Urban Energy Systems – Page 2 – Environmental Stewardship and Urban Infrastructure

October 26, 2016

Summary of Sarte’ Sustainable Infrastructure: Energy

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:

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

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

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

More efficient compared to single-unit air conditioning

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

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)

October 17, 2016

IDP: The Integrated Design Process

The IDP was first used in the early 1990s, by Canada’s C-2000 program (program supporting advanced, energy-efficient commercial building design) and IDEAS Challenge competition (multi-unit residential buildings challenge) to describe a more holistic approach to building design. In profesional practice, IDP has a significant impact on the makeup and role-playing of the initial design team. The client takes a more active role than usual, the architect becomes a team leader rather than the sole form-giver, and the structural, mechanical and electrical engineers take on active roles at early design stages. The team includes an energy specialist (simulator) and possibly a bio-climatic engineer. Depending on the nature of the project, a series of additional consultants may also join the project team from the outset.

Some of the key advantages of the IDP are cited below:

Goal-driven with the primary goal being sustainability, but with explicit subsidiary goals, objectives and targets set as a means to get there.
Facilitated by someone whose primary role is not to produce the building design or parts of it, but to be accountable for the process of design.
Structured to deal with issues and decisions in the right order, to avoid locking in bad performance by making non-reversible decisions with incomplete input or information.
Clear decision-making for a clearly understood methodology for making decisions and resolving critical conflicts.
Inclusive—everyone, from the owner to the operator, has something critical to contribute to the design and everyone must be heard.
Collaborative so that the architect is not simply the form-giver, but more the leader of a broader team collaboration with additional active roles earlier in the process.
Holistic or systemic thinking with the intent of producing something where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and which may even be more economic.
Whole-building budget setting—allows financial trade-offs, so money is spent where it is most beneficial when a holistic solution is found.

Below is a graphic representation of the IDP Process:

2016-10-17

References:

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/buildings/eenb/integrated-design-process/4047

http://iisbe.org/down/gbc2005/Other_presentations/IDP_overview.pdf

http://www.infrastructure.alberta.ca/content/doctype486/production/leed_pd_appendix_7a.pdf

October 12, 2016

MEASURES OF SUSTAINIBILITY APPLIED TO THE CIRS BUILDING AT UBC

MEASURE 1: Design & Innovation

CIRS is aimed at being a regenerative building whose existence will improve the quality of the environment. This building contributes to reducing the energy use and carbon emissions. The building sequesters more carbon than the construction and decommissioning of the building will produce overtime.

MEASURE 2: Regional/ Community Design

Roof of the building is designed to be a self sustaining ecosystem where the vegetation includes indigenous plants for local birds and insects.

MEASURE 3: Land use and site ecology

The area of land that CIRS is built on improves the quality of the surrounding environment. It cleans the water it receives, captures heat that would otherwise be emitted to the environment and harbours vegetation that enriches the surrounding ecosystem.

MEASURE 4: Bio-climatic Design

Much of the heating in CIRS comes from the ground and from the heat exhausts from the building next door. Significant amount of the ventilation is from wind and a large part of the electricity is from the sun. This is really a building that survives within the natural flows of the environment.

MEASURE 5: Light and Air

Building is oriented to make optimal use of the daylight received by the site. The higher location of the windows allows for deeper penetration of the daylight into the interior spaces of the building. Solar shades and spandrel panels help control the glare and heat gain from the sun.

MEASURE 6: Water Cycle

All the water used in the building comes from the rain and the water leaving the building is of a better quality than the rain that is received on the roof. CIRS cleans the quality of the water and achieves a net positive in terms of water quality.

MEASURE 7: Energy flows and future energy

Uses geo exchange and solar energy. Uses waste heat from the Earth and Ocean Sciences building next door and captures the energy that would other wise be emitted to the environment.

MEASURE 8: Materials and construction

Wood used for the main structure of the building sequesters 600 tonnes of carbon. This is more carbon than the emissions from all the other construction materials, construction processes and decommissioning and the end of the lifetime of the building.

MEASURE 9: Long life, loose fit

CIRS is designed with ecological, social and economic rationale. Not only does it aim to improve the quality of the environment overtime it also aims to improve the health of its occupant. Flexibility, modularity, adaptability and expandability principles were included in the design of CIRS to ensure that it can adapt to new uses and respond to future space configuration requirements without the need of expensive and wasteful renovations.

MEASURE 10: Collective wisdom and feedback loops

In many ways CIRS is a research project that is intended to identify which processes and techniques work well and which ones have more scope for improvement. Research and observations of the way the building functions and interacts with the environment are ongoing and this knowledge will be used to improve sustainable designs of buildings in the future.