward to the upcoming workshop and campus conference in Albuquerque.

I can see from the conference program that Scott Clark of Carter & Burgess, our technical program chair, has done an outstanding job of ensuring that this conference will be the best yet. We will hear about the latest developments in products, technologies and system approaches. There also will be case studies about new projects at our campuses and all the issues associated with getting them done: what worked and what didn’t; what the barriers were; how projects responded to environmental concerns, reliability needs and volatile energy prices; how building growth was factored in; and how the projects were marketed to administration and customers.

Larry Schuster and his team at the University of New Mexico, our conference hosts, are working hard to ensure our visit to their campus and city is top-notch. We’ll be touring their campus energy systems, where they have incorporated some sophisticated, state-of-the-art ideas and technologies that none of us will want to miss.

I also plan on attending the IDEA/U.S. Department of Commerce workshop being held the day before the campus conference. I hope you do, too. This workshop will provide strategies to help campus district energy managers ensure their systems deliver energy efficiently, reliably, consistently, and economically, and most important, consider the ’town/gown‘ relationship and neighbors’ concerns about the environmental, noise,

traffic, construction and lighting impacts of campus systems.

This workshop and campus conference combination provides an excellent venue for each of us to be more successful individually by working together collectively, which appropriately reflects our conference theme “Partnering for Success.” Take advantage of the workshop and conference to make strategic connections and alliances with planners, engineers, architects, manufacturers, product suppliers, service providers, district energy owners and leaders, governmental officials, energy professionals, policy advocates and peers. Use the breaks and meals to follow up on those ideas and concepts presented in the technical sessions and by the panels of experts and leaders. Connect with those sponsors and exhibiters to learn more about new technologies, products, and services that they offer. Make an effort to meet a new partner for success and possibly even foster a new friendship.

IDEA members have consistently indicated that the most important goals of our association for them are ( 1) facilitating networking and exchange of information among members; ( 2) enhancing educational opportunities for district energy professionals; (3) assisting members in marketing the benefits of district energy; and ( 4) securing favorable policies, legislation and regulations for district energy. The upcoming workshop and conference provide an opportunity to achieve each and every one of these goals on a personal and professional level.

After that first conference I attended at Chapel Hill, I realized that IDEA was an association I needed to get involved in, so I jumped in with both feet by submitting and presenting a paper at the campus conference hosted by MIT; hosting a conference at the University of Virginia, my home university; and then continuing to be very active in the association in every way. I urge you to do the same. See you in Albuquerque!