District Energy St. Paul provides carbon-neutral cooling to all cooling customers as a part of their existing chilled water services. Working with Minnesota-based clean energy solutions provider Zero6 Energy, District Energy has purchased renewable energy credits (RECs) from renewable energy projects in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The RECs mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and are tracked by a third-party entity to ensure accuracy. This agreement offsets District Energy cooling customers’ scope 2 emissions associated with electricity used to deliver chilled water to customer buildings.
Cooling system efficiency gains have made this agreement possible. System energy and financial savings have resulted from our continuous efforts to improve system efficiency through customer building optimizations, plant dispatching protocols, optimizing 6.7 million gallons of thermal storage, and strategic equipment investments.
Purchasing RECs for cooling is another step toward District Energy’s goal to decarbonize its heating and cooling systems. The team will continue to pursue new energy and technology alternatives to achieve carbon neutrality for its customers.