By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer

The air conditioning in buildings throughout downtown - from Paul Brown Stadium and the PNC Bank building to the federal courthouse and the new Underground Railroad Freedom Center - comes from a centrally located "cooling district" located in the basement of the Fourth and Walnut building.

Cinergy developed the "cooling district" in 1997, and now uses it to provide air conditioning for 13 buildings from the Ohio River to Central Parkway.

The district is an alternative to building individual air conditioning systems in each of those buildings and provides cost savings to the owners.

Hamilton County Administrator Dave Krings said the system saves taxpayers money in cooling Paul Brown Stadium. The county owns and operates the stadium.

"We compared the cost of using the district to the capital and operational costs, and it was a better deal," Krings said. "And as they add users, the costs will continue to come down."

The Freedom Center is the latest user to be added to the list.

Cinergy officials say the cooling district makes sense for a number of reasons:

• It's more economical for one large plant to operate than for several smaller units.

• Businesses get better rates because they can eliminate paying summer peak rates.

• It reduces chemical handling and storage.

• It eliminates capital investment in chillers, cooling towers and pumps, so there is no redundancy of equipment between buildings.

• Reduced repair costs.

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E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com