A $185-million project will use thermal energy from nearby sewer pipelines to heat and cool seven buildings on a new 250-acre academic campus in Denver.
Although heat recovery systems using a variety of sources—including biomass, solid waste, and wastewater—have been around for decades, this project, at Denver’s National Western Center, represents one of the largest applications of using wastewater as part of a district energy system in the world, says Len Dorr, senior vice president, energy, at AECOM, which is partnering with Denver-based Saunders Construction to design and build the project. “If it’s not the biggest, it certainly is one of the biggest in North America.”