Industry
News
Victor Koppang, president of Detroit
Thermal, said he was in contract talks with
incinerator operators and would consider a
new agreement with them if steam from
the incinerator were made available at a
price competitive with natural gas. The fact
that one of the incinerator’s top customers
is getting by without its steam is raising
questions about the trash burner’s future
viability. Critics of the incinerator have
called for it to be shut down in favor of
expanded recycling programs.
To read the Detroit Free Press article,
“Detroit incinerator pact in limbo,” go to
http://tinyurl.com/yem5vad.
University of Liverpool
Completes New CHP Plant
Emcor Group in the United Kingdom
reached a milestone in its major infrastructure upgrade project at the University of
Liverpool in northwest England, with a July
29 topping-out ceremony for the newly
constructed £ 14 million ($22.2 million)
combined heat and power-based energy
center. A 47-meter (154-ft) chimney was
installed during the event – the highest
point of the development.
The heating infrastructure project
comprises both a new energy center and
the upgrade of the existing campus energy
infrastructure. The new energy center will
produce power for the University of Liverpool
at a more economical rate than buying it
commercially and will supply heat to most
campus buildings. The installation of a gas-powered CHP unit and associated combination boiler will provide electricity and primary
high-temperature heat as well as enable
effective reuse of high- and low-grade waste
heat generated from electricity production.
The new energy center will reduce the
institution’s annual energy consumption by
more than 13,000 MWh and carbon dioxide
emissions by more than 1,500 tonnes,
equivalent to taking 477 cars off the road
each year.
The partnership between Emcor and
the university has allowed the construction
project to become an on-campus educational
resource. It provided the university’s civil
engineering students with the opportunity
to experience a live construction environment
and engage with Emcor’s project team to
learn about various aspects of construction
including environmental impact, planning
constraints and sustainable construction
methods.
Macalester College Opens
First Green Building
Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.,
is dedicating its new Markim Hall in October.
The 17,000-sq-ft facility is one of only two
campus buildings in the state – and only 12
nationwide – to earn LEED® (Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum
certification. Markim Hall is connected to
the campus’s central plant for chilled water
and steam.
The new building houses the Institute
of Global Citizenship, a program educating
and engaging students to become global
citizen-leaders. The building’s many green
features include energy-efficient windows;
locally produced, recycled building materials;
a super-insulated envelope; low water use
( 45 percent below what is typical); and a
heating and cooling system that uses radiant
ceiling panels and a radiant floor in the atrium.
Markim Hall has won a Building of
America Award and is scheduled to be featured in the upcoming Green Building of
America-Midwest Green edition publication.
Macalester’s Markim Hall
gone to a landfill, will instead be used to
generate electricity to power a new Resource
Recovery Park; excess electricity will be
exported to the national grid. The approval
follows a public inquiry held into both the
power plant and the Resource Recovery
Park, which recommended that consent be
granted for the construction and operation
of the plant and also that planning permission be given for the Resource Recovery Park.
Mini-CHP System for
UK Retirement Village
One of the U.K.’s most desirable retirement developments, Bramshott Place Village
at Liphook in Hampshire, has installed an
SAV Load Tracker combined heat and power
system. Electricity, space heating and hot
water for domestic services in the village’s
main building are all generated by the gas-fired CHP system.
At the heart of the system is an XRGi-
15G mini-CHP machine, part of the EC
Power range marketed in the U.K. by SAV
Systems. This machine can provide 6-15
k W of electricity and 17-30 k W of heating.
Bramshott Place has a round-the-clock energy requirement, although
demand reduces at night. Electricity generation matches load over each 24-hour
period with the unique modulating system
ensuring that the power generated never
exceeds demand.
Waste heat generated by the mini-CHP unit is fed through a special heat
exchanger and used to heat water, which
is stored in a thermal store at around 80
degrees C (176 F). Water from the store
can be drawn off to provide heating and
domestic hot water services as required.
The CHP plant also makes a contribution to
heating the water in the clubhouse swimming pool.
Green Light for Cheshire
Waste-Fueled Power Station
A new 95 MW power plant to be built
at Ince in Cheshire, U.K., in August received
government approval to proceed. The plant
is capable of turning 600,000 tonnes of
waste each year into electricity and heat.
The waste, which would have otherwise
Dalkia to Build, Operate
Systems in Barcelona
Dalkia announced in July that it has
won the international call for tenders to
build and operate for 30 years the energy
generation plant and a new heating and
cooling system for south Barcelona. The
system will serve La Marina, the Marcabarna
