Press Release, Part II, from Cascade Power Group: Recovered heat helps to meet Washington's growing demand

BELLEVUE, WA – Washington can meet its growth in energy demand with thermal energy by 2035, according to a new report by Cascade Power Group.  The 2012 Washington State Clean Energy Roadmap finds that reusing wasted heat can help Washington meet over two-thirds of state climate goals.

“This report offers a new perspective on Washington’s energy resources. Until now, when people talk about meeting our energy needs they think of building more power plants or wind turbines,” said Juliana Williams, co-author of the report.

Heat is produced whenever fossil fuels are burned, and over half it is lost as waste. Waste-heat can be recycled through technologies such as heat exchangers, and in district energy systems and waste-heat to power (WH2P) projects. Reusing waste-heat prevents the need for burning more fossil fuels, thereby lowering overall emissions in the state.

The 2012 Washington State Clean Energy Roadmap presents three scenarios for Washington’s energy landscape in 2035, along with the policy changes necessary to achieve those changes.  The scenarios focus on installing combined heat and power (CHP) on all natural gas combustion; eliminating fuel-oil heating from the industrial, commercial and residential sectors; and achieving full electrification of motor vehicles. Based on the scenarios, Washington would need to develop between 5.6 and 6.4 gigawatts of recycled heat projects such as small-scale CHP and district energy systems.

“Each of these scenarios is ambitious but achievable using existing technologies,” said Chuck Collins, CEO of Cascade Power Group. “We need policy support from lawmakers in Olympia to help remove the project barriers for clean energy technologies.”

The report recommends policy changes such as expanding output-based emissions standards, creating Energy Conservation Credits (similar to Renewable Energy Credits), allowing utilities to rate-base investments in district energy, and adjusting utility ‘standby-power’ rates and is available online atwww.cascadepowergroup.com.