Denver’s largest climate pollution source is buildings, which require fossil fuels for power, heating, and cooling. The city is piloting a thermal energy network to heat and cool a cluster of large downtown buildings using a combination of water, geothermal heat, and sewage heat. The Cherokee Boiler House near downtown Denver is central to the plan, despite its deteriorated interior and hazards. City officials believe the facility can support Denver’s goal of reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 while reducing costs for taxpayers. More than a hundred downtown buildings currently rely on a steam system that burns natural gas, and the new network could provide a model for decarbonizing dense urban cores in the United States.
"Denver's largest source of climate pollution is its buildings. Powering, heating and cooling the city's skyscrapers takes a lot of fossil fuels. Now, the city is trying a greener solution. It plans to heat and cool a cluster of large downtown buildings using a combination of water, the heat of the Earth and sewage."
"The Cherokee Boiler House, near downtown Denver, sits at the center of this plan. Despite the mothballed plant's handsome brick exterior, inside it's filled with rattling pipes, hazard signs and cockroach carcasses. "It looks like a good place for a rave or potentially a horror movie," says Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. But the city sees potential in this relic."
"City officials think it could play a starring role in Denver's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040 and save taxpayer dollars in the process. "We think we are standing in what can be the future of energy in Denver, which is both pollution free and affordable," Johnston says."
"Denver will pilot what's called a thermal energy network. Similar networks already exist on campuses and in some cities around the world. If it works here, it could set an example for how to decarbonize a dense, downtown core in the United States. More than a hundred buildings in downtown Denver are currently heated by the world's oldest continuously operating commercial steam system, which requires burning natural gas, a fossil fuel."
#climate-solutions #urban-decarbonization #thermal-energy-networks #buildings-and-heating #geothermal-and-sewage-heat
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