>District heat networks supply heat to homes and businesses through pipes carrying hot water. They have great potential to deliver CO2 emissions reductions and cost benefits through the use of low carbon heat, waste heat (from power stations, industry and other sources), combined heat and power  and large-scale heat pump deployment.

The ETI’s project will assess innovative solutions to reduce the capital and total lifetime costs of heat network pipes, and to reduce any disruption caused during their installation.

The Request for Proposals (RfP) announced today (11 December) is focused on identifying innovative solutions. These may include advanced installation approaches; tunnelling, drilling and excavation techniques; alternative pipework and insulation materials; jointing techniques; pipe routing and novel system designs; planning; sub-surface detection technologies; plus other areas to be proposed.

It is expected that the project team selected will need to be made up of a number of organisations with experience and insight into district heat network delivery.<

>US Geothermal’s 22 MW Neal Hot Springs Power Plant took the technical advancement prize. The facility, near Vale, Oregon, is considered the first commercial, supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) binary power plant.

TAS Energy designed, manufactured and installed the supercritical ORC binary power plant employing R134a, an organic working fluid that is non-toxic and non-flammable.

GeothermEx was recognized for its role in economic development and its "substantial contribution to the development of local, regional or national markets through the development of geothermal systems."

According to the GEA, the company excels in the facilitation of common understanding between developers and financiers. To date, GeothermEx’s evaluations have enabled the development of more than 7,000 MW of geothermal power, the total financed to date exceeding $12 billion.

Dale Merrick of Canby Geothermal received the Environmental Stewardship award, which was presented in conjunction with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI).

" Dale Merrick has been a leader and visionary working to implement a community-based geothermal development project at Canby , California," the GEA said in a written statement. "The project would produce power and cascade the remaining energy to support an existing geothermal district heating system and future greenhouse and aquaculture businesses.

"If successful, Canby would be the first net-zero community in California and a model to the 71 communities in the state identified by the CEC as having a co-located geothermal resource. Projects like the Canby Geothermal System take many different types of support, and an advocate and visionary, like Dale Merrick, is essential. Canby Geothermal is a classic example of what a geothermal ‘champion’ and a supportive community can do, the industry association said.<

>This imbalance is primarily due to the large quantities of coal, oil, and natural gas that are extracted from public lands. 42.1 percent of the country’s coal, 26.2 percent of its oil, and 17.8 percent of its natural gas are currently sourced from public lands both onshore and offshore.

Using data from the United States Geological Survey and Stratus Consulting, the CAP analysis determined that when combusted, fossil fuels extracted from public lands are the source of 1,154 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, while those same lands absorb only 259 million metric tons every year. As the authors wrote, the carbon sink that should be our national parks, forests, and other public lands is now “clogged.”

These findings are important considering that the first tenet of President Barack Obama’s Climate Action plan is to “cut carbon pollution in America.” The president’s “all of the above energy” plan, however, calls for continued expansion of mining and drilling on the 700 million acres of public lands managed by the federal government — contributing to high levels of carbon pollution.<

>According to the AP, the “federal government occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates 600,000 vehicles and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services,” which amounts to some pretty substantial emissions. Currently the government sources 7.5 percent of it’s electricity from renewable energy, but today’s announcement looks for that amount to triple to 20 percent within just seven years. (It is not presently clear how this ties into President Obama’s 2010 goal that the federal government cut carbon emissions by 28 percent by 2020).

So far there are few details as to how this goal is to be accomplished, but more optimistic onlookers might view this as one of the more promising developments in Obama’s oft-confusing “all-of-the-above” strategy for U.S. energy independence. Indeed, it follows an emerging trend towards renewable energy within individual sectors of federal government. The Department of Defense already has goals to meet 25 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2025, while the government has invested $4 billion in making its buildings more efficient. These changes, among others, have seen federal agencies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent since 2009.<