Energy Company That Heats and Cools Downtown Kansas City Is Going Green
A rooftop restaurant on a downtown office building. A quick-melting ice rink in Sprint Center. A vanishing coal pile at the Missouri riverfront.
They have nothing in common — unless you know about the network of heating and cooling pipes snaking beneath downtown Kansas City streets.
All three things are tied to Veolia, the energy company that supplies what’s known as “district energy” from a plant at First Street and Grand Boulevard that’s fed by coal and natural gas.
By the end of the year, Veolia’s coal yard will be emptied — Veolia is converting the plant to natural gas alone. The switch will free about four acres of Missouri riverfront property for redevelopment.
More: Energy company that heats and cools downtown Kansas City is going green