Efficient Buildings
District Energy St. Paul is committed to helping our customers run their buildings as efficiently as possible. We offer engineering and financial support to our customers through our energy efficiency program.
Optimized System Management
From fuel procurement and transportation, to hot water and chilled water production, to thermal storage, and our high-efficiency distribution systems, the District Energy team works to save energy at every step of the energy production and delivery process.
- Modernized metering and tracking platforms are providing critical data for our customer service engineers. This information helps get ahead of system inefficiencies, which benefits the system and customers. Customers can also track their energy use trends through the District Energy St. Paul Customer Portal.
Integrating Renewables
District Energy is the most advanced and integrated hot water system in the United States.
- Biomass has been incorporated for the production of electricity and heat (captured through the combined heat and power process). Up to 50% of the current annual heat production comes from the use of renewable wood waste.
- Solar thermal is delivered into the system regularly from North America’s largest solar hot water system atop the Saint Paul RiverCentre.
- District Energy is part of a community solar garden, helping to promote solar photovoltaic development at a utility-scale and stabilizing rates for our cooling customers.
Reducing Carbon
District Energy St. Paul is committed to continual reductions in its carbon footprint.
- District Energy has already made notable progress on carbon reduction targets over the years, reducing carbon emissions by 68% between 2000 and 2022. This achievement was made possible through eliminating coal, increasing efficiency, enhancing customer building performance, improving data and controls management, and upgrading production with higher efficiency equipment.
- The company goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050.
- To achieve regular reductions, the team also has an aspirational goal of 7% reductions each year, based on a commitment to efficiency improvements in production, distribution, and customer buildings. Although we know it will be a significant challenge to achieve this number every year, we want to emphasize the recommendations from the United Nations Environment Programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6 % each year between 2020 and 2030.
- District Energy has purchased renewable energy credits to off-sets cooling customer’s scope 2 emissions from electricity used to deliver chilled water to customer buildings.
