Energy Efficiency — Solar Cities

Chapter 9 of Herbert Girardet’s Cities People Planet, on how far a city’s energy use can fall through efficiency and solar before anything exotic is required.

Part of the New City reading list — the books Kyle worked through while building the The New City thesis. Indexed on that page.

Notes

• By: H. Girardet
• In a world threatened by climate change and fuel shortages, a significant improvement in the energy efficiency of cities is a crucial first step towards a sustainable energy future. The know-how exists to bring urban energy use down by 50 per cent or more without significantly affecting living standards, while creating many new local jobs at the same time.
• It is clear that significant energy conservation can be achieved vy a combination of efficient energy use and by more efficient energy supply systems. In this context the electricity supply to cities is a crucial variable. Most cities are supplied by power stations located a long distance away, fired by coal or gas, with electricity being transferred via high-voltage power lines. Coal stations typically are only 35 per cent efficient. Modern gas-fired stations are slightly better, at 40-50 per cent efficiency.
• It appears that the largest improvements in power distribution and consumption are realized by cities with a municipality-owned electricity company, such as Toronto and Amsterdam.
• The greatest barrier to widespread uptake of solar power is lack of adequate knowledge. Changing this is a challenge for governments, city authorities, householders, and builders. In many countries, the home building industry tends to install cheap and short-life conventional water heaters without regard for either life cycle or environmental costs. It is critical for government mandates to change this situation fundamentally.
• Solar Electricity
• The two most common sources of renewable electricity are wind power and solar power. Both do not occur continuously—the sun does not shine at night and the wind does not blow every day— but in many locations they are highly complementary. In 2003, solar electricity was about eight times more expensive than conventional energy in northern countries, but it is expected to become cost competitive as early as 2010 as the technology develops and the market grows.
• Japan has been a leader in photovoltaic technology and has an ever-growing number of solar housing estates. The idea is to turn each house from a net energy consumer into a mini-power station. By 2001, there were over 50,000 solar-powered homes in Japan. One large-scale development in Osaka is showing the way. The solar electric panels used there have a dual function, acting as roofing material and solar electric panels at the same time. Any surplus electricity not used in the house can be sold back to the power company. For the average Japanese home that can mean a return of as much as US$50 a month!
• Freiburg in southern Germany, a city of some 200,000 people has long been known as a flagship example of sustainable urban development, particularly for its clever public transport system and its proliferation of cycle lanes. IT has twice as many bicycles as cars. IT was also one of the first cities in Europe to develop experimental solar buildings and its population has responded to the German ‘feed-in’ legislation with enthusiasm. Because of this, a sizable solar economy has developed in the city. There are now dozens of renewable energy research institutes, solar energy companies consultancies, solar engineers and architectural firms t hat specialize in solar design. By 2003, there were 2,000 meters of solar cells on Frieburg’s roofs and its sports stadium uses solar peer to operate its floodlights.
• Ocean energy is the largest untapped resource on the planet and could well provide clean, reliable electricity on a truly giant scale. Several companies are developing turbines to harness the moving water in ocean currents. Electricity generated from tidal currents has the distinction of being highly predictable. Tide tables can be used to project seasonal and daily power outputs, precisely quantifying supplies to on-shore energy grids. Off-shore wind and ocean energy technology, integrated together, are promising to become an abundant resource worldwide.
• The sun’s radiation is collected in multiple solar dishes that power a hydrogen converter. The hydrogen it produces from water can be stored in tanks and distributed to consumers in the same way as natural gas. This is still an experimental technology, but it could well be the shape of tomorrows power stations and a prototype for clean, urban energy supplies.
• A growing number of cities are introducing fuel cell-powered buses as a first step towards more widespread adoption of fuel cell technology. Two major advantages in city transport are that fuel engines don’t burn any fuel when stationary and that the only ‘waste gas’ coming out of their exhaust pipes is steam. The Greater London Authority has created the London Fuel Cell Partnership in 2002 and, as in other cities, rule cell-powered buses are now operating experimentally.
• Environmentalists emphasize that the future health of the planet will depend on the large-scale introduction of renewable energy. Clean, alternative energy sources exist, but getting policy makers to accept them will mean major changes to long-held habits, and convincing politicians and companies that they make economic sense.
• It is plausible that even large cities, whose genesis depended on the routine use of fossil fuels in the first place, will be able to switch to renewable energy in the coming decades. Regulating the energy industry to improve generating efficiency, reduce discharge of waste gases and adopt renewables will profoundly reduce the environmental impact of urban energy systems, while providing many new local jobs.
• But the introduction rate of these new technologies is still much too slow to offset annual global increases in energy demand due to urban and economic growth.
• While we have subsidies on fossil fuels, it is difficult for renewable energies to penetrate the marketplace. There’s an unfair competition. But, if the price of fossil fuel energy were to increase, the average consumer would have much more reason to conserve energy, to have more fuel-efficient cars, more fuel efficient houses. So we need to look at both the policy framework and the technology framework. We need simultaneously to change government policies and energy technologies. On the policy side, we need to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and to internalize the social and environmental cost of air pollution. We have to invest in research and development for new energy technologies and bring them on stream. A strong commitment to new research and development both by governments and private industries is critical.
• Not just safe or unsafe, there is an aspect of COMPETITION here where government involvement is cutting out one industry’s market share and giving it to another industry
• A sustainable energy system suitable for the 21st century could help to reestablish the crucial connections between energy, human well-being and the local environment and could create many new local jobs.