Gathering Steam: New Partners for District-Scale Energy Conservation

Over the last two years, the City of San Francisco has been analyzing the benefits and challenges of adding district heating and cooling to two development projects. The Central Corridor Plan would rezone a former industrial area for high-density, transit-oriented, mixed use using more efficient and resilient infrastructure. Meanwhile, there is also a major redevelopment effort underway around the Transbay Transit Center.

A unique partnership between the City’s Department of the Environment, technical assistance from the U.S. EPA, Arup (an international engineering firm with deep experience in building energy systems) and NRG (a district energy provider already supporting San Francisco) has now completed an analysis of the potential to add district energy – delivery of steam or chilled water to buildings from a central plant – to these two redevelopment sites.

Although district energy is common in university settings, it has not been widely deployed in urban environments.

The City of San Francisco is assessing the project as an opportunity to explore new ways to meet its aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, which will mean looking beyond the building site. As the state moves towards zero net energy for buildings, there will be an increasing need to get energy efficiency to scale. District energy has the potential to deliver thermal energy much more efficiently at a large scale.

The future viability and success of the project will require a supportive network of community partners including potential developers and building owners.

The project team is still wrapping up their analysis and a final report is due soon (available on the EPA website).

Look for the full write-up and assessment of pros and cons in the next issue of Currents.

Session information and presentations available on the New Partners for Smart Growth website: “Community Energy District-Scale Planning and Implementation: Practical Tools and Approaches”