TECHNICAL TOUR

New Orleans Regional Medical Complex (NORMC) Thermal Energy Plant
Monday, May 14, 2001
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
$10.00 per person

Please join us on a tour of a truly unique engineering project in the New Orleans area -- the city's first district energy facility.

The New Orleans Regional Medical Complex (NORMC) Thermal Plant and Parking Garage is one of only two in the South. District heating and cooling systems are employed by organizations with multiple buildings because they provide reliable thermal energy services more efficiently than individual systems. Using underground pipes, the thermal plant supplies chilled water to buildings in the NORMC area. The chilled water is used to cool the buildings and a thermal energy storage system is used to make ice during off-peak hours. That ice is then used to help chill water during business hours. Steam for heating is provided by a nearby sister facility.

This downtown thermal energy plant provides heating and cooling for Charity Hospital and its satellite buildings, LSU Medical School, Delgado School of Nursing, and several other NORMC institutions. This results in space gain for hospitals, allowing them to dispose of old equipment and replace it with offices or patient care areas. It also offers significant environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas and chlorofluorocarbon emissions and enhances the economic development prospects of the area. The concept can also be applied to Central Business District buildings in the future as it has been in Boston, Chicago, and Denver. The plant also includes a parking garage, which provides 600 new spaces to the NORMC area.