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Author Topic: Carbon Neutral Buildings  (Read 9157 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #45 on: July 17, 2015, 06:25:19 pm »
Smart Operation for a Low Carbon Energy Region (SOLCER) House

Energy positive :o ;D house: Ecolek Wales Ltd installs Victron Energy equipment in SOLCER House

 
Yesterday was the official opening of Britain’s first affordable ‘energy positive’ house , which uses Victron Energy equipment, installed by Ecolek Wales Ltd.

The SOLCER House as it is known, has been designed to produce more energy than it consumes. SOLCER stands for ‘Smart Operation for a Low Carbon Energy Region’. The region in this instance is in Wales. The house was designed and constructed by the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University. Dr. Jo Patterson who is a research fellow there was the also the project manager for this build. Ester Coma-Bassas a research assistant was the architect. The house has three bedrooms and costs around £1,000 m2 to construct which means it falls within the affordable social housing range. A great achievement in itself, besides the low carbon and energy positive aspects.

This low carbon house uses a Victron Energy 6.9kWh battery storage system, a Quattro Inverter/Charger, BlueSolar MPPT solar charge controllers and a Colour Control GX for onsite monitoring, plus the Victron Remote Management (VRM) site for offsite system monitoring of its energy systems. All equipment has been specified and installed by Ecolek Wales Ltd.



Here is what project manager, Dr. Jo Patterson, had to say about the installation:

“Ecolek have been very professional in their approach to working on this novel research project. They have made a number of informed suggestions to enhance the battery system that was originally planned and have been highly proactive in completing the project on time and to a very high standard. They have collaborated well with all of the team involved in the build and have been a pleasure to work with”.

Victron Energy equipment installed
•2 x Li-ion Battery Tower
•8 x Lithium 12.8 V batteries
•1 x VE.Bus BMS
•1 x 24/5000/120-100/100 Quattro
•2 x BlueSolar MPPT 150/70
•1 x Color Control GX


Agelbert NOTE: Links to each of the above components with graphics and details are all in the original post .

In the press

Quite clearly, going by the amount of national UK press that has been generated recently, this is certainly a very well thought of project. Rather than go into detail here to learn more, it makes more sense to direct you to the following:
For an explanation of the build here is a YouTube video from Cardiff University:

For an explanation by Ecolek for their part of the project, see from 3 mins 54 secs at:


The Guardian article: Britain’s first ‘energy positive’ house opens in Wales

BBC News (Science & Environment) article: Designers create the ‘impossible’ zero-carbon house

Twitter: @LowCarbon_HOUSE

Credits

Thanks to Ian Hewson of Ecolek Wales for making us aware of this project.

Thanks to Cardiff University for the images used.

John Rushworth
http://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2015/07/17/energy-positive-house-ecolek-wales-ltd-installs-victron-energy-equipment-in-solcer-house/




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #46 on: July 20, 2015, 08:30:10 pm »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #47 on: July 30, 2015, 06:08:03 pm »
Jul 28, 2015 Rocky Mountain Institute

Author David Labrador

Teaching the Arithmetic of Deep Retrofit Value

RMI and the Institute of Real Estate Management partner with new online courses

Does it make business sense to do a deep energy retrofit on a commercial building? Many investors currently overlook the retrofit’s value beyond its energy cost savings, but now their asset managers will be able to do a more complete calculation and paint a fuller picture of a retrofit’s value. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) have partnered to create a series of online courses that debuted this month. Known as the Analyzing and Presenting Deep Retrofit Value series, they teach the analytical skills needed to calculate and report on the value beyond energy savings of potential deep retrofits of buildings. The courses are based on RMI’s report How To Calculate and Present Deep Retrofit Value: A Guide for Investors and are offered to IREM’s membership of more than 18,000 property managers, as well as the public.

Deep energy retrofits employ an integrated array of energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent or more compared to pre-retrofit energy use. They deliver other non-energy benefits, too, yet “lots of organizations still don’t prioritize these metrics in their decision-making process,” says Douglas Miller, a senior associate at RMI and coauthor of the Guide for Investors report. Energy and sustainability retrofits are almost exclusively evaluated by the simple payback provided solely by the energy costs savings, and must meet a very high return rate of 30 percent or more to be considered an attractive investment. “Deep retrofits rarely can meet this financial hurdle rate based on energy cost savings alone,” says Michael Bendewald, a manager on RMI’s buildings team and coauthor of the Guide for Investors report.

Value Beyond Energy—And Beyond Sustainability

However, there is serious economic value in deep retrofits that extends well beyond the simple payback of energy efficiency measures. “Yes, a more-energy-efficient building uses less energy and is less costly to run,” says Bendewald, “and the low-cost attributes of the building can translate to increased income and sales price.” What is less well known is this latter—usually much bigger—form of value, which can be derived from low building-energy costs as well as improved tenant satisfaction and other factors. “Sustainable buildings—primarily energy-efficient ones—deliver more value to those who occupy, own, or invest in the buildings than just lower energy bills,” Miller says, “and that’s the bigger story.”

The report explores four additional values that deep retrofits can realize for investors: 1) increase the sale price of a property, 2) increase rents, 3) reduce non-energy operating costs, and 4) even reduce development costs when combined with other, needed renovations. A fifth valuable dimension of a retrofit process is a risk analysis that maximizes the value of the other elements. “When we say ‘additional value,’ this is not a reference to traditional externalities such as carbon reductions or public health,” says Miller. “It’s about how you can charge higher rent, or how you can sell the property for more, or how you’re likely to have more occupied space in the building.” In other words, values that are intrinsic to a company’s finances and have simply been left out of the math—but they shouldn’t be.

But how to turn these underemphasized value opportunities into common knowledge? The Guide for Investors report “provides the research demonstrating that this additional value is there and highlights examples of those value elements being considered out in the market,” says Miller.

But the report alone cannot move the vast U.S. real estate market. That’s where IREM’s course series comes in. IREM members manage 13 billion square feet of property worth about $800 billion. And when it comes to forging a low-carbon future in the U.S., says Bendewald, “improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings is critical.” IREM is used to educating its members. “They provide a lot of good, quality education,” says Bendewald. “They’re able to take our content, our thought leadership, and convert it into a curriculum.”

Finding Value Step by Step

“The courses take the extensive research on the multiple value streams that result from deep retrofits and put this body of work into a practical guide to enable investors to make smarter decisions,” says Iain Campbell, managing director of the buildings practice at RMI. Fundamentally, the online courses show how to quantify and demonstrate the potential value of deep retrofit projects. “We want real estate investment professionals to have those analytical abilities to evaluate these projects and how they might contribute to a property’s value,” says IREM’s sustainability program manager, Todd Feist. RMI’s Guide for Investors report and IREM’s membership “seemed like the perfect match,” Feist says. “It seemed like they were already putting that content together for our audience.” The courses take professionals through the process of valuing projects step by step.

Much of the added value of deep retrofits stems from increasing regulations for energy-performance improvements and from the fact that, in many markets, “people are willing to spend more for a better property,” says Miller. These factors vary from place to place. “Sustainability is very market-specific, especially the degree to which you can capture the financial benefits,” says Feist. “But it’s becoming increasingly common for investors and tenants to value and demand sustainability and energy efficiency.” Furthermore, Feist says, “markets change quickly, regulations pass quickly.” He advises property managers that “all of a sudden you may get an email from a tenant that says ‘Hey, what are you doing on sustainability in this building?’”

Because local buyers and renters of space value sustainability so differently, the first step is market research. “The deep retrofit methodology outlined by RMI and taught in the courses provides a reliable and repeatable framework for assessing that demand from investors and tenants,” says Feist. “Once you do that qualitative analysis, the preliminary analysis of the context for the deep retrofit project and sustainability in your market,” he says, “you can move into analyzing each of the five value elements that potentially contribute to adding to the value of a property.”

Finding these value elements is key for anyone thinking about investing in an efficient building. According to Miller, the courses will allow property managers to say, “‘this will help reduce risk associated with the building’ or ‘we can charge a higher rent with this’ or ‘we can have office space be vacant for a shorter amount of time.’” The final step, says Feist, “would be a deep retrofit value report, which is the presentation to your decision-makers and stakeholders on the potential deep retrofit projects.”

A Toolbox for Investors


There will be three courses that progress in detail on the deep-retrofit-value methodology. One is already live and the others will be released in the coming weeks, into early fall. Bendewald explains: "The first course introduces the main topics of how to think about the full value proposition from deep retrofits or super-efficiency in buildings in general. The second course goes into a little bit more detail on how you make the calculations and more advice on how to build a business case.”

Finally, says Bendewald, “the third course is actually geared toward asset managers, the people who are operating at the portfolio level, so that third course includes a tool to start to incorporate these different values into your capital allocation process.” Feist adds: “It walks the learner through a discounted cash flow analysis using a spreadsheet tool that analyzes how a deep retrofit project will contribute to the net present value of a real estate asset.”

These courses meet a core need of IREM’s members. “If you work for a real estate services firm and you work with clients, your duty is to make sure that you’re doing everything possible to increase the value of their assets,” says Feist, “and sustainability and these deep retrofits are another tool, a powerful tool, in your toolbox to fulfill your client’s goals.” Bendewald explains: “If you reduce costs and you maintain your revenues—that equates directly to improving the fundamental economics of that building.”

For RMI, says Miller, the key is that the courses “help people reveal the additional value of investments in sustainable buildings.” That value “is largely excluded from decision making and, as a result, is leading to less investment in sustainable buildings than would happen were people to value it properly.” When investors decide to pursue deep retrofits, says Miller, “the resulting energy use reductions lead directly to carbon emissions savings.”

For IREM’s members, the courses are important because it gives them the edge over the competition, no matter where they operate. “The deep retrofit methodology will allow you to understand sustainability and building improvements more thoroughly and give you analytical skills that have value in any market,” Feist says. Campbell emphasizes this point by saying “professionals working in this space really need to know about this.” Miller is delighted that the course series is under way. “I think the courses are powerful because they show how to enhance the case for deep retrofits in terms that resonate with investors.”

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2015_07_28_the_arithmetic_of_deep_retrofit_value
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #48 on: August 10, 2015, 07:58:38 pm »

Gorgeous Solar Powered Off Grid Shipping Container Cabin For $58k   


Jun 8, 2015 by Off Grid World
   
Solar powered off grid shipping container home is 355 square feet of off grid splendor. Canadian builder Joseph Dupuis works at Algonquin College in Ottawa as a researcher on renewable energy. He built this solar powered masterpiece and lives in it. Oh, and it’s for sale too! You could own it for $58k plus shipping.

Great pictures and full description:
https://www.offgridworld.com/gorgeous-solar-powered-off-grid-shipping-container-cabin-for-58k/

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #49 on: October 28, 2015, 07:27:04 pm »

Eco Dome - Earth As Shelter   

Quote
Amazing: a pile of earth, dug out from a building site, can be turned into a small house called an Eco- Dome.

 The folks at the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture teach professionals and students from all over the world how to build structures like this.

 This Superadobe technology was first presented to NASA for lunar habitats, and can build single or clustered homes on earth which are resistant to fire, floods, wind storms and earthquakes. Long sandbag tubes are filled with earth and compacted in layers which are reinforced and connected with barbed wire.

 The man you see narrating in this clip is architect and author Nader Khalili who developed the simple breakthrough building technology with the freely available material of earth, for almost thirty years.

 Nader Khalili passed in 2008 but has inspired a global movement and left a rich body of philosophy, design and innovative construction technology. His work is continued at Cal-Earth Institute, as the basis for its research and educational mission.

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Cal- Earth. - See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/shelter/eco-dome.html#sthash.SLeJVcI1.dpuf
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #50 on: December 23, 2015, 07:41:08 pm »

World’s First Off-Grid EcoCapsule Runs Entirely on Renewable Energy 
Cole Mellino | December 22, 2015 10:03 am

After much anticipation, the egg-shaped EcoCapsule is finally available for pre-order earlier this month. The oblong home, which costs €79,000 (about $85,688) per unit, runs entirely on renewables.

The 88-square feet of interior space may seem pretty small, but it packs in all the necessities—plenty of storage, a shower, composting toilet, stove, sink, table and couch that converts into a double bed.

The home comes with a 600-watt rooftop solar system and a low-noise wind turbine that can deliver up to 750 watts. It’s 10-kilowatt-hour battery capacity is expected to last at least four days.

With four wheels and hooks on top for ease of transport, the EcoCapsule can be taken almost anywhere. Its curved roof maximizes energy efficiency and rainwater capture, which can be filtered for human consumption.

 home is designed by Slovakian group Nice Architects. The group, which unveiled a prototype in May, told CNN they were blown away by the demand for their product. By July, they already had thousands of pre-orders.

Currently, it’s available for sale in the European Union, U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And it meets all of the safety regulations for each of those countries. The estimated delivery date for the first generation of EcoCapsules is late 2016 to early 2017. For those with sticker shock, the designers say the price will drop in the coming years as production is scaled and costs decrease.

Check out these fascinating visuals from the company:



Eighty-eight square feet of interior space may sound small, but the inside looks much more spacious than you might think.  ;D Photo credit (at link): Martin Barabas/EcoCapsule


http://ecowatch.com/2015/12/22/off-grid-ecocapsule/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #51 on: December 26, 2015, 10:54:43 pm »

World’s First Solar-Hydrogen Residential Development Is 100% Self-Sustaining
 


Lorraine Chow | December 23, 2015 10:53 am

http://ecowatch.com/2015/12/23/solar-hydrogen-homes/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #52 on: February 07, 2016, 01:32:17 am »
Off the grid without leaving the neighborhood Heat, hot water, AC and car fuel - from the sun    

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/low-tech---high-impact/off-the-grid-without-leaving-the-neighborhood.html#sthash.ileXaJ23.dpuf
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #53 on: February 25, 2016, 06:35:23 pm »
"Earth Turns to Gold in the Hands of the Wise" 


http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/shelter/eco-dome.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #54 on: April 26, 2016, 07:15:45 pm »
Alaska SeaLife Center replaces fossil fuels with sea water power 

April 25, 2016

Megan Treacy (@mtreacy) Technology / Clean Technology 

Located in Seward, Alaska about 125 miles south of Anchorage, the Alaska SeaLife Center does important work researching and promoting awareness of the wildlife that resides along the coast of Alaska. The center serves as an aquarium, but also operates as a marine research center and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center.

The size of the center and its location so far north meant that it has required several electric and oil-fired boilers to heat the buildings. Back in 2011, the center decided to take advantage of a resource right outside its doors and try to cut down on its reliance on fossil fuels and save some money in the process. The center began building a heat pump system that uses energy from the sea water in Resurrection Bay.

The heat pump system was initially effective enough to cover hot water heating and radiant floor heating, but they were still relying on the boilers for baseboard heating. In December, they added a new, much more effective system and the center now meets 98 percent of the its heating needs through renewable energy and has eliminated the use of most of the boilers.

Resurrection Bay is more than 900 feet deep. Through the summer, the water in the bay absorbs solar heat that warms the water through October. The water below the surface remains warmer than the air temperature through winter, which means the bay acts as a sort of heat storage.

sealife center heat pump tech (graphic at link)
© Alaska SeaLife Center

In the new system, seawater is pumped through a heat exchanger, which warms a water and glycol mix. (Seawater is corrosive, and it would freeze, so the glycol antifreeze is needed.) When liquid refrigerant (in this case CO2) comes in contact with the warmish water, it evaporates, which pulls heat out of the water the way melting ice pulls heat out of your drink – changing from a liquid to a gas absorbs energy.

The CO2 then is compressed to 2000 PSI, which raises its temperature to 194°. The hot compressed gas then goes to a condenser, where it turns into a liquid, releasing all the heat that it had stored when it was turned into a vapor.

The old system used a synthetic refrigerant that was not only less effective, but also posed a greenhouse gas risk if they were to leak from the system. The carbon dioxide refrigerant also poses a risk, but to a much lesser degree and the amount of fossil fuel use it's offsetting is significant  ;D. The center estimates that with the new system they are avoiding 1.24 million pounds of carbon emissions.

The SeaLife Center is saving $15,000 a month in heating costs, a savings that can be redirected to its conservation and research programs.

Quote
The system will have a complete return on investment in only 13 years.    

The center hopes this shows the potential for this type of heating system throughout the state of Alaska, which has more coastline than the rest of the country put together.

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/alaska-sealife-center-replaces-fossil-fuels-sea-water-power.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #55 on: May 09, 2016, 07:44:33 pm »
The Phononic solid state heating and cooling revolution is almost here  ;D

Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter)
Design / Green Architecture
 May 9, 2016

SNIPPET:

Solid state cooling devices have been around for centuries, since the Peltier effect was discovered. They are often used in CPU coolers and even tiny iceboxes, but are not very efficient. Phononic has significantly improved on them; as can be seen in the video of their little fridge below, they have integrated the basic chip with heat transfer systems that appear to make it work better.

It is a road map familiar to those who watched the development of LEDs, which were first rolled out as replacements for things we already knew and understood, like light bulbs and fluorescent tubes in computer monitors and TVs. Now LEDs are everywhere and in everything.

Similarly, Phononic is now working with the world’s largest appliance maker  , Haier, starting with high performance wine chillers, delivering smaller units with more accurate temperature control and lower power consumption. They are now branching into residential refrigerators in Europe and Asia, (where we have noted that small fridges make good cities). With Haier’s acquisition of GE’s appliance division, no doubt totally silent fridges without compressors will be arriving here soon too.

Solid state fridges have a lot more room inside because the compressor is gone; solid state heat pumps could heat and cool while taking up almost no space.

However the revolution this will cause in multifamily housing is going to be even more significant. Currently most apartments are heated and cooled by a vertical fan coil or heat pump units in the corner of a room, with ductwork running under the ceiling to the other rooms. Or they have noisy, inefficient through wall heat pump units that are very high maintenance. Imagine replacing all of that with a solid state heat pump with no moving parts, a heating and cooling panel on the wall in each room delivering what is needed when it is needed. They might well be built into the floors for radiant heating and cooling. This could make the design, operation and maintenance of multifamily buildings so much easier.

And of course, getting rid of compressors also means getting rid of refrigerants, which leak and which have serious global warming potential. Another problem gone with solid state heating and cooling.

I do not think I am overstating the case when I suggest that just as the transistor revolutionized electronics, and the LED is in the process of transforming lighting, Solid state thermoelectrics are going to revolutionize heating and cooling. Since the form of our homes and buildings has always been a function of how they are heated and cooled, it might we change that as well.

in 2014 I thought we were on the verge of a cooling revolution; now I think it is even bigger than that. It is a cooling, heating and design revolution.


http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/year-could-see-real-revolution-they-way-we-do-heating-and-cooling.html

Agelbert NOTE: For those that live in the reality based community (fossil fuel industry defending wishful thinkers wouldn't know reality if it bit them in the ass), the solid state heat pump technology will knock out fully 75%, on the average, of energy DEMAND from an average home. That MEANS that the solar panel input can then be used to power a HIGHER PERCENTAGE of the home AND ALSO make MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY JUICE available to charge EVs and supplement grid power.

For those who are not following where this inevitably leads, just look at Energy use stats for ALL the homes in the USA now in BPD (barrels per day). THEN subtract 75% of that...


Quote
"Hitting peak oil will come faster than any of us think. But don't blame dwindling supply — it's all about disappearing demand" Amory Lovins
« Last Edit: June 07, 2021, 04:49:05 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #56 on: May 27, 2016, 09:00:29 pm »


May 18, 2016

Authors Mark Dyson
ManagerEdison Almeida

The Business Value of Demand Flexibility

In this digital age, electricity is the lifeblood of our society. After any major disruptive event, the top priority is to restore electric power service. Without power we lack heat, air conditioning, communications, financial services, and access to the Internet, pretty much sending us back to the Stone Age.

But who can afford building more electric power capacity? There are over one billion kilowatts of installed power capacity in the U.S. At such a large scale, increasing capacity even by a few percentage points is very expensive. Experts have forecast the need for $1.4 trillion of investment through 2030 to meet growing demand and replace aging infrastructure in the U.S. alone.

Fortunately, in today’s Internet-connected world, we can take a lower-cost approach, similar to the method that telecom, cable, and Internet companies have been using for decades to manage peak demand on their networks. Instead of building redundant capacity for each user, these networks intelligently manage both demand and supply.

Now, it’s possible to apply the same logic to energy demands: software can help lower coincidental demand peaks for a business using the same proven “queuing” approach as other networked industries. And at scale across thousands of buildings, this building-level demand flexibility can help lower peak demand for the grid, saving all customers the cost of building new power plants.

Peak demand drives high costs for the grid and businesses

Although the grid rarely uses 100 percent of electric power capacity, power plants to provide that capacity must be in place when needed. Currently, the average capacity utilization of the American electric grid is only about 55 percent, and it’s getting worse as peak demand rises while total sales fall. This means that about half the time, on average, power plants are sitting idle.

What causes this? Many homes and businesses don’t use much energy all the time, but when a thermostat’s mercury spikes, demand soars. Analysis of the electricity bill data of several major retailers and telecom companies reveals a pervasive trait: just four percent of their total energy use drives about 40 percent of their total peak demand. In other words, a tiny amount of energy use, occurring at the peak hours and largely driven by air conditioning, requires a lot of capacity that isn’t needed during the other hours of the year.

Why does this happen? Many common loads, including typical air conditioners, motors, pumps, charging stations, heaters, and others, often happen to turn on at the same time, creating coincidental energy peaks. This increases costs for the utility, which must have available capacity to meet these peaks.

In order to address this phenomenon, utilities typically impose “demand charges” on commercial and industrial customers, meaning that the customer pays each month for the maximum power demand at their meter during any given interval. These charges, combined with the “peakiness” of typical commercial loads, mean that only four percent of a business’s energy use drives 40 percent of the monthly demand charges a business must pay. With typical demand charges of $5–15 per peak kW per month, this peak energy can drive additional costs on the order of thousands of dollars per building per year.


For business customers, demand charges can comprise up to 40 percent of their utility bills, and these costs are on the rise. For example, there have been dramatic demand-rate increases of over 50 percent in the past five years in the PG&E service area in California. As utilities around the country grapple with new rate designs to better reflect system costs, it is likely that managing demand charges will become even more important.

Source: The Brattle Group


New opportunities to manage demand charges

Traditionally, limiting demand charges has not been an easy problem to solve, and most executives have treated electricity costs as a “must-pay” expense.

Fortunately, in today’s IT-driven world, it is increasingly easy for businesses to effectively manage growing peak energy demand costs. By unlocking the potential of demand flexibility, businesses can use software services to manage peak demand and achieve significant savings on their monthly bills at scale.

One approach to unlocking the value of demand flexibility is by queuing connected loads using low-cost computer systems. In other words, it’s possible to keep these loads from all turning on at the same time and creating very expensive and unnecessary coincidental energy peaks by simply using a software upgrade.

Consider how network companies (phone, internet, and cable) manage peak demand on their networks. Whenever you place a call on your cell phone, click the button to watch a digital video, or push the send button of your email, you do not connect immediately; rather, your request is placed into a queue, and the system defines the optimum time for connection while still meeting your needs for timely service.

The same logic works for electricity loads: software can help manage demand variations with small adjustments that can add up to shrink the peak. With these methods, energy delivery is usually delayed for only a matter of seconds. For loads like air conditioners, this is practically imperceptible; temperatures don’t rise appreciably in the time it takes for energy to be queued, but peak demand can be lowered dramatically.


Benefits for businesses and the grid

With falling computer costs and rising demand charges, lowering peak demand can pay off very quickly for a business—sometimes in less than a year. Lowering peak demand also creates value for the grid; RMI’s recent analysis found a potential for $13 billion per year in savings for the grid, from just a few smart appliances in each household in the country. The savings potential for commercial and industrial buildings is likely just as large.

Today’s $300 billion per year electricity industry leaves about half of its available capacity idle, increasing costs for all customers.   

Business-led demand flexibility approaches can save companies money while dramatically improving the utilization of our trillion-dollar grid, leading to savings for all of us.   

Edison Almeida (@almeidaed) is the founder and CEO of eCurv, Inc.

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2016_05_18_the_business_value_of_demand_flexibility
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #57 on: June 11, 2016, 05:54:52 pm »
Apple Is Generating So Much Renewable Energy It Plans to Start Selling It 

Lorraine Chow | June 11, 2016 10:52 am

Apple is seeking to sell a whole different product. No, not cars—yet. Try renewable energy. The iPhone maker has created an energy subsidiary in Delaware called Apple Energy LLC to sell surplus electricity generated by its various renewable energy projects.

Documents seen by PV Tech show that Apple has applied to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to sell excess power from solar panels on top of its Cupertino, California headquarters as well as energy generated by its solar farms, hydroelectric plants and biogas facilities across the country.

This is big news. Most corporations usually sell surplus energy to power companies, but the tech titan is basically creating a green energy pipeline to consumers.

“If Apple’s application is approved, it will be able to sell electricity directly to its customers—eliminating the need for utility power,” PV Tech observed.

In the FERC filing, Apple has requested to sell energy at market rates rather than wholesale since it’s not an major energy company and cannot influence electricity prices, PV Tech noted.

“Applicant seeks the same blanket authorization and waivers of the commission’s rules and filing requirements previously granted to other entities authorized to transact at market-based rates,” Apple’s tariff states.

The Apple blog 9to5Mac suspects that Apple’s FERC filing is following in the footsteps of Green Mountain Power, which also sells renewable energy to homeowners. Another guess is that Apple’s potential new energy company could help fuel Apple’s long-rumored electric car project.

Apple has requested the tariff be granted within 60 days of its June 6 filing, so we’ll have to wait until then to see if it takes off.

In recent years, Apple has worked hard to shrink its global carbon footprint, and CEO Tim Cook is known for being a green leader.

“Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and the time for action is now,” Cook said. “The transition to a new green economy requires innovation, ambition and purpose.”

The company boasts that all its data centers and most of its stores and corporate offices are now powered by green, renewable energy. Apple has plans for 521 megawatts of solar projects globally, as well as other investments in hydroelectric, biogas and geothermal power, which generates enough power to cover 93 percent of its worldwide energy usage. The company wants to eventually operate with 100 percent renewable energy.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/11/apple-sell-renewable-energy/

Agelbert NOTE: This should be interesting. FERC has always defended the fossil fuel industry and utility energy slanted (i.e. monopolistic) playing field.

But FERC has always been for sale to the highest bidder. Apple has a lot of money = influence.

Apple, seeing a very profitable opportunity to outcompete some ossified business models among the utilities, is going to get in on the utility energy market share with Renewable Energy, after they "convince" the appropriate officials at FERC to drop the fossil fuel friendly road blocks, of course.

Any port in the global warming storm, I always say.  ;)
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #58 on: June 11, 2016, 07:58:44 pm »
World’s First Large-Scale Carbon-Neutral Brewery Now in Operation 

Lorraine Chow | June 10, 2016 11:57 am

Heineken's brewery in Austria has achieved its goal of becoming the first CO2 neutral brewery of its scale in the world. Photo credit: Heineken

The facility, which kicked off its green upgrades back in 2003, has now met 100 percent of its energy needs via clean power sources including hydropower, solar thermal energy from a 1,500-square-meter photovoltaic array and biomass district heating, in which 40 percent of the brewery’s heat requirements comes from surplus heat discharged from a neighboring sawmill.

The site is also incredibly savvy with waste. It hosts its own grain fermentation plant that converts production waste into biogas—the first plant of its kind a major brewery. The grain fermentation plant converts 18,000 tons of the brewer’s grains, filter residues and other byproducts from beer-making process into biogas annually. Residues from the fermentation plant are used as fertilizer.

[

Here are some other eco-friendly strides the brewery—a finalist for the 2016 European Union Sustainable Energy Award—has achieved:


•Ninety percent of the waste heat generated in the brewing process is used to heat water

•A new type of boiling system is used during the brewing process, which helps to save electricity and water

•Energy generated from brewery residues will be used to generate steam and any excess volumes will be converted into electric current

•100 percent of raw materials used at the Göss Brewery come from Austria


As Inhabitat reported, the brewery’s operations will cut carbon emissions from approximately 3,000 tonnes a year to zero.

“Through a combination of innovative technology, creative thinking and partnerships with our local community, we have turned a heritage brewery into the world’s first major zero carbon brewery,” Göss brew master Andreas Werner told the publication.

“Our Göss brewery may be in a small town but our goal was to make a big impact. I am proud of what we have achieved for the Heineken Company and want to help our other breweries, and the wider brewing industry, make renewable energy part of their energy mix, just as we have done.”

62747_Goss_Brewery_Infographic_02_271015 (graphic at article link)

The Göss Brewery’s zero carbon status is only one example of Heineken’s overall environmental goals. According to a blog post from Michael Dickstein, Heineken’s global director of sustainable development, the beer-maker is now the world’s largest user of solar energy in beer production.

The company’s Brewed by the Sun campaign boasts a number of solar achievements including:

•100,000 glasses of Wieckse beer brewed through solar energy at the Den Bosch brewery in the south of the Netherlands

•Birra Morretti Baffo d’Oro is brewed with 100 percent Italian malted barley and 100 percent Italian sun

•The company’s rooftop solar installation in Singapore, which brews the local Tiger beer, is the size of three football pitches


Heineken, the world’s third-largest brewer, is aiming to slash 40 percent of carbon emissions from global productions by 2020 through its Brewing a Better Future strategy.

The beer brewing industry is not immune to the effects of climate change. In the U.S., the ever-changing environment is a threat to the domestic beer market, as Ceres wrote:

Warmer temperatures and extreme weather events are harming the production of hops, a critical ingredient of beer that grows primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Rising demand and lower yields have driven the price of hops up by more than 250 percent over the past decade. Clean water resources, another key ingredient, are also becoming scarcer in the West as a result of climate-related droughts and reduced snow pack.

Several U.S. breweries have integrated sustainability into their business practices such as investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste recapture and sustainable sourcing in order to reduce their environmental footprint.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/10/heineken-carbon-neutral-brewery/

Agelbert NOTE: Expect some fossil fuel loving hairsplitter to show up to yammer about fossil fuel powered tractors and other farm equipment used to grow the beer ingredients giving the alleged "lie" to this story.

The fact is that ALL farm machinery can be run on ethanol Renewable Energy biofuels, never mind the fact that EV farm machinery is perfectly feasible due to the ease of harvesting solar and wind energy on the farm to charge farm machinery (which does not have to move very far at all) batteries in a sustainable and renewable fashion.

But those "details" are somehow always "forgotten" by the fossil fuelers...  ::)
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Carbon Neutral Buildings
« Reply #59 on: June 12, 2016, 01:01:38 am »
Quote
But those "details" are somehow always "forgotten" by the fossil fuelers... 

Some details are also forgotten by those besotted by Renewables - like the infrastructure's embedded energy.    The factory, the solar panels, the tractors (which are basically a diesel engine with wheels bolted on and CAN'T be electrified), the transport infrastructure (trucks and roads), the retail shops, the vehicles to get to the shops and back.   For some of those items, you would only count a proportion of the energy towards the energy budget of beer, obviously.




Palloy,
the hairsplitting, snark infested, sarcastic mocker of anything that smacks of a solution to our planetary crisis ARRIVES.  ::) Your, "all Renewable Energy has a large fossil fuel energy component", therefore Renewable Energy is not a solution" purist bullshit is BORING, unrealistic,  tiresome and irrelevant to the world's energy demand SOLUTION, WHICH IS the ongoing transition to 100% Renewable Energy.

I wish to point out, ONCE AGAIN, how ALL that infrastructure you mentioned CAN and DOES run quite well on 100% PLUS Renewable Energy, even if most of it does not now BECAUSE your beloved fossil fuel Fascists have consistently gamed the energy source and use market with laws and subsidy THEFT. 

SNIPPET from an article by Bill Ritter, Colorado’s 41st governor.

Fossil fuels enjoy a variety of targeted tax benefits as well as MLPs. Denying the same mix to renewable energy investors perpetuates federal policies that have long picked fossil fuels as the winners. The PTC/ITC and MLPs should not be an either/or issue.

Bill Ritter served as Colorado’s 41st governor. He is currently the director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.


http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2014/09/30/lets-even-the-playing-field-for-renewable-energy/Negative

There is too much fossil fuel industry corruption in, and collusion with, our government. The fact is that fossil fuel industry has succeeded in getting EIA to the absurdly ridiculous conclusion that pushing "natural" (i.e. FRACKED) gas is in the "Public" (see: Fossil fuel Corporate Profits) Interest.

If the "Public Interest" by Federal Agencies was not being equated to JOB SECURITY INTEREST for the fossil fuel industry, then the allegations from the EIA that "natural" gas power plants are "cheaper" to build and have greater "capacity" than renewable power generation from wind would be summarily dismissed as contrived numbers gaming.

The EIA, like the EPA and FERC, continue to cherry pick thermodynamic science and energy costs, while totally IGNORING the social costs of carbon per ton (now a minimum of 11 dollars per ton), in order to continue to fraudulently PICK FOSSIL FUELS as WINNERS.

In a sane world, the "IN the PUBLIC INTEREST" award for any energy generation source cannot be awarded without considering the SCC (social cost of carbon).

Fossil fuels are in the fossil fuel industry's interest, not the PUBLIC INTEREST.

Thermodynamic efficiency did not, and does not, have anything whatsoever to do with the prevailing use of fossil fuels, as you consistently, and erroneously, claim.

People like you always want to reduce this to a cost estimate game. But it is really an ethical issue. I read this in an excellent article on GRIST about discount rates and estimating carbon pollution costs to society.

Quote
Say you could ask the people of 2100 (some of whom may be your children or grandchildren), “would you rather inherit $1 trillion in cash or $1 trillion worth of avoided drought, storm, and famine?” Which do you think they would choose?

They will have lost biodiversity, up to half the species on the planet. They will have lost millions of acres of old-growth and tropical forest, most of the world’s coral reefs, and the bulk of world’s annual sea ice.

Those things will never return, not in time spans relevant to our species.
The natural world that has provided us sustenance since we were primates can not be restored once it’s gone. And there’s more to the biosphere than the “services” it provides humans. Some damages cannot be captured in dollar terms.


http://grist.org/article/discount-rates-a-boring-thing-you-should-know-about-with-otters/

It's a long article. They use pictures of otters to try make the math less boring. But it's good reading IF you aren't biased in favor of dirty energy.  ;)

When you decide to figure in the subsidies, gamed laws and SCC (social Cost of Carbon - now between 11 and about 57 dollars a ton, depending on the discount rate used) in your energy math, we can talk.

Otherwise, take your cherry picked numbers designed to pick fossil fuels as sine qua non energy winners elsewhere.

Quote
I dutifully drink my beer from aluminium cans on the grounds that they are expensive enough to recycle, whereas glass isn't, not at my distance from the rest of the world anyway.  Probably aluminium isn't worth recycling energy-wise either, and you are welcome to have the solar-powered aluminium smelter near your backyard, but they don't sell beer in glazed stoneware flagons any more.

BECAUSE of the subsidies, gamed laws and SCC, fossil fuels ARE NOT in the public interest. Fossil fuels are in the interest ONLY of the fossil fuel industry, PERIOD.

Enjoy your beer and your energy costs cherry picking ignorance, fossil fueler. 

 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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