HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwired - Jul 14, 2015) - Burns & McDonnell has added its congratulations to Thermal Energy Corp. (TECO) for its recognition in winning the prestigious ENERGY STAR CHP Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). TECO won the award in the first year it was eligible for its demonstrated track record of energy savings and emissions reductions at its new $377 million district energy center serving the Texas Medical Center. Burns & McDonnell served as the primary engineering and construction contractor on the highly successful district energy center expansion project.
The award was announced in June at the 2015 International District Energy Association (IDEA) annual conference in Boston. The ENERGY STAR CHP Award recognizes organizations that use CHP systems to improve electric generation efficiency and reduce emissions.
"We're incredibly honored to receive the ENERGY STAR CHP Award," said Steve Swinson, President and CEO of TECO. "So many people and organizations have made it happen, such as our board of directors, employees, GE's Distributed Power business and Burns & McDonnell."
"TECO's CHP system has become a demonstration lab for the entire industry on how to more efficiently use energy and reduce emissions," said Scott Clark, Vice President of Burns & McDonnell's OnSite Energy and Power group. "We were thrilled to see this award given to TECO because of their commitment to demonstrating how district energy systems can be a crucial element in solving our country's energy challenges."
The TECO system is the largest, most energy efficient and most reliable district energy system in the U.S. Serving the world's largest medical center, the expanded district energy center was an integral component of TECO's Master Plan Implementation Project. Incorporating a 48-MW combined heat and power unit, 32,000 tons of new cooling capacity, an 8.8 million gallon stratified thermal energy storage tank and state-of-the-art controls, the facility is saving TECO and its customers up to $12 million annually in energy costs. The electricity and waste heat from the generation process help produce steam and chilled water that are piped underground through TECO's district cooling and heating network to more than 19 million square feet of customer space.
About TECO
Houston-based Thermal Energy Corp. has provided reliable, cost-effective and energy efficient cooling and heating to institutions in the Texas Medical Center since 1969. TECO's customers don't need chillers or boilers in their buildings. Instead TECO employs district energy and CHP technology to produce chilled water and steam, which it pipes underground to customers for air conditioning, space heating, dehumidification, sterilization, kitchen and laundry processes and domestic hot water use.
About Burns & McDonnell
Burns & McDonnell is a company made up of more than 5,200 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists and consultants with offices across the country and throughout the world. In Texas, more than 600 Burns & McDonnell employee owners serve clients from offices in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. Burns & McDonnell is 100% employee-owned and is proud to be No. 15 on FORTUNE's 2015 List of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Burns & McDonnell currently ranks Number 3 on the Engineering News-Record list of Top 20 power engineering firms. For more information visit http://burnsmcd.com
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