New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-02-23
LOCAL men VIEW
!. BRooKlNGs PLANT
EXHAUST STEAM FROM NUM-
CIPAL LIGHT AND WATER
WORKS UTILIZED
MUST BE COMPACT IN
r.. ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL
AND PROFITABLE

That New Ulm should make use of the
exhaust steam which is now going to
waste at the municipal lighting plant, is
the opinion of the Commercial Club
committee, composed of Messrs. ALI.
Vogel, Ferd. Crone and Henry Somsen.
which made a trip to Brookings, S. D.;
last Friday and Saturday to inspect the
municipal heating plant now in operation
in that city.
While the above is the conclusion
arrived at by the members of the COM
mittee, the establishment of such a
plant in New Ulm is still in an embryonic
state and probably will be for some time
to come because of the many things to
be considered and the different angles
from which the establishment of the
plant might be viewed from the stand
point of the taxpayer. One of the
apparently feasible schemes to aid in
having the plant established is advanced
in the plan whereby the merchants in
the centrally located business district
advance the money for the building of
the plant, the laying of the mains, etc.,
and then only pay the city a certain
stipulated price for certain amount of
the exhaust steam which now is total
waste and loss. This plan is proposed
for several reasons, the main one being
that in the event of the city itself build
ing the plant the taxpayers at large
would have to pay for it and only
small proportion of them receive the
benefit because of the fact that there
would never be enough waste steam to
ssupp,v more than just the business dis
trict,, unless the use Of the steam would
T be confined to those who bring their
buildings up to certain requirements.
It is said by those who have familiar
lied themselves upon the subject that
the distribution. of steam must be con-
fined to a comparatively small area
adjacent to the steam plant, because the
farther away from the plant one goes the
greater will be the loss of heat.
One of the members of the committee
which made the trip to Brookings last
week, stated to representative of the
Review that the Brookings plant has
proven itself an unqualified success
during the three years it has been in
operation. The city at large in this case
built the plant and the merchants and
private citizens are paying for their heat
the same as do residents of this city for
their gas, water and electric light. Every
thing is on the meter system and the
customer pays for only the amount of
heat actually used. He said: ..The
people OF this city under the present
heating systems, be they hot water, hot
air or steam, open the windows when the
room gets too hot and in that way waste
a lot of fuel and heat. If they had the
business house or residence connected
with the central plant and were paying
for heat by the foot instead of by the ton,
they would be apt to be more careful and
only turn on the heat when actually
necessary and desired"
The visitors to Brookings state that
some of the buildings in the business
district of that city have been refused
connection with the municipal plant be-
cause their buildings do not come up to
certain requirements specified in the
ordinance. Most Of the merchants are
connected up, however, and these were
. not backward in expressing their ap-
proval of the municipal plant. They
claim that the heat does not cost them
any more than formerly did the fuel their
furnaces consumed, and they are. glad
and willing to pay over to the city the
price OF their former fuel bill because they
are now rid of all the worries about heat.
No janitor is necessary in many of the
business houses where he was constantly
busy in former days. The dirt and dust
incident to the handling Of the coal and
ashes also is done away with. thus in
reality being cash saving over the old
system of heating.
supt. Mueller Of the city waterworks
accompanied the committee on the trim
to the Dakota city and was of much as
distance to them, because the heating
plant # established in this city would
] come under his supervision. The COM
mittee took copious notes during their.
/ stay in Brookings and as soon as this
data has been worked out into present
i able form, it will be submitted to the
i Commercial Club and later to the city.
council. 81.