Cool Idea: Using Ice to Chill Buildings in NYC
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.19.07
In a city like New York where the brunt of emissions derives from buildings, anything that helps reduce energy consumption, especially during the summer when air conditioning is at its peak usage, can go a long way toward easing some pressure off its overworked power grids. Several companies seem to have found an ideal solution to the city's grid problems and their own AC-related energy woes: using an innovative ice-cooling system that relies on blocks of ice to pump cold air through buildings.
The Off-Peak Cooling (OPC) system, devised by CALMAC, a company that specializes in the manufacturing of thermal energy storage and ice rink equipment, not only lowers energy use but it also cuts down on pollution by drastically reducing the emissions typically generated by normal AC systems. "It is worth it to do in New York City. If you take the time to look, you can find innovative ways to be energy efficient, be environmental and sustainable," said William Beck, the head of critical engineering systems for Credit Suisse, which has incorporated this system into many of its offices.
The ice is made at night by freezing water in large, non-corrodible tanks to minimize the use of electricity.The following morning, the resulting cool air that arises from the ice is piped throughout the buildings in a way similar to traditional air conditioning. The cycle thus repeats every day.
If necessary, the ice-cooling system can even be combined with typical AC systems to ease energy demands during peak hours. The best part? Its main components, ice blocks, don't break. As Todd Coulard of Trane Energy Services explains: "The concept is the same, but when you make something mechanical, it can break, but a big block of ice four floors below grade level isn't going to do anything but melt."
"I've been doing green since before it was cool. The idea of not only saving money for large companies, but doing something that benefits the environment is win-win. It's doing the right thing," he said. Indeed, according to Credit Suisse's engineers, the system has already helped the company save millions in energy bills by lowering its peak energy use by 900 kilowatts and overall annual electric usage by 2.15 million kilowatt-hours. Morgan Stanley, which also uses the system in some of its offices, has achieved more modest results, but impressive nonetheless: 740 less kilowatts at peak energy use and 900,000 less kilowatt hours in overall annual electric usage.
While this technology won't work for every company (the initial costs are significant and the tanks need a lot of space to be installed), it will offer tremendous benefits, both financial and environmental, to those that are able to take advantage of it.
Via ::ABC News: System Relies on Ice to Chill Buildings (news website), ::Wired Science: Giant Blocks of Ice: A 21st Century Air Conditioner (blog)
See also: ::Cooling London's Tube Trains With Ice, ::Hydrothermal Cooling: Improving on Air-Conditioning, ::Ice Bear In Every Public Building: A Victorville CA Energy Conservation Goal
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This seems like it would work great in desert climates where it is very hot during the day and cools down drastically at night :D
This technology is not new. I remember a trade show in 1990 where dozens of these systems were being touted. It is good to see them being publicized to a wider audience, however.
Xcel energy uses this system in Denver for downtown buildings, it's been around for about 10 years Although the water usage is alarming given the climate around here.
Question, with NYC surrounded by water, why not pull water from the bottom of a river/bay/etc? Won't it already be fairly cool (50 or less)? Then either use that to make the ice, or just use it to chill air, and pump the warmed water back out.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6318752
A tangle of gigantic pipes snakes through the building that houses the system. They pump water from two ice tanks that each hold 850,000 gallons of water.
The floors of the tanks are 18 feet deep and the walls are 34 inches thick. About 2.7 million gallons of water is in the system at any given time.
The system, which pumps 30,000 gallons a minute to downtown buildings, uses 55 million gallons of water a year.
The plant makes ice at night in an amount that can cool about 38 buildings the size of the Grand Hyatt on 17th Street for about four hours.
This is (ahem) cool, but innovative? I don't know.
My grandmather (age: 94) has told me that before air conditioning New Yorkers would put a fan behind a block of ice near their beds... and get up during the night to take cold baths.
This could also be a way to store excess energy and match supply of electricity with demand if/when we are at a point of using only renewables like solar and wind, which are intermittent in nature. This means also saving money on hydrogen fuel cells or flywheels or NaS batteries or whatever else we would use to store the energy.
Stanford has been doing this for a while as well
(http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/julaug/red/reid.html). They installed an ice plant in 1999. I think its the biggest one in the US, it's stored in a 4 million gallon tank.
Usually you lefty hippies are just wrong about everything, what with worshiping the planet the way you do. But you manage to support some good ideas. A shame that your all so godless.
I reference this here:
http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/2007/11/conservationism.html
I'm kidding, of course. We can agree about goals, even if we disagree about methods. Reality is surprisingly vague.
J
Usually you lefty hippies are just wrong about everything, what with worshiping the planet the way you do. But you manage to support some good ideas. A shame that your all so godless.
Teehee! I like to troll eco websites! I'm not a loser!