"Cambridge project taps excess steam to heat buildings; Borrows from Edison concept" by Erin Ailworth | Globe Staff May 19, 2014
CAMBRIDGE — After three years and $112 million, the French company Veolia has put in place a key piece of what is one of the largest systems in the United States to generate electricity and recycle steam to heat nearby buildings and businesses....
District energy and combined heat and power are gaining renewed interest as concerns about climate change grow.
Pffft!
See: Back Home Again
Oh what a deadly web we weave....!!!!
Get your stories straight, will ya'? -- on this COLDER-THAN-AVERAGE MAY (on the cusp of June) DAY?!!!
Now I'm getting steamed!
Reusing the steam for heating and cooling eliminates the need to burn more oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, blamed for accelerating climate change.
Actually, it's the methane the government doesn't care about because this is all about carbon taxes.
*************
Veolia sells electricity to NStar and steam to businesses and institutions in both Cambridge and Boston.
And there wasn't a big stink about their Nazi past?
Since 2007, Veolia — which has 220,000 employees in 48 countries and annual revenues of $31 billion — has invested nearly $170 million to build out its steam transmission network in Boston and Cambridge, as well as a separate steam system serving the Longwood Medical Area. The company would not disclose its revenue from those operations.
The 30 miles of pipe beneath Boston and Cambridge also draw from two facilities in the Back Bay and Chinatown, which make only steam. The more-than-60-year-old Kendall Station, however, is now the network’s main source.
“It has basically become the heart of our system,” Bill DiCroce, chief operating officer of Veolia Energy, said. “We heat the city with it.”
Oh. That's why no one made a poop.
Veolia began planning the Kendall Station project in 2011, although it did not complete the purchase of the plant from NRG Energy of Princeton, N.J., and Houston until February. The project, which included upgrading the plant’s boilers and reconfiguring the complex of several buildings, has been the company’s single biggest investment here.
Inside one building, a silvery natural gas turbine built by General Electric produces 2,000-degree exhaust — the temperature of molten lava. That exhaust is cooled with water from the Charles River to produce steam.
The steam leaves the plant through two main outlets: a pipe crossing the Longfellow Bridge, as well the recent addition running along the Charles and across the Lechmere Viaduct. The new pipeline began delivering steam in December, doubling the amount that Veolia can send into Boston.
Walking through Kendall Station recently, DiCroce gestured to his right, where the biotechnology company Genzyme’s glass-walled building stretched toward the sky.
“You can see we’re kind of surrounded by biotech Cambridge,” he said. “They’re all served by our district energy network.”
--more--"
Not a word about Nazi connections.
Another pipeline that has people steamed:
"Oil industry study resists new rail regulations" by James MacPherson and Matthew Brown | Associated press May 21, 2014
BISMARCK, N.D. — The US oil industry pushed back on Tuesday against tougher rules for rail cars carrying crude following a string of fiery accidents, asserting in a new report that oil from the Northern Plains is no more dangerous than some other cargoes.
But the results of the industry-funded study differ from the stance of the federal government, which issued a safety alert in January warning the public, emergency responders, and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch.
I'm $ure they figure $omething out after $ome healthy campaign contributions.
The oil from North Dakota and Montana is comparable to other light crudes, with characteristics that fall well within the margin of safety for the current tank car fleet, the industry study says.
Kari Cutting, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said it proves federal rules ‘‘are sufficient.’’
But a former senior federal railway safety official disagreed and said recent accidents are enough to justify government intervention.
‘‘We already have examples of this particular crude going ‘boom,’ ’’ said Grady Cothen, former deputy associate administrator for safety at the Federal Railroad Administration. ‘‘That’s how it has to be treated from a regulatory standpoint despite the distinctions being made’’ by oil companies.
Oil trains in the United States and Canada were involved in at least eight major accidents during the last year, including an explosion of Bakken crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec that killed 47 people.
Suspicions still surround that event.
Other trains carrying Bakken crude have since derailed and caught fire in Alabama, North Dakota, New Brunswick, and Virginia.
I'm sure I noted them when the Globe happened to mention them, which was few and far between. I noticed they really don't like to focus on oil spills.
In response, regulators have discouraged shippers from using older tank cars known to rupture during accidents.
The Department of Transportation issued the January safety alert about Bakken crude, which is produced from a huge oil shale reserve that has propelled North Dakota to the nation’s second-largest oil producer behind Texas.
The North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents more than 500 companies working in North Dakota and Montana, commissioned the $400,000 study of Bakken crude characteristics. The group said more than 150 oil samples were taken from well sites and rail facilities throughout North Dakota and Montana and sent to independent laboratories for analyses. The results will be shared with federal regulators this month, the group said.
A Department of Transportation spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the industry data even as it continues analyzing samples of Bakken oil gathered by regulators. Results of the government’s testing have not been released.
Canadian investigators have said the crude involved in the Lac-Megantic was highly volatile and comparable to gasoline.
Mile-long trains pulling more than 100 cars laden with Bakken crude began running in 2008 when the state first reached its shipping capacity with existing pipelines and infrastructure. More than $2 billion has been spent on infrastructure and nearly two dozen railed-oil loading facilities have been built in North Dakota.
State officials say more than 70 percent of the more than 1 million barrels of oil produced daily from the Bakken region is being moved by rail, as producers increasingly have turn to trains instead of pipelines.
And this concern is pushing us towards pipelines, i$n't it?
Cui bono?
Aren't the tracking wells enough?
--more--"
I reserve the right to add to this post, to continue in another post, and I reserve the right to ask questions.
Not a word about Nazi connections.
Another pipeline that has people steamed:
"Oil industry study resists new rail regulations" by James MacPherson and Matthew Brown | Associated press May 21, 2014
BISMARCK, N.D. — The US oil industry pushed back on Tuesday against tougher rules for rail cars carrying crude following a string of fiery accidents, asserting in a new report that oil from the Northern Plains is no more dangerous than some other cargoes.
But the results of the industry-funded study differ from the stance of the federal government, which issued a safety alert in January warning the public, emergency responders, and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch.
I'm $ure they figure $omething out after $ome healthy campaign contributions.
The oil from North Dakota and Montana is comparable to other light crudes, with characteristics that fall well within the margin of safety for the current tank car fleet, the industry study says.
Kari Cutting, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said it proves federal rules ‘‘are sufficient.’’
But a former senior federal railway safety official disagreed and said recent accidents are enough to justify government intervention.
‘‘We already have examples of this particular crude going ‘boom,’ ’’ said Grady Cothen, former deputy associate administrator for safety at the Federal Railroad Administration. ‘‘That’s how it has to be treated from a regulatory standpoint despite the distinctions being made’’ by oil companies.
Oil trains in the United States and Canada were involved in at least eight major accidents during the last year, including an explosion of Bakken crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec that killed 47 people.
Suspicions still surround that event.
Other trains carrying Bakken crude have since derailed and caught fire in Alabama, North Dakota, New Brunswick, and Virginia.
I'm sure I noted them when the Globe happened to mention them, which was few and far between. I noticed they really don't like to focus on oil spills.
In response, regulators have discouraged shippers from using older tank cars known to rupture during accidents.
The Department of Transportation issued the January safety alert about Bakken crude, which is produced from a huge oil shale reserve that has propelled North Dakota to the nation’s second-largest oil producer behind Texas.
The North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents more than 500 companies working in North Dakota and Montana, commissioned the $400,000 study of Bakken crude characteristics. The group said more than 150 oil samples were taken from well sites and rail facilities throughout North Dakota and Montana and sent to independent laboratories for analyses. The results will be shared with federal regulators this month, the group said.
A Department of Transportation spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the industry data even as it continues analyzing samples of Bakken oil gathered by regulators. Results of the government’s testing have not been released.
Canadian investigators have said the crude involved in the Lac-Megantic was highly volatile and comparable to gasoline.
Mile-long trains pulling more than 100 cars laden with Bakken crude began running in 2008 when the state first reached its shipping capacity with existing pipelines and infrastructure. More than $2 billion has been spent on infrastructure and nearly two dozen railed-oil loading facilities have been built in North Dakota.
State officials say more than 70 percent of the more than 1 million barrels of oil produced daily from the Bakken region is being moved by rail, as producers increasingly have turn to trains instead of pipelines.
And this concern is pushing us towards pipelines, i$n't it?
Cui bono?
Aren't the tracking wells enough?
--more--"
I reserve the right to add to this post, to continue in another post, and I reserve the right to ask questions.
