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to develop other energy districts around
the region and has proposed a community-owned energy utility in Portland’s Sunny-side neighborhood.
Veolia Upgrades Grand
Rapids System
Veolia Energy North America has
announced that it has awarded a design/build
contract to Progressive AE to upgrade Veolia
Energy’s Grand Rapids, Mich., district energy
system. Based in Grand Rapids, Progressive
AE will design and install a cutting-edge
condensing heat exchanger that will reduce
the volume of fuel consumed by at least
5 percent.
Veolia Energy says the upgrade will
ensure competitive steam rates for customers
served by the facility, while lowering the cost
per pound of steam produced and reducing
its overall carbon footprint. The reduction
in carbon dioxide will be approximately
equivalent to removing the emissions of
1,000 cars from the road.
The project is scheduled for completion
in November 2009. Since purchasing the
former Kent County district heating and
cooling system in December 2008, Veolia
Energy has begun implementing several
upgrades, which will include reinsulating
piping in manholes to reduce heat loss and
reducing distribution system leaks. The
company will also replace the old low-pressure distribution system, which constitutes
about one-quarter of the total distribution
system, with a high-pressure system over
the next three years.
N.J. Community College
Partners With EPA
“Find Your Success” is the motto of
Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC)
in Branchburg, N.J., and the school is doing
just that by greening its campus through
an agreement with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. RVCC and EPA signed
an agreement in June outlining goals and
strategies for energy and water conservation,
solid waste management, green design and
transportation. The agreement with EPA –
the first of its kind between the agency and
a community college – will help RVCC build
on its prior efforts to reduce its carbon
footprint.
In 2007, RVCC became the first U.S.
community college to install a cogeneration
system. The 1. 4 MW system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 1,900 tons per year.
A few key highlights of the agreement
with EPA include RVCC’s commitments to
become an ENERGY STAR® partner and
reduce energy use campuswide at least 10
percent; build all future campus buildings
