Goal I = A Credible Foundation
To compile and maintain information that characterizes the District Energy Community and its installed facility base, and to develop tools that quantify District Energy's full range of benefits and costs.
A. Understand the District Energy Industry
District Energy systems in the United States support urban areas, university and college campuses, hospitals, airports, military installations and industrial complexes.
They are characterized by a wide variety of ownership patterns, operating responsibilities, age, and technologies.
Consistent, current and accessible information that describes this diverse community is essential for sound decisions by policy makers, developers, investors, and prospective customers.
- 1. Characterize the District Energy Community
- Survey the domestic District Energy community to inventory and describe its systems, owners, operators, and advocates.
- 2. Quantify the Installed Systems Base
- Analyze major characteristics of domestic District Energy systems; i.e., locations, size, type, age, technology, etc.
- 3. Assess Market Potential
- Quantify the growth potential by market segment for District Energy within the United States.
B. Quantify Societal Benefits
District Energy offers significant long term societal benefits that are not well understood nor quantified for use in investment decisions or policy debates at national, state and local levels. Among these benefits is the unique capacity of District Energy to combine efficient energy service with environmental quality and economic development. If these external benefits remain unquantified, District Energy's true value will continue to be significantly underestimated.
- 1. Describe External Benefits
- Define the range of external societal benefits provided by District Energy in addition to its direct energy services.
- 2. Select Quantification Methods
- Assess and select a credible methodology(s) that can illustrate and quantify these external benefits.
- 3. Quantify External Benefits
- Apply the methodology; confirm its ability to measure and document long-term external benefits.
C. Provide Comparative Cost Guidelines
District Energy systems are major infrastructure investments.
As with all significant infrastructure improvements, they have high initial capital needs and significant long-term financing costs.
Yet accounting methods and procedures for cost comparisons with competing, individual-building energy service options commonly emphasize short-term economics that do not consider the full life-cycle performance of District Energy, nor include its wide range of external benefits.
- 1. Define Cost Components
- Identify and evaluate the range of cost components, data, and methodologies that are used in cost comparisons.
- 2. Develop Comparative Cost Gnidelines
- Recommend components, data and specific methodology's) that will realistically reflect long term comparative costs; document results and develop guidelines for their use.
- 3. Incorporate External Benefits
- Define methods that incorporate quantified external societal benefits into comparative cost guidelines.