District Energy - 2009 2nd Quarter

In the late 1980s, Dave Toombs, current general manager of Citizens Thermal Energy, participated in IDHCA as a representative of Catalyst Thermal Energy Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio.

IDHCA member San Francisco Thermal (now NRG Energy Center San Francisco) successfully weathered a 7. 1 magnitude October 1989 earthquake, with no service interruption, in spite of the type of damage in the city as shown here. General Manager Rich Mayer reported that several IDHCA members called to offer their assistance during the crisis, but the good news is they weren’t needed. But Mayer wrote “We all should be proud to be part of such a close-knit, caring group. While we’re all in business to make a profit, it’s terrific to know that when there’s an emergency there are others in this association who will help out. This certainly reaffirms my participation in the association!”

Courtesy San Francisco Fire Department.

IDHCA participated in a roundtable breakfast with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development representatives in Washington, D.C., in 1987. The goal of the breakfast was to air ideas to bridge the gap between the district heating and cooling industry and local representatives in the public housing sector.

IDEA conferences have always been an opportunity to learn and exchange ideas, as Jack Kattner, then with the Minneapolis Energy Center, at right, and Kevin Brown from Trigen did in the mid-1980s at the Community Energy Systems Conference.

“... He’ s taking after
you more every day...”

David Wade of RDA Engineering shared this cartoon from his own archives.

His secretary in the 1980s drew the image and presented it to him as a gift.

It looks like she certainly understood Dave – and the technology!

In 1988 IDHCA produced an industry brochure called “Take Control” (as shown below) to help association and members with their marketing efforts. In 1990 it unveiled a complementary brochure titled “We’ve Got the Energy to Help Clear the Air” addressing district energy and the environment.

1988 – James Schlesinger, first U.S. Secretary of Energy (1977-1979), provided the keynote address at IDHCA’s 79th Annual Conference in Chautauqua, N. Y.

IDHCA and the North American District Heating and Cooling Institute agreed in 1988 to unite their membership and continue certain major NADHCI activities under the auspices of IDHCA.

In 1990 the U.S. Department of Energy completed district cooling feasibility study assessments for Baltimore, Md.; University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark.; Miami, Fla.; New Haven, Conn.; New Orleans, La.; Phoenix, Ariz.; St. Louis, Mo.; San Francisco, Calif.; Stamford, Conn.; and Honolulu, Hawaii.