The New York City steam system include Con Edison's Steam Operations, which provides steam to large parts of Manhattan. Other smaller systems provide steam to New York University and Columbia University, and many individual buildings in New York City also have their own steam systems. The steam is used to heat and cool buildings and for cleaning and disinfecting. It is the largest such system in the world and has been in operation since 1882.
Con Edison's Steam Operations is a district heating system which carries steam from generating stations under the streets to heat and cool buildings and businesses in Manhattan. Some New York City businesses and facilities also use steam for cleaning and disinfection. [1]
The New York Steam Company began providing service in lower Manhattan on March 3, 1882. [2] The company merged with Consolidated Edison on March 8, 1954. [2] [3] Today, Con Edison operates the largest commercial steam system in the world (larger than the next nine combined). [4] The organization within Con Edison responsible for the system's operation, known as Steam Operations, provides steam service to over 1,700 commercial and residential customers in Manhattan from Battery Park to 96th Street uptown on the west side, and 89th Street on the east side of Manhattan. Roughly 27 billion pounds (12,000,000 t) of steam flow through the system every year. [5] The steam is produced at four plants in Manhattan and one each in Brooklyn and Queens; the primary plant is between 14th and 15th streets on Manhattan's east side. These plants boil water from the New York City water supply system, making Con Edison one of the largest users of the municipal water supply system. [1]
Steam vapor can be caused by a leak in Con Ed's steam system or by cooler water contacting the outside of a steam pipe. [6] The vapor is often vented out through 10-foot (3.0 m) orange-and-white funnels in the street, known as stacks. Over the years, the stacks have been depicted in numerous TV shows and films. [1]
Steam provides heat and cooling to many buildings in New York. The steam system also provides humidity to art museums, steam cleaning for restaurants to clean dishes, and other uses. [4]
Approximately 30% of the ConEd steam system's installed capacity and 50% of the annual steam generated comes from cogeneration. [7] Cogeneration and Heat Recovery Steam Generation (HRSG) significantly increase the fuel efficiency of cogenerated electricity and thereby reduce the emission of pollutants, such as NOx, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter, as well as the city's carbon footprint. Con Edison is promoting the use of steam for cooling in the summer months, something that can be accomplished with the installation of absorption chillers. [8] Such trigeneration systems reduce peak electrical loads and save construction costs associated with expanding electrical infrastructure.
Clouds of condensation are vented from manholes in Manhattan through orange and white "chimneys". This can be caused by external water being boiled by contact with the steam pipes or by leaks in the steam system itself. [6]
At least twelve steam pipe explosions have occurred in New York City since 1987. [9] The most recent major incident was the 2018 steam pipe explosion which occurred in the Flatiron District and forced the evacuation of 49 buildings. [10] [11] The explosion released concrete, asphalt, "asbestos-containing material" and mud into the air. The asbestos cleared out of the air to safe-level. [12] [13] A previous incident was the 2007 New York City steam explosion, and another on June 28, 1996, at a plant on East 74th Street. [14]
A person was also killed by steam in the underground system in 2002. [15]
There are six plants: [1]
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.
Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries:
District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating. The heat is often obtained from a cogeneration plant burning fossil fuels or biomass, but heat-only boiler stations, geothermal heating, heat pumps and central solar heating are also used, as well as heat waste from factories and nuclear power electricity generation. District heating plants can provide higher efficiencies and better pollution control than localized boilers. According to some research, district heating with combined heat and power (CHPDH) is the cheapest method of cutting carbon emissions, and has one of the lowest carbon footprints of all fossil generation plants.
Pearl Street Station was the first commercial central power plant in New York City. It was located at 255–257 Pearl Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, just south of Fulton Street on a site measuring 50 by 100 feet. The station was built by the Edison Illuminating Company, under the direction of Francis Upton, hired by Thomas Edison.
A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a steam turbine connected to an electrical generator. The low-pressure exhaust from the turbine enters a steam condenser where it is cooled to produce hot condensate which is recycled to the heating process to generate more high pressure steam. This is known as a Rankine cycle.
Cherry Street is a one-way street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It currently has two sections, mostly running along parks, public housing, co-op buildings, tenements, and crossing underneath the Manhattan Bridge.
Vanderbilt Avenue is the name of three thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island. They were named after Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877), the builder of Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.
On July 18, 2007, an explosion in Manhattan, New York City, sent a geyser of hot steam up from beneath a busy intersection, with a 40-story-high shower of mud and flying debris raining down on the crowded streets of Midtown Manhattan. It was caused by the failure of an 83-year-old, 24-inch (0.61 m) underground steam pipe near Grand Central Terminal, which exploded during the evening rush hour. 45 people were injured, and one woman died of a heart attack while fleeing.
Mohave Power Station was a 1580 megawatt electric (MWe) coal-fired power plant that was located in Laughlin, Nevada. Southern California Edison is the majority owner of the plant and was its operator. The plant entered commercial operation in 1971. A steam line that ran near the plant's control room and cafeteria ruptured on June 9, 1985, fatally scalding six and injuring ten more. In 2005, the plant was shut down and was later dismantled.
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Steam that is saturated or superheated is invisible; however, wet steam, a visible mist or aerosol of water droplets, is often referred to as "steam".
The IRT Powerhouse, also known as the Interborough Rapid Transit Company Powerhouse, is a former power station of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), which operated the New York City Subway's first line. The building fills a block bounded by 58th Street, 59th Street, Eleventh Avenue, and Twelfth Avenue in the Hell's Kitchen and Riverside South neighborhoods of Manhattan.
Ravenswood Generating Station is a 2,480 megawatt power plant in Long Island City in Queens, New York City, New York. It is owned and operated by LS Power/Helix Energy Solutions Group. The plant is fueled primarily by fuel oil and natural gas which heats the boilers.
The Edison Machine Works was a manufacturing company set up to produce dynamos, large electric motors, and other components of the electrical illumination system being built in the 1880s by Thomas A. Edison in New York City.
A gas explosion occurred in the afternoon of March 26, 2015 in a building located at 121 Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The explosion was caused by an illegal tap into a gas main. The explosion caused two deaths, injured at least 19 people, four critically, and the resulting fire completely destroyed three adjacent buildings at 119, 121 and 123 Second Avenue between East 7th Street and St. Mark's Place.
On August 19, 1989, a large steam explosion in front of a residential building generated asbestos-containing steam cloud in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Two people – a Con Ed worker and a 3rd floor resident – died instantly and 24 were injured. A third person, another Con Ed worker, died the following day. Two hundred residents were displaced for months while cleanup crews worked to remove asbestos-containing mud from building facades. All apartments were remediated by asbestos workers and tested for airborne asbestos.
The Excelsior Power Company Building is a residential building at 33–43 Gold Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by William C. Gunnell and built by Robert L. Darragh. Completed in 1889, it is Manhattan's oldest known remaining building erected specifically for commercial power generation.
Waterside Generating Station was a power station in Manhattan, New York City, that opened in 1901 and was one of the first power plants in the United States that generated electricity using steam turbines. Built by the New York Edison Company, the facility was located in the Murray Hill neighborhood on the east side of First Avenue between East 38th and 40th streets, alongside the East River. The Waterside station also later served as a cogeneration facility and generated steam for the New York City steam system.
Kips Bay Generating Station was a steam plant in Manhattan, New York City, that operated from 1926 until 1987. The facility was located in the Murray Hill neighborhood on the east side of First Avenue between East 35th and 36th streets, alongside the East River. Originally built by the New York Steam Corporation, the plant produced steam for the New York City steam system and was later operated by Consolidated Edison after merger of the companies. The steam plant was demolished from 1987 to 1994. As part of the decommissioning and sale of Con Edison's nearby Waterside Generating Station in 2005, the former site of the Kips Bay Generating Station was sold to a private developer, remediated, and redeveloped into high-rise apartments and a school.