Industry
News
What’s Your Building ‘EQ’?
Engineers across the country have
begun evaluating the energy use of selected buildings with a new assessment tool
known as the Building Energy Quotient
(EQ). The project is part of a pilot program,
administered by the American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers, to encourage the building industry to cut energy use and costs.
The Building EQ includes both ‘as
designed’ (asset) and ‘in operation’ ratings for all building types except residential. It also provides a detailed certificate
with data on actual energy use, energy
demand profiles, indoor air quality and
other information that will enable property owners to evaluate and reduce their
building energy use. For details, visit
www.buildingeq.com.
Historic Duke Plant Converts
to Natural Gas
Duke University’s commitment
to sustainability continues with a $25
million renovation of its East Campus
Steam Plant and conversion to natural
gas boilers. The university has installed
15 Miura LX series gas-fired steam boilers
in the 7,500-sq-ft renovated plant space,
which will provide the campus with
35 percent more steam capacity while
helping reduce Duke’s environmental
footprint. The formerly coal-fired plant
was built in 1929 and supplied steam to
heat campus buildings until it was closed
in 1978.
At full capacity, the Miura boilers
will provide Duke with a 110,000-lb/hr
baseload year-round and up to about
130,000 lb/hr during peak-need times.
The boiler installation project is still in
the commissioning process.
With the plant renovation, Duke
will go from producing 95 percent of
its steam with coal to producing 85
percent of its steam with natural gas.
The decreased coal usage will translate
to a reduction of 30,000 metric tons of
carbon dioxide. The university considers
this the first step toward becoming a
climate-neutral campus and fulfilling
President Richard Brodhead’s signing
of the American College & University
Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007.
Oettinger: Cogen,
District Heating Should
Get EU Funds
European Commissioner for Energy
Günther Oettinger has proposed that
unspent European Union economic recovery funds currently amounting to 115
million euros ($142.3 million) should be
directed to regional and local sustainable
energy efficiency and renewables projects.
This would mean that funds will become
available for small-scale cogeneration and
district heating projects in urban areas.
Oettinger called for this action May 4 at
the Covenant of Mayors first anniversary
ceremony in Brussels.
Oettinger proposes putting the
unspent recovery package funds into a separate pot for energy efficiency and renewables to be managed by an organization
such as the European Investment Bank. The
European Commission would still set the
eligibility criteria for the funds’ use and has
begun an internal debate on the issue.
GDF SUEZ Acquires
Utilicom Group
GDF SUEZ has acquired the Utilicom
Group, creating COFELY District Energy
Ltd., the U.K.’s largest district energy
company. COFELY District Energy Ltd.,
which will form part of COFELY’s existing
U.K. Energy Services business stream, will
generate 35 MW of low-carbon electricity,
operate 245 MW of boiler plant capacity,
74 MW of chilled-water cooling capacity
and manage 50 km ( 31 miles) of district
heating and cooling pipeline.
The company will manage a wide
range of projects in the U.K., including
the Southampton and Birmingham district
energy systems; the heating and cooling
networks for the London Olympic Park
and Stratford City; and the Whitehall
combined heat and power system, which
serves 23 government buildings including
10 Downing Street.
The Utilicom Group and its subsidiaries annually deliver more than 33,000
tonnes of carbon dioxide emission
reductions, predominantly through CHP
systems, meeting the varied heating,
cooling and power demands of many
prominent U.K. cities through district
energy networks. COFELY operates more
than 110 district heating and cooling systems in Europe, including in Amsterdam,
Barcelona, Lisbon, Monaco and Paris.
Honeywell Buys Smart Grid
Leader Akuacom
Honeywell has announced its acquisition of San Rafael, Calif.-based Akuacom,
a provider of automated demand response
technology and services for the smart grid.
The Akuacom demand response automation server enables utilities and independent system operators (ISOs) to have two-way communication with energy management systems at commercial and industrial
sites. This gives utilities and ISOs the
ability to automate the delivery of price
and reliability signals to these facilities and
more effectively trim peak demand. Terms
of the transaction were not disclosed.
Akuacom’s technology is based on
the Open Automated Demand Response
protocol, a communication standard
developed by Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory and selected by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology and
the U.S. Department of Energy for the
smart grid. Utilities and ISOs use demand
response to reduce consumption when
electricity is expensive and demand out-
paces supply. Demand response helps
utilities avoid disruptive brownouts and
blackouts and also enables large-scale
renewable energy adoption by absorbing
© 2010 International District Energy Association. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
