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Kansas City

Delivering low carbon steam, hot water, and chilled water to over 11.7 million square feet of building space in downtown Kansas City.

What do the T-Mobile Center, Flashcube Apartments, City Hall, the Convention Center, and Lifted Spirits Distillery all have in common? These facilities are all supported by Vicinity Energy’s sustainable district energy system—a reliable and robust thermal energy network that supplies low carbon steam, hot water, and chilled water to over 11.7 million square feet of commercial space in downtown Kansas City.

Owned and operated by Vicinity, the network supplies 99.99% reliable thermal energy to customers that use it for space heating and cooling, domestic hot and chilled water, humidification, and sterilization. District energy also offers our customers a green energy alternative—through our combined heat and power (CHP) operations, green steam is helping to reduce Kansas City’s carbon footprint by nearly 33,000 tons annually.

33,000 tons

Annual reduction of the region’s GHG emissions

11.7 million

Square feet of space served

7,100 cars

Cars removed from the road per year (carbon reduction equivalent)

Investing in Kansas City

Green steam refers to Vicinity’s low carbon thermal product, which in large part comes from a CHP process and the integration of renewable energy. Today in the Kansas City district, CHP technology is maximizing the transformation of fuel into energy and decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by capturing waste heat that would otherwise be lost under conventional means. By combining the production of thermal energy (used for both heating and cooling) and electricity into one process, CHP results in the most efficient use of fuel to generate electricity and condition buildings, using far less fuel than when heat and power are produced separately.

Vicinity’s use of innovative CHP technology and its elimination of coal in 2017 have collectively reduced GHG emissions in Kansas City by nearly 33,000 tons annually—the equivalent of removing almost 7,100 cars from the roads. 

Learn more about District Energy in Kansas City

Meet The Federal Building Performance Standard With District Energy

Vicinity's systems can help you instantly meet the requirements set by Biden's Building Performance Standard (BPS) while benefiting from the efficient, sustainable, and reliable service district energy provides.

An Innovative Approach to a Cleaner Environment

With decades of building and managing the largest energy districts in the U.S., Vicinity continues to innovate and invest in sustainable energy infrastructure and technology to reduce our overall environmental impact.

Our Clean Energy Future is a reflection of this commitment and incorporates the latest strategies and technologies available, including:

  • Electrifying generation ​to further reduce ​carbon emissions as the grid gets greener;
  • Investing in efficiency projects and upgrades to our existing district infrastructure;​
  • Leveraging renewable energy for our “house loads” in our facilities;
  • Researching new opportunities, like the introduction of battery storage, to meet the needs of customers and avoid costly grid interruption; and
  • Exploring additional leading-edge technologies to accelerate our transition.

Learn more about our Clean Energy Future

How District Energy Works

District energy is an innovative and resilient energy solution that uses a centrally located facility, or facilities, to generate thermal energy—heat, hot water, or chilled water—which is then transported through highly insulated underground pipes directly to nearby buildings, avoiding the need for boilers, chillers and cooling towers in individual buildings. Watch the video to learn more about how district energy works.

What is District Energy?

Hotel Phillips Kansas City logo

“We’ve been very happy with our longstanding steam service from Vicinity, and look forward to the additional efficiency, reliability and peace of mind we can expect from their chilled water service. Keeping our guests comfortable is our number one priority and we’re also so proud to be reducing our carbon footprint in the process.”

John Glenn

Hotel Phillips General Manager, Arbor Lodging Partners LLC

Infographic showing Vicinity Energy's Path to a Clean Energy Future

A Clean Energy Future is in our Grasp

By taking action and implementing a host of innovative energy strategies and technologies, Vicinity is leading the way to building decarbonization.
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Our Customers

We help organizations of all sizes—from hospitals to hotels to municipalities—use and manage energy more efficiently, sustainably, and strategically.

Hotel Phillips Kansas City
The Kansas City Public Library
Kansas City Convention Center
Lifted Spirits
Kansas City Missouri
Flash Cube Apartments

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