Chilly in Baltimore: Energy Efficiency and Wind Power

I heard an interesting story on NPR today about “district cooling” in which a company in Baltimore uses ice to produce chilled water, which is transported to a number of building in the city for supplemental cooling.  What really struck me as cool about this (sorry about the pun) is the fact that this system essentially “stores” power produced by wind turbines.  Here’s how:  The ice used at the facility is produced at night when energy costs are lowest, and coincidentally, when much of the power provided is from wind turbines that are typically most productive at night.  The ice is used throughout  the day to produce the chilled water.

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