Source: TechFlash, August 25, 2011. Could Seattle’s sewer pipes provide energy for nearby buildings? King County government hopes to find out.
King County Executive Dow Constantine wants King County government to work with Seattle-based developer FreeHold Group LLC., to see if heat can be captured from sewage pipelines and redistributed as energy to buildings in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood.
FreeHold would help the county sewer department build an energy system to draw heat energy generated inside the Elliott Bay interceptor and use the energy for heating and cooling buildings in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood.
The interceptor pipeline carries wastewater from downtown Seattle to the West Point Treatment Plant. The plant receives 133 million gallons of wastewater a day.
King County would be among the in the U.S. to test the technology, according King County government and the trade website Utility Products.
“This exciting opportunity is strongly aligned with county goals to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and recover resources from wastewater,” Constantine said in a statement. “In the future, it may foster the kind of environmentally friendly development that creates jobs and livable communities, and we are happy to be among the first in the nation to pilot this work.”