To many, these stacks are just part of a public art installation situated east of the Cambie Street bridge but if you look a little closer, you will see they are part of the Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility. The five stacks, which resemble a hand reaching up, are actually exhaust flues for the False Creek Energy Centre and the LED lights making up the ‘fingernails’ change colour according to the amount of district energy being produced by the system.
So why pair a public art display with a Neighbourhood Energy Utility? To help bring attention to a first-of-its-kind Neighbourhood Energy system in North America that captures waste heat from raw sewage to provide centralized space heating and hot water to the surrounding buildings in the Olympic Village neighbourhood. At the time of its construction, only three similar systems had been implemented in the world, two in Oslo, Norway and one in Tokyo, Japan. By recycling waste thermal energy, the system is reducing 60% of the pollution associated with heating and hot water use that would otherwise be produced by the neighbourhood’s buildings. Attention to the energy centre is also sought from passer-by’s by the large windows incorporated into the building allowing people to see the system in action.

The importance of Neighbourhood Energy systems is evident when you take a look at the numbers for energy consumption in Vancouver. Buildings, including residential, commercial, institutional and industrial, account for three quarters of the energy consumed by the city, which contributes to significant negative effects on the city’s carbon footprint. This also means that taking steps to reduce the non-renewable energy reliance of space heating and hot water, the two largest contributors to energy consumption in buildings, can have real and significant positive effects on the impact of buildings on the environment. The Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility falls in line with the third priority laid out in Vancouver’s Renewable Energy Strategy 2015-2050: expand existing and develop new neighbourhood renewable energy systems. Following suit, development of Neighbourhood Energy systems in South Downtown, Northeast False Creek, and in River District have been pursued. The City has also identified several other districts suitable for Neighbourhood Energy, all of which are large, high density areas or corridors with high development potential. These districts include downtown, central Broadway and the Cambie corridor.

The benefits of Neighbourhood Energy are clear but new technology still requires extensive educating and consultation for it to be widely supported by neighbourhood stakeholders. However, with increased public awareness of where our energy comes from, such as promoting learning through the use of public art, the hope is that more and more people will begin to realize that renewable energy sources exist right in our own backyard, or in this case, right in our own sewer system!

References

Project Website

Renewable City Strategy 2015-2050

Neighbourhood Energy in Vancouver – Strategic Approach and Guidelines

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THE POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE POWER DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

SOLAR

On average India is said to have around 300 sunny days in a year. The theoretical solar energy received by India’s land mass is around 5000 trillion kilowatt-hours per year. This value is greater than the combined energy from all of India’s fossil fuel energy reserves. As of September 2016, the country’s solar grid has a capacity of 8626 MW. In addition to large scale harvesting of solar energy, India has utilised smaller scale technologies that run on solar power. Kerosene lanterns are being replaced by solar powered lanterns in rural India.

In 2013, Cochin International Airport in South India started its ambitious project of going completely off the public electricity grid. Three years later it became the first fully solar powered airport in the world. The solar plant comprises of 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres of land. This plant is capable of generating 50,000 kilowatts of electricity daily.  There are plans underway to double the electricity production by 2017.

Most of the project was constructed in six months and the $ 10 million spent on it is projected to be recovered in the six years following construction. This solar power plant will produce energy equivalent to that produced by burning 3 metric tonnes of Coal (India’s most common source of electricity).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLAfpn09cco

 

WIND

Since 1986 when the first wind farms were set up in India, the country has progressed to become the 4^th largest harvester of wind energy in the world. India’s estimated potential for wind farms is said to be around 2000 GW per year. Wind power accounts for close to 3% of India’s total power generation capacity. Around 70% of the wind energy is harvested during the 5 months of monsoon between May and September.

HYDROELECTRIC

The exploitable hydroelectric power potential is estimated at around 148000 MW per year. As of 2016, the harvested capacity was around 40000 MW which was 14.35% of total utility electricity generation in India. Most of the harvested hydro energy is from power plants in North and West India. The hydro power potential in Central India is largely unexploited due to opposition from the local population.

Sites with the potential to develop smaller scale hydro projects (less than 25 MW) exist throughout the country. Pumped storage units have allowed better energy balancing during peak hours and better coordination with solar power generation.

BIO FUEL

Jatropha curcas plant seeds are the main source of bio-fuel in India. The seeds of the plant are rich in oil and have been used as a source of bio-diesel by rural communities for several decades. Along with being a renewable and cleaner source of energy; bio fuel generation and usage helps strengthen India’s economy by reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Indian government has announced a policy of 20% blending of transportation fuels with bio fuels by 2017. Part of the inspiration to use more bio-fuels comes from the need to reduce the amount of air pollution in urban environments. Transportation vehicles are seen as the largest contributors to the deteriorating air quality in some of India’s largest cities.

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GOVERNMENT POLICY MEASURES FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY

UNNAT JYOTHI by Affordable LED’s for All (UJALA)

The UJALA programme promotes replacement of inefficient incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs. Within the first year of this programme’s launch, 90 million LED bulbs were sold in the country reducing the electricity bills by US $820 million. The government’s target is to replace 770 million incandescent bulbs by 2019 with an annual estimated reduction of 20000 MW and savings of around US $5.9 billion in electricity bills alone.

JAWAHARLAL NEHERU NATIONAL SOLAR MISSION

JNNSM is an overarching goal to promote solar power generation. Some of the key components of this plan are:

• Aggressive Research and Development into Solar Technology
• Domestic production of Raw materials and components needed for solar power generation
• Large scale goals for deployment of solar plants

Under this mission, capital costs of solar power station installation are subsidised. Subsidies are also offered for smaller scale solar technology implementation like PV water pumping systems for irrigation used in rural India.

STANDARDS AND LABELLING SCHEME

The S&L scheme is an attempt to curb the demand at the consumption level by enforcing certain standards for appliance manufacturers. All appliance manufacturers are required by law to label their products with a star rating system. Five stars for an appliance implies maximum efficiency for that product class. This system is intended to help consumers make more informed decisions on purchasing energy efficient appliances.

IDENTIFICATION OF SMALL HYDRO POWER SITES (LESS THAN 25 MW capacity)

This program is intended to encourage exploration and identification of small hydro power sites. Submission of a site plan and detailed project report on such sites will entitle the researching party for financial support of Rs. 6 lakhs for each project site identified below 1 MW; and Rs. 10 lakhs for each project identified over 1 MW. Various government agencies and local bodies are eligible to participate in this program.

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 REFERENCES

• https://cleantechnica.com/2015/08/26/india-proposes-national-policy-biofuels/
• http://ireeed.gov.in/policydetails?id=80
• http://ireeed.gov.in/policydetails?id=433#
• http://www.mnre.gov.in/solar-mission/jnnsm/introduction-2/
• http://ireeed.gov.in/policydetails?id=13
• http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/biofuel_policy.pdf

 

Germany’s energiewende is an energy revolution that made them a leader in industrialized nations. As of today, 27% of Germany’s energy comes from renewable resources (more than twice that of the United States). They have pledge to reduce their carbon emissions by 40% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. This post explores the political, economical, and social situation that allowed such sweeping changes in the national energy system.

 

Political

After the second world war, Germany was a divided nation. The German Green party came to power in 1980 amid nuclear power protests in West Germany and began bringing green ideology to the public’s attention. After Chernobyl exploded in 1986 one of Germany’s two major parties, the Social Democrats, joined the anti-nuclear cause. In 1998, these two parties formed a governing coalition. Two years later, a law was passed that guaranteed any renewable energy producer a price that more than covered costs, and the feed-in tariffs were guaranteed for 20 years. This provided the incentive needed for investors to start putting significant money into renewable energy.

Economical

Since the passing of the 2000 law, the tariff for a large new solar plant has fallen from 50 cents per kilowatt hour to just 10 cents per kilowatt hour. Over half of the investments in green energy have come from private citizens or local citizens associations. Further, no more of Germany’s gross domestic product is devoted to energy today than was in 1991. Instead, the money came from a surcharge on citizens electricity bills. The cost to the average user is about 18 euros a month, a not insignificant charge considering Germany already has the second-highest cost for electricity in all of Europe. However, despite these extra fees, the approval rating for energiewende from German citizens is an incredible 92%.

Social

Perhaps the most driving force for change in Germany’s energy production was the social climate. It began in the 1970’s, when serious harm to the nation’s forests from acid rain due to fossil fuel emissions caused widespread outrage. Germans place a high value on their undeveloped land, with their forests topping the list. Initially, the government proposed nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative energy source and it once produced a quarter of the country’s energy. However, when the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima struck, the citizens pushed back hard. In 1975, a nuclear power plant was proposed to the town of Freiburg, sparking almost of decade of protests and occupying of the site. Today, Freiburg is a completely solar powered city, producing more energy than it uses. Germany has currently shut down 9 of it’s 27 nuclear reactors, with plans to close the rest by 2020. 

 

Reference:

Kunzig, R. (2015, October 15). Germany Could Be a Model for How We’ll Get Power in the Future. National Geographic.

This is a summary of the reading in Sarte’s Sustainable Infrastructure focusing on the energy section (p.178-183).

Energy-Efficient Systems fro Communities 

All infrastructure and generation facilities must be designed to handle the evening hour peaks in energy demand plus a buffer for emergencies. Improving efficiency and balancing the peak loads are important to incorporate into a city and community scale projects. Here are some of the ways this can be done:

1. Combine Heat and Power (Cogeneration) – ‘waste’ heat from producing electricity is used to heat water and make steam which can be distributed through pipes to heat buildings

• Integrating these systems can reduce cost and greenhouse gas emissions
• Ex. Copenhagen supplies hot water to 97% of the city by harvesting the heat from local clean-burning biomass plants

2. District Heating- Shared heating systems

• Effective in dense communities where steam doesn’t need to travel far
• Reduces the community’s overall demand from the grid
• Can be used with other heating sources but is more practical in colder climates
• Ex. New York City has the largest commercial steam system

3. District Cooling- distributing chilled water in pipes throughout dense neighborhoods for cooling

• More efficient compared to single-unit air conditioning

4. Trigeneration -similar to cogeneration with the addition of an absorption chiller that uses the steam to create cool air or water

• Primarily used in warm climates where the cooling demand is higher
• In some case it could be used to create district cooling networks in dense communities

5. Smart meters and smart grids

• Smart meters provided real-time reports on power use and demand which allows customers to see their electricity rates and adjust energy (Ex. thermostats) to reduce loads at peak times
• Smart grids is the incorporation of smart meters into a community’s power network
• Allow to reduce the total demand at peaks which can lead to the reduction of the capacity for the generators which increases the efficiency
• Allows more renewable electricity to exist in the grid due to the better management and distributing of a variety of power
• Improves overall reliability of the system

Accounting for Water as an Energy Use

• Energy inputs occur when extracting, conveying, storing, treating, distributing and using water
• Additional energy is required to collect, convey, treat, reuse or discharge wastewater
  • Pumping can be the most energy intensive part of the cycle
  • Transporting chemicals
  • Heating and lighting facilities
  • Electronic monitoring system
  • Transportation related to maintenance and monitoring
  • Construction of these infrastructures consumes energy
• Laying pipes and building dams, sewer systems, and water treatment plants embodies the large amounts of energy
• On-site water sources typically require less operational energy per volume of water compared to traditional water systems
  • Pumping demands are minimal
  • segregate water sources based on quality and each can be deliver to the appropriate demand with minimal treatment required (less energy to treat water)

Reducing Demand Through Transportation Changes

• US dependency on automobiles has lead to a steady increase in energy required for transportation
• In 2008, transportation accounted for 28% of overall energy use (almost equal to industry use 31%)
• Transportation doesn’t only included automobiles
  • Need to consider energy efficient forms of transportation as the most effective modes of travel because people will travel which every way meets their needs the best

The Energy Impact of Automobiles

• Automobiles and their infrastructure increase a project’s energy demands and capitals costs
  • Some examples of how roads increase energy demand and cost:
    • Take up a lot of space
    • Dark pavement soaks heat and can increase the local temperature which increase the cooling cost of buildings
    • in snowy climates, more energy spent on maintenance (plowing)
    • Drainage systems which embodied energy in the infrastructure, pumping demands and maintenance
    • Other infrastructure like traffic lights, signage and gas station embodied energy
    • Larger home footprint for parking
• It can be more beneficial to look into other options for transportation other than automobiles
  • Sometimes using automobiles can out weigh the cost of designing around them
  • In order to reduce the impact of the automobiles there are saving opportunities that can be done including:
    • Adopting a two-part approach for alternative fuel: acquiring vehicles that run on alternative fuel and creating infrastructure to refuel those vehicles
• Alternative fuel options include biodiesel, electricity, compressed natural gas and/or propane
  • Benefits:
    • Cleaner cars and reduce local pollution and global impact
    • Propane and natural gas burn cleaner (compared to gasoline)
    • Bio-diesel more sustainable fuel
  • Can be applicable for vehicle fleets that have a fixed route and parked in the same fueling and maintenance facility each night (ex. city buses, maintenance trucks, emergency vehicles)