FOURTH QUARTER 2009
VOLUME 95
NUMBER 4
District
Energy
District
Energy
Departments
3
Chair’s Message
Juan Ontiveros
Executive Director of Utilities and Energy
Management, The University of Texas
at Austin
18
Cover
4
President’s Message
Robert P. Thornton, President
International District Energy Association
Blue Skies for Dockside Green: Biomass gasification
heats harborfront
Dejan Sparica, Vice President and Chief Engineer, Nexterra Systems Corp.
Victoria, British Columbia, is home to one of North America’s leading examples of sustainable urban
design: Dockside Green. This eco-friendly community is served by a unique district energy system
based on advanced biomass gasification technology. Due in no small measure to this system,
Dockside is on track to be carbon-neutral and has captured international attention and acclaim.
Features
35 Industry News
47 People in the News
49 From a Legal Perspective
Tax Incentives: How public institutions
can reap benefits
Elizabeth Teuwen, Attorney,
Jennings Strouss & Salmon PLC; and
Nancy Pohl, Attorney,
Jennings Strouss & Salmon PLC
7 Commissioning: Delivering a central plant that works
Barney York, PE, Project Manager, RMF Engineering Inc.
More and more district energy system owners are opting to commission both new and existing
central plants. The process, which helps assure facilities are constructed and operated as intended,
has become more formally defined and applied in the past 10 years. Today, in fact, central plant
commissioning is a required and rewarded part of the LEED® green building certification program.
51 LEED® + District Energy
What Do You Mean I Need to Commission
My Plant? Answering the call
Tim Griffin, PE
IDEA USGBC Liaison
13 How High Can You Go? New approaches for cooling
system efficiency
Ben Erpelding, PE, Director of Engineering, Optimum Energy LLC
Usually, energy efficiency is a lower-priority goal than reliability in district cooling plant operations. But a new approach is making it possible to meet both objectives – by employing more
variable-frequency drives, fully automated network controls, relational control algorithms and
new optimization software.
54 Inside Insights
Horizontal or Vertical: What’s your angle?
Steve Tredinnick, PE
Syska Hennessy Group
56 Members Speak Out
Is District Energy for Everyone?
David W. Wade, PE
RDA Engineering Inc.
25 Carbon Recycling: An alternative to carbon capture
and storage
Rowan Oloman, Vancouver, B.C.
Carbon capture and storage may sound like one of the most promising solutions to rising global carbon dioxide levels, but the technology is unproven and unavailable commercially for the
next decade or two. So why not treat CO2 as a commodity instead of as waste? Scientists are
doing just that, researching options for carbon recycling and reuse.
57 Energy and Environmental Policy
Reducing CO2 Emissions: How much
can district energy help?
Mark Spurr
IDEA Legislative Director
29 A View From Veolia: Q&A with Stewart Wood
Two years ago Veolia Energy North America acquired the Trigen district energy systems. District
Energy catches up with Stewart A. Wood, company president and chief executive officer to
find out more about upgrades to the systems, the future of combined heat and power, Wood’s
take on federal funding and coping with an aging workforce.
62 Customer Closeup
Prescription for Reliability: District energy
heats and cools Detroit Medical Center
63 Meet Our Advertisers
64 Calendar of Events/
Dates to Remember
ON THE COVER:
Dockside Green is a mixed-use development
that has won international acclaim as a model
of environmental sustainability. An innovative
biomass gasification system fuels Dockside’s district heating system. Other sustainable features
include a stormwater reuse system and an on-site sewage treatment facility that reclaims
wastewater for use in Dockside rooftop gar-
dens and irrigation systems. Located on the
harborfront of Victoria, British Columbia,
Dockside is targeting LEED® Platinum certification.
Rendering Dockside Green.
10% POST CONSUMER WASTE
