5 ms·

There is a large building in Chicago that basically contains a giant ice cube. https://www.enwave.com/locations/chicago.htm https://www.enwave.com/locations/ch

There is a large building in Chicago that basically contains a giant ice cube. https://www.enwave.com/locations/chicago.htm https://www.enwave.com/locations/chicago.htm

nine_k 5y ago
From their website I gleaned that they have 5 facilities, and several miles of piping that carries ice-cold water to their customers, large buildings around. It's the maximally outsourced air-conditioning solution I ever saw :)
- fy20 5y ago
  District cooling (as opposed to district heating) is fairly common in Gulf countries.
  - c_o_n_v_e_x 5y ago
    They're around in the US as well. Worked on one in downtown Austin in a previous life.
  - jfengel 5y ago
    I hadn't heard the term "district heating" before, but it makes sense. The name puts me in mind of a chain called District Taco, but unfortunately that doesn't mean a supply of tacos piped directly into your house. https://www.districttaco.com/ https://www.districttaco.com/ Not even slightly authentically Mexican, but nonetheless quite tasty.
- simfoo 5y ago
  The city of Munich in Germany actually has a cooling network to cool large buildings in the city centre. See here: https://www.swm.de/geschaeftskunden/fernkaelte https://www.swm.de/geschaeftskunden/fernkaelte
- distances 5y ago
  Helsinki too has district cooling in addition to district heating: https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2018/cooling-demand-in-helsinki-at-a-record-level https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2018/cooling-demand-in-helsinki...
- guerby 5y ago
  Paris has a large cold water network: https://www.climespace.fr/en https://www.climespace.fr/en It's used by some datacenters IIRC.
  - Jyaif 5y ago
    FWIW they suck at their job. Every year there are some days where we don't have AC in the office during summer because they stop sending cold water to the building I work in.
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  There’s versions of this in NYC that use the bay as a first pass heat exchanger. Not sure how deep or cold the Chicago river is but I’d think they’d be able to do the same.
  - UI_at_80x24 5y ago
    Don't forget that Chicago has Lake Michigan too.
mchristen 5y ago
The city of Austin has a chilled water loop and more. It's pretty neat how it all works. https://austinenergy.com/ae/commercial/commercial-services/district-energy-cooling/district-energy-cooling https://austinenergy.com/ae/commercial/commercial-services/d...

There is a large building in Chicago that basically contains a giant ice cube. https://www.enwave.com/locations/chicago.htm https://www.enwave.com/locations/chicago.htm

nine_k 5y ago

From their website I gleaned that they have 5 facilities, and several miles of piping that carries ice-cold water to their customers, large buildings around. It's the maximally outsourced air-conditioning solution I ever saw :)

fy20 5y ago
District cooling (as opposed to district heating) is fairly common in Gulf countries.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y ago
  They're around in the US as well. Worked on one in downtown Austin in a previous life.
- jfengel 5y ago
  I hadn't heard the term "district heating" before, but it makes sense. The name puts me in mind of a chain called District Taco, but unfortunately that doesn't mean a supply of tacos piped directly into your house. https://www.districttaco.com/ https://www.districttaco.com/ Not even slightly authentically Mexican, but nonetheless quite tasty.
simfoo 5y ago
The city of Munich in Germany actually has a cooling network to cool large buildings in the city centre. See here: https://www.swm.de/geschaeftskunden/fernkaelte https://www.swm.de/geschaeftskunden/fernkaelte
distances 5y ago
Helsinki too has district cooling in addition to district heating: https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2018/cooling-demand-in-helsinki-at-a-record-level https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2018/cooling-demand-in-helsinki...
guerby 5y ago
Paris has a large cold water network: https://www.climespace.fr/en https://www.climespace.fr/en It's used by some datacenters IIRC.
- Jyaif 5y ago
  FWIW they suck at their job. Every year there are some days where we don't have AC in the office during summer because they stop sending cold water to the building I work in.
bradleyjg 5y ago
There’s versions of this in NYC that use the bay as a first pass heat exchanger. Not sure how deep or cold the Chicago river is but I’d think they’d be able to do the same.
- UI_at_80x24 5y ago
  Don't forget that Chicago has Lake Michigan too.

mchristen 5y ago

The city of Austin has a chilled water loop and more. It's pretty neat how it all works. https://austinenergy.com/ae/commercial/commercial-services/district-energy-cooling/district-energy-cooling https://austinenergy.com/ae/commercial/commercial-services/d...