LOS ANGELES, CA — With energy efficiency playing an increasingly important role in alleviating the state's ongoing energy crisis, Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) earlier this month unveiled plans to showcase a new approach to saving energy that combines on-site power generation with an energy-efficient cooling and heating system.
At a ground-breaking ceremony for a new $1.8 million central energy plant at its Pico Rivera facility, SCG officials said the new plant will save the company $250,000 a year in energy costs through the use of a micro-turbine that generates 75 kilowatts (kW) of electricity and a “super-efficient” natural gas absorption chiller that provides hot water for space heating and chilled water for cooling.