From IT Project Management to Renewable Energy
pro urbis
Who Manages the Heat?
May 28th
Vertical borehole ground source heat pumps use heat stored in the ground, and groundwater. That heat comes from the sun, and, to a far lesser extent, heat generated within the earth as well as human-generated heat from buildings, underground railways and other constructions. It may also come from a cooling system, where heat from a building is discharged through boreholes to be stored underground during the summer before being extracted the following winter.
This heat can affect the underground environment including the geochemistry of the aquifer and microbiological ecosystems. When there are multiple systems in an area, they may interfere with each other, particularly if there is groundwater involved. Therefore there are two main policy concerns here – protection of the underground environment, and equitable use of the heat storage resource. With increasing numbers of these systems being installed in London(1), and their inclusion in the Renewable Heat Incentive, it seems important that someone be responsible for managing it all. Sadly, noone is.
Solutions for the Inner City
Feb 4th
I’m passionate about Somers Town, the small corner of central London where I’ve chosen to make my home. Nestled in between the gothic splendour of St Pancras and the fifties austerity of Euston, its a tiny district of densely built low rise apartments, home to the British Library, the RMT and Unison, railway stations and about 8000 people from all over the world. I can walk to the West End, have Regents Park on my doorstep, and every amenity I could wish for a short stroll away. I’m not one of those ‘buy a small-holding in Wales’ Greens, and I’m sure Wales doesn’t want me and my 8000 neighbours to try.
Per capita carbon emissions for domestic and road transport use in areas like this are low(1), because public transport is good and the cost of heating small apartments is much less than houses. If we’re to meet the energy challenges of this century, it will be by living in places like this.
And so, one of the reasons I’m doing this course is to find ways of bringing renewables into the inner city. I’ve started exploring this in the essays we do for each module, and will probably do my thesis on this subject.
It’s not an easy problem. Wind turbines on the tops of buildings don’t work well, with all the turbulence. Hydro power would get in the way of shipping on the Thames. Because we’re all so tightly packed in, with so many businesses and institutions, the energy density of inner urban areas is very high, making it all so much harder.
Clearly we need to reduce energy demand, and will have to bring a great deal in, from wind farms in the Channel and other sources but there are ways we can make our own. How about storing heat under roads, making use of the urban heat island effect and vertical boreholes with heat pumps, solar pv and thermal collectors, gas generated from organic wastes, growing microalgae for biomass in tanks on roofs and walls, hooking up all those treadmills in gyms to generators, harnessing the hot air in Westminster? Some of those have got to work! More blogs to come.
(1) Camden CO2 emissions per head were 7.3t in 2007, against a UK average of 8.0t. Domestic and road transport emissions per head were 2.48t, vs the UK average of 4.48t – ie when commercial emissions are not included. DECC National Indicators 185 and 186
