FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
02/10/2015
Contacts: Angie Timmons, Environmental Services: office: 612-348-2477,
cell: 612-845-0323
Philip Hussong, Communications: 612-348-3735
Media advisory
Heat from Hennepin Energy Recovery Center melts snow, ice at transit hub
Target Field Station opened last
summer, but as winter persists, so does its innovative snowmelt system — a key feature of the station's sustainable design.
The
snowmelt system produces cleaner and safer sidewalks, reducing maintenance
costs and saving fuel. It also eliminates the use of salt and other chemicals,
which means less salt flowing into the Mississippi River through runoff.
Join us to find out more about this
innovative system and talk with the Hennepin County environment and
energy experts who manage it.
When: Tuesday,
February 10, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Target
Field Station/Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, 435 North 5th Street, downtown Minneapolis. Take the METRO Blue or Green lines,
or park at the Target Field Station pay ramp (enter at Fifth Ave. and Fifth
St., take the elevator to the plaza level). Call Angie Timmons at 612-845-0323
upon arrival and staff will meet you promptly.
Background
Snowmelt system and sustainable design at Target Field
Station
During construction, 50 miles of plastic
tubing were embedded in concrete surfaces at the transit hub.
An antifreeze
mixture circulates through the tubing and warms the concrete using heat from the
adjacent
Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC).
HERC burns trash from Minneapolis and surrounding
communities to produce energy. Along with steam and electricity, the heat is
generated as part of the energy production process at the waste-to-energy
facility. Steam provides heating and cooling for Target Field and buildings in
the downtown Minneapolis district energy system; it also powers a turbine to
produce electricity — enough to power 25,000 homes — which is sold to Xcel
Energy.
Other sustainable design features at the station reduce
the amount of runoff into the river and improve its quality. Rain and snowmelt
that is not collected in
cisterns for reuse at HERC gets absorbed by “green roof” areas covered with native plants, or filtered through
tree pits, permeable pavers and vegetated swales.
The Minnesota Twins
Partners in the planning and funding of Target Field Station, the Twins currently
coordinate public events and programming at the station and maintain the Great
Lawn, video board and other amenities.
More information: www.hennepin.us/HERC
and www.hennepin.us/targetfieldstation
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
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