Denver is now constructing what is likely the largest sewer heat-recovery project in North America.
I have no idea what leads one to a career in sewers, but judging from this story, it can involve tackling really interesting challenges to help the environment.
As Sam Brasch reported at National Public Radio, “A secret cache of clean energy is lurking in sewers, and there are growing efforts to put it to work in the battle against climate change.
“The U.S. Department of Energy estimates Americans wash enough energy down the drain every year to power about 30 million homes. The sources are often everyday items inside homes. Think hot showers, washing machines and sinks. Evolving technology is making it easier to harness that mostly warm water.
“Denver is now constructing what is likely the largest sewer heat-recovery project in North America, according to Enwave, a Canadian energy company set to operate the system.
“Over the next few years, a $1 billion remodel will turn the 250-acre site, home to the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, into a hub for art, education and agriculture. The revamped National Western Center will include about a million square feet of new indoor space, all of which will be heated and cooled with energy from the sewer pipes below.
“Brad Buchanan, the CEO leading the redevelopment, said the project has already changed how he thinks about the best location for real estate. Big pieces of sewer infrastructure have long repelled development. Now he imagines they might be sought out as a way to save energy costs and avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
The National Western Center estimates the project will help it annually avoid the carbon equivalent of driving an average gas-powered car around the equator 250 times. …
“The technology to harvest sewer heat isn’t complicated. At the National Western Center, construction crews have already completed a pit exposing the main sewer line. The wastewater inside stays a mild 55 to 75 degrees year-round, local officials say, no matter the weather outside. That consistent temperature can be tapped to heat and cool above-ground buildings.
“The key is a massive heat pump, which will be housed in a central plant on the campus. The device works like a reversible air conditioning unit. In the winter, it will transfer energy from the sewage into a clean-water loop connecting the buildings, adding heat to indoor spaces. The process can then be flipped to keep things cool in the summer.
“And to answer an obvious question: No, the raw effluent is never exposed to the air, so people occupying the buildings won’t get hit with waves of sewer stink. …
“If sewer energy catches on, one reason could be the potential benefits for wastewater districts. That’s because warm sewage causes its own environmental problems. In Denver, wastewater is often hotter than the South Platte River, its final destination after running through a treatment plant. This ‘thermal pollution’ can imperil native plants and wildlife. …
“The National Western Center has moved to protect its supply in the event of a kind of sewer-heat gold rush. The City and County of Denver, a partner in the project, exercised a three-year option for exclusive access to the energy inside the pipelines running through the campus. Buchanan, the project CEO, said it amounts to a new sort of environmental resource. Instead of mineral rights or water rights, his development holds sewer thermal energy rights.
” ‘We have it protected because we’re counting on that energy in perpetuity,’ he said.”
More at NPR, here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Human ingenuity. Love it.
Heating and cooling an arts center, for goodness sake! Sewers are not what they used to be!
😀
What a unique idea. Nothing goes to waste.
I like to see us getting back to some of the old saving ways of earlier societies.
Awesome!!!!
I would have liked to find a Denver sewer photo that wasn’t blocked but had to settle for a shower head. When the project is finished, I hope there will be lots of pictures available.
Oh, yes! So exciting what we can do when we think creatively.
Wow. I love this story. It is the first time I have read about this concept. It reminds me of the colleges which have been testing the waste materials in their sewer systems for COVID to gain a better sense of infection rates on their campus. Hurrah for folks thinking creatively about our sewer systems — a topic (along with poop in general) that most of us like to ignore or kind of pretend doesn’t exist!
You are right. Most of us never give a thought to sewers. That may be about to change. I see on the horizon a whole field of sewer literature, from adventure stories to poetry!