During the summer of 2017, I was part of a Sustainable Community Systems: Netherlands program. The program focused on the principles, practice, and policy for sustainable planning and design of land use and transportation systems, with Canadian and international perspectives.
Within the first week of being exposed to the country, it became clear that Dutch urban infrastructure holds an abundance of sustainability design features. The video below outlines the country’s outstanding achievements in the following categories and how it compares to Vancouver and other places.
Haze is one of the disaster weathers. Beijing one of the largest city in the world is facing this whether for more than 150 days per year. The rapid growth of social economy increases energy demand, which challenges the energy production within the city. Persistent haze occurs and the number of days for haze is increasing dramatically.
The cause of haze is complex. One of the cause is the use of coal to produce energy for heating in the building. China is rich in coal. However, colas are not environment-friendly fuels. The solid and gas waste produced by burning coals cause serious environmental problems. To reduce the air pollution, city of Beijing use district energy systems.
The district system in Beijing is divided into more than 16 different energy-producing stations. Each station covers a certain amount of area and produces hot gas to warm the building in that area. In each energy station, natural gas and high-quality coal are used to produce “clean heat”. The high efficiency of district energy system in Beijing result in reduce GHG emissions and improve air quality. According to a research, the CO2 emission in Beijing reduced by 502 ton in 2010(natural gas replace coal for energy use,2015)
The energy use and GHG gas emissions have improved a lot in past decade. The use of district energy system greatly reduces the air pollution in Beijing. However, there is still a long way to go in China to improve the use of energy. Education individuals to use energy in more efficient ways can be helpful. Some other new technologies can also be applied to produce a clean and renewable energy system.
References
Conservation and Supply of Buildings. (2017). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://connect.ubc.ca/bbcswebdav/pid-4457089-dt-content-rid-22874392_1/courses/SIS.UBC.CIVL.498A.101.2017W1.87579/Week%2004%20Material/CIVL498_Video4_Script-Urban%20Energy%20Systems-Conservation_and_Supply_in_Green_Buildings.pdf
Zhang, X. (2015). Natural gas replace coal for energy use. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://download.people.com.cn/csw-zk-20160108-1.pdf
Solid waste flows examine the movement of solid materials in an urban system via extraction, manufacturing, transportation, reuse, and disposal processes. In a traditional linear economy, materials are simply produced, consumed, and disposed of. This open-ended approach does not attempt to recycle materials and would require an infinite supply of resources and the ability to store waste materials. A circular economy (CE) is a regenerative alternative that aims to minimize resource input and waste output by closing material and energy flow into slow and narrow process loops. To achieve these loops, material processes are optimized and products are designed for longer lifespans, easier maintenance, and the ability to reuse, refurbish, and recycle components at the end of the product’s life. This ensures that products are used as long as possible and at the greatest value.
The circular economy approach will also:
Reduce waste products, emissions, and energy leakage
Mitigate impacts of production and consumption
Increase resource productivity
Strengthen economies at all scales
Address issues such as resource security and scarcity
Create opportunities for industry collaboration and new jobs
This course focused primarily on the construction industry and infrastructure material flows; however, it should be noted that the concept of a circular economy also includes goods, services, raw materials, manufactured products, food, and waste. The buildings we work and live in are material intensive, consuming half of the world’s extracted materials and generating one-third of our global waste. Innovative solutions include collaboration between industries, pre-fabrication of building modules, and high-value recycling. By applying the principles of circular economy in construction, and shifting industry practices, not only is the building’s lifecycle optimized, but the building can be designed for maximum performance in terms of economy, health, global responsibility and resource value.
References:
Orloff, A. (2016). The Built Environment. Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Conference. Vancouver: Metro Vancouver. Retrieved 12 10, 2017, from http://www.zwc.ca/archive/2016/sessions/Pages/built-environment.aspx
This past November, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend the 2017 Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Conference. The theme for this year’s event was a Circular Economy Within Reach, and throughout the day, experts on several aspects of the topic discussed solutions to reach a circular economy.
The Circular Economy on the International Space Station
The day started with an incredible keynote from scientist and retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman who shared her unique perspective on zero waste when she lived aboard the International Space Station for six months. Despite the high bar set by Dr. Coleman, the following discussions continued to deliver fascinating discussions throughout the day.
Scientist and retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman delivered the opening keynote speech for the conference (Metro Vancouver, 2017)
Plastics: Reimagining a Global Material
Although the conference had several interesting sessions, I found one debate on plastics particularly interesting. The panel consisted of three experts on the issue of plastic waste: Professor Richard Thompson, who is studying the impacts of plastic in our oceans, Mats Linder from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Andrew Falcon, CEO of Full Cycle Bioplastics. All of them agree that plastic is an indispensable material to modern life, and believe that because of its durability and versatility, it has to the potential to reduce our waste and even reduce our environmental footprint. Unfortunately, the design for limited material recovery and reuse has been catastrophic for our oceans and marine life.
The Current Plastic Packing Material Flow (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2016)The New Plastics Economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2016)
References
Metro Vancouver. (2017, November 20). Why Metro Vancouver’s 2017 Zero Waste Conference Is Being Called ‘The Best Yet’. Retrieved from Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Conference Blog: https://zwcblog.org/2017/11/20/why-metro-vancouvers-2017-zero-waste-conference-is-being-called-the-best-yet/#more-2516
Orloff, A. (2016). The Built Environment. Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Conference. Vancouver: Metro Vancouver. Retrieved 12 10, 2017, from http://www.zwc.ca/archive/2016/sessions/Pages/built-environment.aspx
World Economic Forum, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and McKinsey & Company. (2016). The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics-infographics
The management of urban water systems is extremely important as water is a valuable resource that is not treated as such. Sustainable urban water system design needs to consider groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration, and runoff; these are all key in using an ecosystem approach to design.
Currently humans impact the water cycle in two main ways: creating impervious ground and polluting water. Maintaining the water cycle key affects a multitude of items such as wildlife and soil conditions, these are only a few of the reasons this topic is essential for engineers to understand.
What water systems are currently in place?
Typically, cities have a potable water system and sewer water system. Newer cities also have a storm water system while older cities have this combined with the sewer system. Many north American cities have storm/sewer water separation projects underway.
Where is there room for improvement?
New developments are often required to have a water management plan to try to mimic the existing water system. Additionally, cities many require a comparison of historical water system to post development conditions. Design techniques that are slowly becoming common practice include a grey water system for non-potable needs.
Water demand has been decreasing in north America in recent years largely due to low flow fixtures. Education regarding water as a resources and water conservation is also key. One of the areas with the largest opportunity to reduce water demand is irrigation. Current irrigation practices include a large amount of run off and new technologies exist to improve this, having new technologies improved and implemented is a large challenge. Building scale treatment is an area that is up and coming; currently technology allows efficiency at the district level which means reduction in pumping stations and piping could soon be a reality.
Part 2: Case Study – Vancouver Convention Centre
The Vancouver Convention Centre underwent extensive construction with the addition of the west building for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Almost 9 years later the convention centre is the world first convention centre that is certified double LEED platinum. When it opened, the convention centre was certified LEED platinum for new construction; just last month the building received its second LEED platinum certification for operation and maintenance.
The Vancouver Convention Centre
One of the key design features that allows the convention centre to operate to such high standards is the sophisticated black water treatment. The “plant recycles grey and black water that goes back into [the] washrooms for toilet flushing and is used for rooftop irrigation during warmer weather.” Additionally, the convention centre has a “seawater heating and cooling system [that] takes advantage of the adjacent seawater to produce cooling for the building during warmer months and heating in cooler months.”
Compared to a baseline LEED building the convention centre uses 38% less potable water due to the treatment plant and fixture choices. Since construction the treatment plant has increased its capacity by 30%, having a smaller capacity in to start with allowed for changed to be implemented easier. Furthermore, the convention centre has an “Indoor Water Use Reduction Policy” and is actively trying to promote water reduction.
In addition to the water systems the convention centre has many other sustainable features including beehives and a green roof.
Overall seeing the encouraging media reviews about the convention centre is great for the City of Vancouver.
Sustainability is the biggest driver behind transportation planning policies in Metro Vancouver. Some of the guiding documents include: Transportation 2040, Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, Metro Vancouver 2040, and TransLink’s 10 Year Vision. What goals and methodologies do these documents lay out, and how do they really play out in Vancouver’s transportation engineering?
The primary goal of Vancouver’s sustainable transportation policies is to reduce carbon emissions to meet Greenest City 2020’s target of reducing community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 33% from 2007 levels by 2020. Currently, vehicles account for over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver. Transportation-specific targets to meet this goal are to increase the number of trips within the Lower Mainland by active transportation (bike, foot, or transit) to 50% by 2020 and 66% by 2050, and to reduce the average distance driver per resident by 20% from 2007 levels. On top of these, the Complete Streets Policy Framework creates guidelines for designing streets that integrate planning for all modes of travel as well as land use, urban design, green infrastructure, and public space. The Complete Streets Principles are shown below in Figure 1.
Figure 1 – Complete Streets Principles. (City of Vancouver, 2017).
In order to meet these goals, the City of Vancouver has primarily looked at promoting active transportation via improving greenways, bikeways, and transit. Some examples of projects currently being undertaken within the scope of the Transportation 2040 Plan include: the Arbutus Greenway, the 10th Avenue Corridor bikeway, the Commercial Drive Compete Street, and the Georgia Gateway West Complete Street.
The result? Although the overall carbon emissions goal is currently projected to fall short of the 2020 target, the transportation targets have met expectations. As of 2016, both of the Greenest City 2020 transportation targets have been met; 50% of trips are currently being taken by active transportation means, and the average distance driven per resident has been reduced by 32% from 2007 levels.
So what’s missing here? The narrow focus of Vancouver’s sustainability policies on reducing greenhouse gas emissions creates a glaring gap in other elements of sustainability, such as road ecology and green infrastructure. This is somewhat mitigated by Vancouver’s Complete Streets initiative, which includes elements of green infrastructure in street level design, but still lacks transparent guidelines and goals for creating green roads. Furthermore, there has been a lack of research on the specific effects of urban road networks on Vancouver’s ecology. Moving forward, it would be great to see Vancouver’s sustainable transportation goals be expanded to include more than just climate change mitigation strategies.
References
City of Vancouver. (2017). Complete Streets Policy Framework.
City of Vancouver. (2012). Transportation 2040.
City of Vancouver. (2017). Greenest City Action Plan. Retrieved from City of Vancouver: http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/greenest-city-action-plan.aspx
Government of Canada. (2017, November 3). The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Retrieved from Canada.ca: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/pan-canadian-framework.html
Metro Vancouver. (2017). Retrieved from Metro 2040: http://www.metrovancouver.org/metro2040
Province of British Columbia. (2017). Climate Action. Retrieved from Province of British Columbia: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/transportation-environment/climate-action
TransLink. (2017). 10-Year Vision for Metro Vancouver Transportation. Retrieved from TransLink: https://10yearvision.translink.ca/
Sustainable transportation allows people to travel while maintaining human and ecosystem health, is equitable between people through affordability and efficiency, offers flexibility and choices, and limits emissions and waste. Sustainable transportation of people and goods is an important environmental, economic, and health driver in Canada. Between 1991 and 2001, Canada saw an 11% increase in gas consumption, increased economic losses due to congestion, and an increase in obesity. These problems are addressed by the sustainable objectives of municipal and provincial governments. However, translating high level goals of reducing dependence on single occupancy vehicles into concrete plans to build and retrofit roads has proved to be difficult. The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) recognizes this and has developed 12 guiding principles for sustainable transportation planning. These principles can help guide engineers and planners in making sustainable transportation decisions. For this post, I will focus on three of the 12 principles and provide examples of the principles in action.
Principle 2 Protect environmental health
Protecting environmental health is important to ecosystem and human health – if highways were built without regard for the environment, the surrounding ecosystems could be majorly impacted. In addition, not considering the impact of changing existing roads can change levels of congestion elsewhere, increasing emissions. Some goals for Principle 2 include:
Using environmental criteria (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions)
Use strategies that limit air pollution (e.g. anti-idling campaigns, reducing congestion)
Use strategies that limit the impact to water quality and the existing flora and fauna.
An example of a project that took protecting environmental health very seriously is the Banff Wildlife Crossings project, which used wildlife overpasses and underpasses to reduce the fragmentation that the Trans-Canada highway had caused.
Figure 1: Trans Canada Highway Wildlife Overpass in Banff National Park
Principle 5 Take a strategic approach
Using a high level strategic approach is important to sustainable transportation – without a vision and direction for what the municipality/province/country is trying to achieve, goals cannot be set. In addition, long-term strategic planning can result in projects being more affordable and improving transportation choices before demand overwhelms a system. Some goals for Principle 5 include:
Set vision and goals that are linked to sustainable transportation
Consider future land use and its impact to transportation (i.e. will high density zoning occur?)
Use quantifiable targets and objectives
An example of a municipality that is working towards more sustainable transportation is the City of Vancouver, who adopted their Transportation 2040 Plan in October 2012. While the plan may have some shortcomings, it overall addresses the need for Vancouver to have a strategic transportation plan.
Figure 2: City of Vancouver Proposed Rapid Transit Lines
Principle 8 Manage transportation supply
The transportation system for a metropolitan area is complex, interconnected, and sensitive to internal and external changes. Managing the transportation network real-time and log-term requires a flexible inventory of supply in order to meet demand. Some goals for Principle 8 include:
Maximize the capacity of multimodal transportation methods (e.g. HOV/bus lanes)
Maintain a level of service to minimize congestion and idling
Use strategies that recognize recurrent and occasional congestion and what can be done to manage both
Figure 3: In a mobility pricing scenario, users who drive more pay more, encouraging people to carpool or use alternative transportation methods
With these three principles, combined with others, engineers and planners can make our transportation systems more sustainable. A sustainable transportation network is one that is equitable, minimizes impact to human and ecosystem health, offers flexible modes of transportation, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
To combat climate change and minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, governments at different levels all around the world have invested in research and new technology to reduce the emissions within their jurisdiction. Since most the GHGs are emitted from dense cities, a lot of attention has been given to reducing emissions from infrastructure within cities such as transportation, buildings, waste treatment and other infrastructures.
Making the change to low carbon infrastructure, an infrastructure that emits less greenhouse gasses than it sequesters or offsets, is deemed difficult and expensive within cities that are already fully developed and populated. With that logic, the idea of building a city from ground up that emits little to zero GHGs seems very appealing. Perhaps in line with Elon Musk’s vision to abandon the civilization that is already created and start a brand new one on Mars!
That is exactly what the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) planned to do in 2006. The city of Masdar, a zero-carbon city that is fuelled completely by renewable energy and will house more than 40,000 residents and accommodate for another 50,000 commuters who will work in the city by 2016. The idea and the design of the city was truly revolutionary. In this post, I will discuss a few of the major features of the city and the current state of this mega development.
City of Masdar
Wind Tower
In the centre of the city stands a 45m tall structure that helps in cooling down the city. Heat is a major issue for cities in the middle east. With the help of this tower and other features of the city of Masdar such as narrow and shaded streets, the city is roughly 10 degrees Celsius cooler than the streets of Abu Dhabi, some 17km away. The louvers on each side of the tower open and close automatically, based on the wind direction, and direct the wind down to the streets of the city. A piping system inside the tower mists treated grey water to cool down the air and create a natural air conditioning for the city.
Wind tower in Masdar City Centre
Shams 1 Concentrated Solar Plant
Shams 1 is a 2.5 square km facility utilizing 768 parabolic trough collectors that collect the heat from the sun and heat a water tube in the centre. The heat evaporates the water in the tube and the steam created will drive a turbine to generate electricity. The plant has a capacity of 100 MW and aims to generate power for Masdar and the city of Abu Dhabi. Experiments have been conducted to run this plant in conjunction with an absorption refrigerator (figure below) that would provide cooling for buildings in the city of Masdar.
Shams 1 Solar Plant Heat ExchangeShams 1 Concentrates Solar PlantParabolic Trough Collector
Solar PV Plant
Supplementing Shams 1, Masdar has a 0.21 square km photovoltaic plant that produces about 17,500 megawatt-hours of electricity annually with a 10 megawatt peak capacity. In addition to the solar plant, buildings in the city of Masdar have solar panels on the roof top, adding another 1 megawatt to the cities solar power capacity.
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)
The overall layout of the city is designed to be pedestrian friendly and eliminate the need for cars. For travelling long distances in the city, planers designed a PRT system under the city that uses small electric vehicle to transport people to their destination. The vehicles are completely electric and operate without a driver underneath the city streets.
PRT Station
Geothermal Energy
Two 2.5 km deep wells were drilled to be used for thermal cooling and domestic hot water. One well is used for drawing hot water and the other for re-injecting the water after heat extraction. The heat extracted from the earth is sufficient for running an absorption refrigerator to create a cooling system for buildings, but the system has not been implemented yet.
Current State
The economic crisis of 2008 had a serious impact on implementing the plans for the city of Masdar. Investors were reluctant to invest in the city due to the uncertainty in the economy. Based on statics from 2016, only 2,000 people work in the city of Masdar and less than 300 people live in the city, who are all students at the Masdar Institute of Science and technology with free tuition and accommodation. The completion of the development is now pushed back to 2030.
The expensive PRT system has been completely scrapped. The system is no longer relevant because of the major improvements in the electric vehicle sector. The planners did not predict that electric vehicles, such as Tesla, would be developed and widely available in such short time.
The city has also moved away from being “zero-carbon”. The concept has been found very difficult to achieve. However, the projects in Masdar produce clean energy that is being exported to Abu Dhabi and reducing their footprint. This is where the issue of scale comes into place. Within the boundaries of Masdar, the city is not carbon free, but it is reducing the total carbon footprint of the UAE by providing clean energy to Abu Dhabi.
Masdar might have not been unsuccessful in creating a full scale city so far but, it has been a great opportunity for engineers and scientists to explore new areas and find solutions that would be used all around the world to reduce negative environmental impact. Masdar Institute is a hub for research and experimentation in urban planning and low-carbon infrastructure. The project also illustrates the forward thinking of planners and government officials who understand that the UAE cannot be dependent on fossil fuels for much longer.
This large-scale experiment could be further proof that we would benefit more by reducing the environmental impacts within existing cities rather than building brand new ones.
The term virtual reality (VR) can be interpreted in different ways depending on the context. In the building industry it is most commonly used for computer mediated systems, environments, and experiences. In other words it is used to create 3D models of projects that are supposed to aid the design process. VR tools are still Very rarely used in practice, despite the fact that many benefits have already been identified.
Advantages
The combination of VR tools and VR immersive display systems can bring real value to the design review, the communication of the design intent, and it can increase the meeting efficiency. The use of this technology enables users to walk through a 3D model of a given project and by doing so helps to understand the aesthetics of the design because it gives the viewer a more direct feel of depth and volume of the space, which is more difficult by just looking at a static layout.
Furthermore meetings and discussions gain a new level of efficiency, because participants are more engaged and act more professional. The use of VR models brings external people up to speed to the current status easier and faster, leveling the expertise and familiarity with the design between different disciplines. This keeps participants more engaged in issues, that not necessarily regard their own discipline. This provides a holistic and diverse input, which then can spark deep questions and lead to unexpected discoveries, that otherwise might not have been detected until building turnover.
Challenges
This is not to say that VR tools do not pose difficulties or challenges. When using VR the appropriate level of detail has to be considered, as too many trivial issues might arose from a too detailed model. Similarly sometimes less is more when it comes to the modeled environment. Often intermediate designs are filled with placeholders, which will be redesigned in a later state of the process. Are those placeholders to detailed they might convey a wrong image of the design and could create a misinterpretation for those not familiar with the design process.
The preparation of VR models requires a significant amount of preparation and coordination effort, a process that usually takes up several days. By the time the model is finished the design might have already changed.
Conclusion
To sum up, VR tools give opportunities to improve the design process by increasing meetings efficiency, and helping to keep all participants engaged, so that maybe even hidden issues can be identified. But at the same time very careful planning in preparing is necessary to avoid misinterpretations due to a unfit level of detail in the model. Today Virtual Reality is still underutilized, but one can hope that as the industry develops and becomes better defined the use those tools will increase and improve the design process.
Sources:
“Virtual Reality to Support the Integrated Design Process: A Retrofit case Study”
Yifan Liu, Jennifer Lather, John Messner, 2014
Last year, I took ENDS 221, a course describes as an “Introduction to interactions between human and natural urban systems using local and international examples of successful sustainable community designs” focused on Vancouver. Essentially, this class was a whole 4 months focused on the material covered in Week 11 – Healthy Urban Infrastructure Design. The course followed along with his Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities. The rules and some of their basic attributes are as follows.
Figure 1. A comparison of the Vancouver Skyline (Condon, P. M., 2010. pg 13)
Rule 1: Restore the Streetcar City
The streetcar routes created the form of the city, with most of the original 1900s roads still in place. Main travel corridors with important services and housing nearby such as 4th Ave and Granville St were originally streetcar arterials. Condon refers to the streetcar city as “ a meta rule for sustainable, low carbon community development” as it captures the at least 4 design rules discussed later on.
Rule 2: Design an Interconnected Street System
Streets following a grid systems make a city more sustainable than a “dendritic” or “tree like” layout (ie, cul-de-sacs, gated communities). Trips are shorter and more distributed with a grid system, as multiple routes are possible, reducing the amount of CO2 emissions from large queues along main branches of a dendritic road. Theses trips are shorter for cars, but also create more enjoyable and more direct trips for pedestrians to access transit and services.
Rule 3: Locate Commercial Services, Frequent Transit and Schools within a 5 minute Walk
The closer the chores or tasks required for daily life are, the more likely resident will be to walk. Being able to walk to a neighbourhood corridor to grocery shop and the flower store creates a sense of place, or belonging in a community. Additionally, ensuring a short walk for children to get to school promotes green modes of transportation and likely means not crossing a major arterial.
Rule 4: Locate Good Jobs close to Affordable Homes
This rule aims to reduce the amount of Green House gas emitted due to commuting by encouraging walking and biking. It is also key to remember that most city jobs don’t have the same effect as industrials jobs, don’t need a lot of space and can fit into a city block, if you build up.
Rule 5: Provide a Diversity of Housing Types
Providing single-family homes, housing co-ops, apartments and laneway houses creates an economically diverse, GHG friendly community. A variety of housing types within a neighbourhood also keeps things interesting and increases density.
Rule 6: Create a Linked System of Natural Areas and Parks
This rule directly corresponds to the Healthy Natural Environments. Utilizing connected green spaces within an urban environment improves air quality and biodiversity and positively benefits the resident’s well being as well.
Rule 7: Invest in Lighter, Green, Cheaper, And Smarter Infrastructure
The final rule focuses on methods and features of a community that influence the environment. The implementation of green roofs, bioswales, and pervious surfaces all infiltrate storm water, while encouraging biodiversity, pleasant human experiences and reducing the heat island effect.
References:
Condon, P.M. (2010). Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post-Carbon World. Washington: Island Press.
Figure 1: Trans Canada Highway Wildlife Overpass in Banff National Park
