Renewable energy for America's cities: Advanced Community Energy Systems Proposed Research, Development and Demonstration Program

Abstract

The first purpose of this paper is to describe ACES technologies and their potential impact on the environment, the US energy supply system and economy. The second purpose is to recommend an R,D D program to the US Department of Energy which has as its goal the rapid development of the most promising of the new technologies. ACES supply thermal energy to groups of buildings, communities and cities in the form of hot or chilled water for building space heating, domestic hot water or air conditioning. The energy is supplied via a network of insulated, underground pipes linking central sources of supply with buildings. ACES, by definition, employ very high energy efficiency conversion technologies such as cogeneration, heat pumps, and heat activated chillers. These systems also use renewable energy sources such as solar energy, winter cold, wind, and surface and subsurface warm and cold waters. ACES compose a new generation of community-scale building heating and air conditioning supply technologies. These new systems can effect a rapid and economical conversion of existing cities to energy supply by very efficient energy conversion systems and renewable energy systems. ACES technologies are the most promising near term means by which cities can make the transition from our present damaging dependence on fossil fuel supply systems to an economically and environmentally sustainable reliance on very high efficiency and renewable energy supply systems. When fully developed to serve an urban area, ACES will constitute a new utility system which can attain a level of energy efficiency, economy and reliance on renewable energy sources not possible with currently available energy supply systems.