Electric vs. Gas Cont... Mr. Lindsay's March 1 letter (PUBLIC
UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY, p. 6) requires some further discussion.
We do agree that reducing cooling seasonal peak electric demand
is desirable. Lessening the electric infrastructure's
environmental effects and electric system failures, as we
witnessed in the summer of 1996, is to the public good. However,
thermal storage systems have siting issues and the potential to
run out of capacity at the worst possible time on peak days.
Wouldn't a gas chiller, operating in the cooling season on the
lightly loaded gas delivery system, be a simpler, more
economical, and less environmentally damaging choice? Mr.
Lindsay's letter referenced the incomplete Total Equivalent
Warming Index (TEWI) study, managed by the Department of Energy,
but mainly funded by a group of electric chiller refrigerant
manufacturers. This study still contains a number of issues.
First, TEWI is not a comprehensive study of environmental
issues. Only carbon dioxide emission and the impact