Ed. note: District Energy is at the center of the burning controversy in St. Paul. Wood, coal, natural gas, garbage — the arguments swirling around fuel sources sometimes generate more heat than light. This article looks at one of the major players: St. Paul’s District Energy.
Looking out over downtown St. Paul on a winter day, you won’t see much smoke billowing from the tops of businesses and government office buildings. That’s because 80 percent of the city’s downtown is heated from the same source—the District Energy biomass plant on West Kellogg Boulevard. Most of the major downtown corporations, as well as the buildings that make up the state capitol complex, have hot water pipes that lead to District Energy’s center of operations, a 28.5 megawatt incinerator that consumes 280,000 tons of wood waste a year. From an office adjacent to the furnace, the company has carved a name for itself in the world of renewable energy, earning itself admirers, opponents, and people who are just confused about how exactly the whole thing works. MORE »
Subscribe 
