Applying Ice to the Problem

CHICAGO — Commonwealth Edison Co. is proposing a cool idea to beat future summer heat: a giant ice maker whose cubes would be melted down and piped through downtown buildings in Chicago.

The ice would be made at night, when electricity is cheaper to use, and melted on warm days, said Com Ed spokesman Sam Falcona. “This is not something radical,” he said, citing similar ice-fed cooling systems in Europe.

Com Ed recently set up its Northwind unit to promote the process, in which chilled water is piped into older buildings where conversion to another cooling system is too expensive.