If you’re in the D.C. area this Friday morning, September 23, please consider attending a free briefing given by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in Room 2325 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. Admission is free.
With Congress considering legislation for a national infrastructure bank or financing authority, it is important that policy-makers understand the multiple advantages of district energy. For more details, please click here.
The briefing, organized by the International District Energy Association (IDEA), will focus on how investments in district energy infrastructure contribute to energy security, increase fuel efficiency, enhance grid reliability and enable deployment of local energy supplies like surplus heat and renewables. Case studies will be presented:
1. A Houston district energy system serving the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest health care campus, utilized combined heat and power to provide reliable energy services amidst record high temperatures and record high electricity prices.
2. The scale of a district energy network in Boston will enable capture and conversion of power plant waste heat from thermal pollution in a river to useful energy for a city.
3. Investment of private capital in the district energy network and waste-to-energy facility restored valuable jobs and stabilized renewable energy supply for the city of Detroit.
This was a very informative session on energy efficiency by leading industry experts. For presentations and recordings of the discussions, please go to: http://www.eesi.org/district-energy-essential-infrastructure-energy-efficient-communities-23-sep-2011