The 200 Market Street Building in Portland, OR, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and awards presentation marking the installation of a new mircroturbine — a first for an Oregon office building. Building owner John Russell received awards from the Bonneville Power Administration and other participants. The building features a window that allows visitors to see the inner workings of the refrigerator-sized microturbine that uses natural gas to generate some of the office building’s electric power.

The system is a 30-kW microturbine manufactured by Capstone Turbine (Chatsworth, CA). According to the American Gas Association (AGA), the microturbine can generate enough power to run the night and emergency lights for the entire 18-story building. AGA also says that the efficiency of the system is further enhanced because its waste heat is used to run an absorption chiller, which creates air conditioning from heat rather than electricity.

— by Greg Mazurkiewicz

Publication date: 11/11/2002