2050 issue 10

Issue 10

A peek at the future of sustainable living

‘THE GREEN VILLAGE They’re not just imagining it at the delft university of technology, they’re doing it!

‘NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T LED lights that can make things invisible. buildings, cars and even wind turbines.

Can somebody please tell donald?

VERTICAL FARMING Why a 10% shift to urban food production could make such a difference.

WELCOME Our mission with this issue of 2050 is to take a sneaky peek into the future, at what our everyday lives might be like three decades and a bit from now.

design techniques; one man’s view of the top 10 sustainable cities in the world right now; another man’s mission to understand the world of domestic energy; and so much more besides.

Our main focus is on the Green Village Project at Delft University where they are not only imagining how a smart, sustainable village might function in the future, but actually building one to show us. A village in which the zerocarbon buildings are powered by hydrogen fuelcelled cars, where wind turbines are rendered invisible to the human eye by cleverly placed LED reflectors, and where restaurants grow their own vegetables in rooftop gardens.

Please do keep your comments and feedback rolling in, we love to hear from you and will soon be launching a good, old-fashioned letters page on which to print our favourites.

The project’s leader, Professor Ad Van Wijk will be taking us for a fascinating stroll through his vision for the Green Village and how our nearfutures are destined to be more inter-connected, efficient and sustainable ahead of an open day on June 17th for existing and potential business and research partners.

We will also be looking at how 3-d printing technology is revolutionising the way buildings are put together (and, perhaps more importantly, how they will be taken apart again); how vertical farms will become a vital part of future cities; how energy-efficient retrofits of buildings are fast becoming an economic nobrainer; how modern developers are taking on board some of India’s ancient climate-beating

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Until we meet again Joe Swain, editor. ps - in the course of general research I happened across an article written in a 1968 edition of Modern Mechanics entitled, “2008: The Future” in which the athour concluded his various predictions about our everyday lives with this final ray of hope for us all: “No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either. The intelligence pill is another 21st century commodity. Slow learners or people struck with forgetful-ness are given pills which increase the production of enzymes controlling production of the chemicals known to control learning and memory.

Everyone is able to use his full mental potential.”

If only we could get a few of those for the powers to be.

ABOUT US: 2050 Magazine is all about renewable energy and our journey towards the day when the whole world will have access to cheap, clean, sustainable sources of energy. Something which we think will happen by 2050.

As long as we all pull together and do our bit. This is our bit.

EDITORIAL: We are very fortunate to have constant access to an incredibly talented pool of people, some of them with decades of experience in the field of sustainability.

They tell us things and we write it down and add pretty pictures. Then we send it, all wrapped up in tinsel, to the world at large.

That’s it in a nutshell really.

DISTRIBUTION: 2050 is a free publication which is distributed around the world through a variety of ‘friend’ networks. We are currently connected to more than 1 million supporters. A number which is growing on a daily basis. Please feel free to pass us on to your own networks if you think they might be interested in keeping in touch with what’s going on in the world of sustainable energy.

PUBLISHERS: 2050 Magazine is a joint effort by Planet B Ventures and Spinning Plate Media Ltd and is partly funded by crowdfunding on impactcrowd.com.

CONTACT: Editorial: info@planetbventures.com Advertising: ads@planetbventures.com

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CONTENTS 6 Sustainability News

10 A Walk Into The Future 14 Behind The Green Door 20 Now You See Me, Now You Don’t 22 Our Cars, Our Power 26 Water, Water Everywhere…

32 Salad Days 38 Print Me A Building 40 A Skyscraper In 90 Days 44 Panel By Panel 46 Blast From The Past 48 Safe Hands 52 Batten Down The Hatches 56 My Top 10 Green Cities

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news

KING OF THE CASTLE Apple’s HomeKit turns the iPhone into a remote for your smart home According to a report in theverge.com, Apple wants to make the smart home a whole lot smarter. With a feature called HomeKit that’s coming in iOS 8, iPhones will be able to start controlling smart devices, such as garage door openers, lights, and security cameras. They’ll all be controllable through Siri too, so Apple says that just by saying, “Get ready for bed,” a smart home could automatically dim its lights and lock its doors.

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HomeKit will allow iPhone users to control individual smart home devices right from their phone, and it sounds as though it’ll all happen through Siri, rather than a specific app.

Homeowners will be able to put their smart home devices into groups too, so that they’ll also be able to control a series of items at once — perhaps an entire room’s worth of appliances or an entire floor’s lighting.

Apple will also run a certification program to go along with HomeKit, which will guarantee that products support the new features.

Initial partners include August, which is known for its beautiful smart lock, Philips, which makes the Hue connected light bulb, and others including Honeywell, iHome, TI, and about a dozen more.

To read the story and comments on theverge.com

news

GIVE THE FUTURE A VOTE

So says Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times in his fascinating recent article, ‘Memorial Day 2050’ “Of the many things being said about climate change lately, none was more eloquent than the point made by Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington State in the Showtime series “Years of Living Dangerously,” when he observed: “We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”

“The question is how do we motivate people to do something about it at the scale required, when many remain skeptical or preoccupied with the demands of daily life — and when climate scientists themselves caution that it is impossible to attribute any single weather event to climate change, even if recent weather extremes fit their models of exactly how things will play out as the planet warms.

“Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog last week linked to a very novel

approach offered by Thomas Wells, a Dutch philosopher: Since climate change and environmental degradation pit the present against the future, our generation versus those unborn, we should start by giving the future a voice in our present politics.

“Even if we can’t know what future citizens will actually

but our political system points another, towards the short-term horizon of the next election,” we “should consider introducing agents who can vote in a farseeing and impartial way.”

“Wells suggests creating a public “trusteeship” of nongovernmental civic and charitable foundations, environmental groups and nonpartisan think tanks “and give them each equal shares of a block of votes adding up to, say, 10 percent of the electorate,” so they can represent issues like “de-carbonizing the economy” and “guaranteeing pension entitlements” for the unborn generation that will be deeply impacted but has no vote.

“We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” value and believe in, we can still consider their interests, on the reasonable assumption that they will somewhat resemble our own (everybody needs breathable air, for example),” wrote Wells in Aeon Magazine.

“Unrealistic, I know, but…”

To read the rest of the article

“Since “our ethical values point one way, towards intergenerational responsibility,

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news

URBAN BY NATURE

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) has launched its sixth event under the general theme “Urban By Nature.”

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) has launched its sixth event under the general theme “Urban By Nature.”

The bi-annual event, May 29th – August 25th, brings together international knowledge and experience in various design disciplines (architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture), and presents this knowledge and experience to a broader audience.

IABR 2014 is being curated by the renowned landscape architect Dirk Sijmons, and will be examining the concept of nature, and its place in modern urban life.

With nearly four billion people around the world now living in cities, the urban habitat has now become a more normal PAGE 8

‘natural’ habitat for humans than the countryside.

This redefinition of the natural environment is the springboard to the biennale’s investigation into how basic elements of nature can be better included in the general fabric of modern cities.

From the overall perspective of landscape architecture, the biennale is setting out to explore how improved planning and urban design methods can improve our cities as places to live, and solve many of the environmental problems they seem to cause.

The IABR is challenging visitors to visualise a city as a natural environment, to see its structure and the way it uses materials, in an effort to move towards the creation of truly sustainable conurbations.

The conference is addressing such topics as urban deltas, reallocation of space, food flows, transport systems, smart cities, renewable energy sources, and flow management.

The IABR implements its agenda by means of international research projects, exhibitions, master classes, workshops, conferences, lectures, debates, essays, a website, blogs, a catalogue, book, brochures, film, DVD, etc.

Since the fourth edition, in 2009, the IABR has increasingly combined its research projects with concrete urban planning assignments. Particularly in the cities of Rotterdam, Istanbul and São Paulo, the biennale is actively involved in the actual development of the city.

To find out more visit their website at iabr.nl

With nearly four billion people around the world now living in cities, the urban habitat has now become a more normal ‘natural’ habitat for humans than the countryside.

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A WALK INTO THE FUTURE Professor Ad van Wijk

takes us for a stroll through his vision of how our homes and lives will look in 30 years from now

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Let’s take a peak into the future, some 30 years or so, just to make sure this isn’t just science fiction.

I get into my comfortable fuel cell car that I tell where to drive, automatically of course. Meanwhile, I turn on the OLED smart window of my car on which I watch the

news, check my messages and update my calendar.

hydrogen networks. If there is a surplus of electricity from sun, wind, motion, geothermal LED flies or osmosis, this is converted into hydrogen fuel for the The lush green landscape tank of my car to complement slips past me as I arrive at the the hydrogen produced from Green Village, leaving my car organic waste (faeces, food, to find its automatic docking bio-degradables, etc.). station where it is hooked up to the electricity, water and

“Meanwhile, I turn on the LED smart window of my car on which I watch the news, check my messages and update my calendar.”

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a walk into the future Meanwhile I make my way to the office of the mayor, with whom I have an appointment.

The LED display in the table connects us to the other participants in the meeting. I look outside and see a beautiful green landscape. The mayor announced today that it is now possible to ‘turn off’ our wind turbines and buildings in the sense of making them invisible through an ingenious system of mini LED screens on their front elevations displaying film footage of the view behind them (hence the ‘invisibility’). It seems strange that you can design what you want to see in your own surroundings with LEDs. “What is there you do not see, and what you see is not there” was the slogan of the landscape architects of the 2030s.

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3D kidneys I am now almost 90 years old but still in good condition. My knees, kidneys and eyes have all been replaced with 3D printed versions, but everything is well monitored by built-in sensors with piezoelectric rubber that generates power from my heart.

bio-based plastics, such as PLA (lactic acid) one of the major raw materials for our versatile 3-D printers. Printers that allow us to very efficiently produce our new buildings, products, roads, bridges, clothing, appliances and even our fuel cell cars, solar cells and LEDs. Friendly waiter robot

Today’s toilets are largely waterless and allow for urine and faeces to be immediately separated and converted into valuable substances, materials and energy. Urine we immediately turn into struvite, and administer as a growth substance to our fresh vegetables, fruit and fish.

While on the digestate from our faeces we grow sugar beet in our homemade LED-powered greenhouses, not only for food but also for the production of

We grab a bite to eat at the Green Village, green star restaurant, that grows its own food in a greenhouse and pond on the roof. The restaurant makes the most amazing dishes using 3D printing technologies and the head cook is one of the most brilliant IT molecular chemists in the country. A friendly robot serves us dinner, while making sure we all receive the right amount of calories and nutrients.

“The head cook is one of the most brilliant IT molecular chemists in the country.”

The cutlery and napkins are made using a 3D printer and they all have our names printed on them, which is nice. When it comes to pay for our meal we are automatically afforded a discount if we took the time to go to the toilet. Meanwhile, the cutlery, napkins and other debris are removed by the robot, which presents us each with a 3D printed souvenir made from new bioplastic as we leave.

Gone with the wind We walk outside where it’s become dark. They’re using the LEDs on the wind turbines to play old movies like Gone with the Wind, which is fitting for an evening that has been windy enough to generate a surplus of electricity, supplied by a DC power converter to the village’s various data centers, electric cars, bicycles, machines and robots.

I let the car drive me back home as I watch Gone With The Wind on my OLED smart window. And then sleep soundly in my old bed.

Is this science fiction or science reality? In the Green Village on the TU Delft campus, together with companies, scientists and students, we’re trying to achieve, develop and demonstrate the reality (www. thegreenvillage.org.) Everyone is welcome, join us and together we can ensure a bright future for us, our children, our grandchildren and beyond.

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BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR Freerk Bisschop explains how the Green Village will actually be put together, and how all its many interconnections will be managed to provide a harmonious and sustainable environment.

The city of Delft isn’t just famous for its blue and white earthenware. It is also home to one of Europe’s finest technical universities.

Delft University of Technology is a world leader in quantum mechanical engineering: from exotic majorana particles (Nobel prize candidate Kouwenhoven, 2013) to ‘spooky science’ teleportation (3 meter, Ronald Hanson, this June). At the same time, Delft teams have been winning solar car races year after year (Nuna) and students have sent pocket satellites into orbit.

So yes, practical girls and guys with awesome brains – that’s Delftware today. Just imagine what they can achieve in

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making our sustainable futures a reality.

The campus area in Delft is, however, hardly distinguished.

A disorientating smorgasbord of 50 years of mainly rectangular and concrete buildings. But when a dramatic fire destroyed the Architecture building in 2008, and left an open parcel at the south end, the dean, Professor Ir Karel Luyben initiated ‘The Green Village’, based on the vision and know-how of Professor Dr. Ad van Wijk (professor Future Energy Systems).

As Van Wijk summed it up at the time, “In The Green Village we create and apply radical system innovations for a sustainable world. Students,

entrepreneurs, scientists and professionals work together to pursue unconventional solutions to society’s urgent problems. In a lively and open environment that interacts with the general public – tomorrow’s market.”

And we’re not talking about a tiny little TV show sized project here, as in total, the Green Village area will cover approximately 1,5 hectares, providing 2,000 – 3,000m2 of building space and a similar area of public spaces, squares and streets.

It must be borne in mind however that for all its functionality, the Green Village is being built as a temporary village, for a period of just

5 to 10 years, always growing and always changing.

Buildings, functionalities, infrastructure, installations, furniture and appliances – all will be deliberately easy to adapt, change, expand or remove. At least every two years significant changes will be planned.

The Green Village will thrive on the principles of a circular economy in which we borrow instead of possess all materials, buildings, furniture and appliances; in which we buy services instead of installations and equipment; and in which all materials will have the lowest environmental impact and be easy to remove, recycle or re-use.

Adding to the challenge is the stipulation that to qualify for its ‘temporary’ status, the Green Village isn’t allowed to put down any permanent roots in the form of traditional foundations.

Hence the 5,000 m2 of buildings and public spaces will be constructed on an elevated platform with infrastructural and other support systems located below it on ground level. In keeping with the ‘open architecture’ vision of the project the platform will be transparent, allowing not only for a good view of all the coloured ducts and other technical installations but also easy access for maintenance and modifications.

“The Green Village will thrive on the principles of a circular economy.”

The Green Village Buildings THE STORE The store is the central Green Village location for information, exhibitions, shopping and education. GV gifts and brand articles are sold here, and visitors can follow workshops and courses to create their own 3-D prints or construct a personalized LED lighting system, etc.

THE RESTAURANT In the restaurant, robots serve “green”, tasty lunches and dinners, prepared from fresh local products (partly grown in TGV greenhouses) in a transparent kitchen with new, energy efficient cooking equipment and minimum waste.

THE OFFICES Offices and co-working spaces will accomodate employees, project teams, sutdents and start-ups from inside and outside Delft University.

THE EVENT CENTRE This centre is the central gathering place in the Green Village for business, leisure and education. The centre houses an executive lounge with a view over the village and meeting rooms, all with (online & offline) conferencing facilities.

A conference hall for about 150 people, serves congresses, symposia, festivals, performances etc.

THE FUTURE LABS The Future Labs combine a flexible, open research environment with a showroom for demonstration, exhibition or (market) testing. The LED revolution lab for example features a permanent exposition of LED-art, LED-integrated products (furniture, smart windows, LED printers, etc.) and an app design centre, as well as an outdoor cinema on the LED-clad north facade.

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behind the green door

The central square in the Green Village will have a power-generating floor (PV and movement) that will double up as a giant LED screen projecting adverts and information about what’s going on and where the fun’s to be had.

The square will act as the focus of the village, housing outdoor events such as exhibitions, performances, dances, and films. It will sport a magnificent solar fountain and its waste/recycle bins will be directly connected to a vacuum tubing system.

Reversed umbrellas will collect rainwater and provide shade, while LED-lit seats will be connected to a central heating and cooling system.

The square, and the rest of the village, will be easily accessed by way of clean, automatic forms of transport such as

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electric bikes and segways, with ample places to park and re-charge them.

Every building will be designed to react interactively with visitors, providing them with handy information by way of status indicators and LED screens. The buildings, like the reverse umbrellas, will routinely collect rainwater (of which it is said, Delft gets more than its fair share) and all waste water will be gathered in separate streams: yellow, black and grey.

All buildings will also feature a thermal solar south facade and a PV solar roof.

All outdoor and indoor lighting will be supplied by LED systems which will be integrated, where appropriate, into the furniture.

Like any easy-to-maintain, growing organism, the village will be wearing its heart on its sleeve, with all its technical systems, pipes, cables and tubes running like veins and arteries through its transparent service ducts.

Which will not only look nice, but make it all super accessible for research and innovative applications.

All plant and service rooms will be similarly housed for all to see behind transparent walls. Sensors will be strategically placed to monitor all in and outgoing flows of energy, water, materials and people, at building, room and appliance level.

The electricity infrastructure will be prepared for a transition to “DC only” and will accommodate local energy generation via solar, wind, hydrogen etc.

“All outdoor and indoor lighting will be supplied

by LED systems which will be integrated, where appropriate, into the furniture.�

The DC Electric Engine and Grid The Electricity Engine serves the power supply of the village. It includes electricity storage and backup power generation (with a biogas generator and fuel cells) to become fully self-sufficient. A grid power connection only serves as back-up power for peak demands and back-deliverance of excess generated solar and wind electricity to the grid.

The Green Village will be one of the first public access areas in the world with a smart DC grid. This means that all AC-DC conversion losses will be avoided between power generation, storage devices and electric appliances. DC grids are still experimental.

The Green Village will become an important testing environment for (component) suppliers and authorities to develop all necessary devices, control strategies and even legislation.

Power will be generated by solar energy devices on all buildings, in the streets and in public spaces, feeding into the DC grid. But solar cells will also be directly integrated into products and systems such as public LED lighting, fountain pumps, signaling and sensors, which won’t necessarily be connected to the grid.

Several buildings have small wind turbines to complement a medium sized turbine in the middle of the Village. In the future, additional technology will be used to extract energy from the wind, such as kites, electrostatic devices, etc.

Everyday movement will also be used to produce energy. Pushing a rotating door, leaping about on the dance floor, or working out on a fitness machine, all will help power the Village.

Movement will also be used to charge small products, such as radios, computers, and phones, all of which will be on sale in the Village store.

Power flows will be measured at all generating and storage devices, as well as inside the buildings.

Eventually every individual power socket will be sensored.

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behind the green door

“The Green Village will be a selfsufficient, sustainable system, producing its own energy and water,� says project contributor Chris Hellinga. “With waste re-used for supply streams, and used materials turned into products and goods.

Technically speaking the system will comprise 9 engines, each having its own function, and each open to visitors. They will also make for excellent testing facilities for outside companies and researchers.

by a network of data-collecting sensors, wired and wireless data communication and central data storage and processing. All of which will be made available in a public database along with open-

vascular system, its heart lies in its community. The Village will be a vibrant and open community, both online and offline. A place where students, academic staff and professionals will be able to follow courses, attend training sessions, undertake research, or simply design and test their own products.

Moreover, the Green Village will be a social hangout as well. With facilities in which to relax and be entertained, visit exhibitions, meet interesting people over a good meal or enjoy dance parties with friends.

The Green Village will be a social hangout as well.

The engines will be controlled

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source designs, development, testing and innovation data. The destiny of the Green Village it seems, is to be one huge open experimentation platform.

And while the internal technical workings of the Green Village can be likened to a cardio-

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NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON’T

LEDs aren’t just being used to make our lighting systems more energy efficient, but also to make things invisible. Skyscrapers, cars, ships, you name them, they’re all wearing invisibility cloaks these days.

Most people think of LED lights as highly efficient alternativeS to traditional light bulbs. Which they are. But they are also, when positioned correctly, able to form what are effectively giant TV screens.

obviously, but invisible in a ghostly but highly noticeable way. A point well made though it has to be said.

As such there is a growing trend towards the practice of covering one side of an object with LEDs, placing a camera on the other side and then projecting the ‘missing view’ onto the LED screen.

And it’s not just cars that are enjoying invisibility makeovers, as buildings too are prime targets. Right now in Seoul they’re constructing a 450 metre tall skyscraper called the Tower Infinity, which like the Mercedes will be able to render itself virtually invisible thanks to its LED covered facades.

Mercedes for example, have just brought out a state of the art hydrogen fuel cell car using their zero emissions ‘F-Cell’ technology, which, as they quite rightly point out, is effectively invisible to the environment in which it exists.

And to emphasise that point – can’t you just see the ad-men frothing at the mouth with excitement – they’ve used LED invisibility technology to make the car invisible. Not completely,

The tower’s cameras will capture real-time images of its surroundings, which will be projected onto hundreds of rows of LED screens spread over its external walls, allowing passersby to enjoy the view that the tower would otherwise block.

Clever use of digital processing will enhance the images to help the building blend even more into its surroundings, thereby giving it that ‘now you see me now you don’t’ shimmering

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look made so popular in Arnold Schwarzenneger’s film ‘Predator’.

American architects GDS are even referring to it as the ‘antitower’. Nobody quite knows why but apparently it has something to do with it being a tower block, but at the same time not wanting to be all big and visible like your ordinary self-centred, egocentric ‘look at me, aren’t I big’ skyscraper. Although it has to be said, that a bit like the Mercedes, Tower Infinity will probably be even more visible for its invisibility.

The obvious next question of course is whether we will be able to use this technology to ‘mask’ on- and off-shore wind turbines to take, if you’ll excuse the deliberate pun, the wind out of the sails of those who are opposed to them purely on the grounds of aesthetics. A certain Scottish American golf course developer springs to mind.

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our cars our power

OUR CARS OUR POWER

Professor Ad van Wijk explains why we shouldn’t look at our cars as highly energy-inefficient modes of personal transport, but rather as highly efficient, mini power stations.

We use our cars for work, shopping and holidays, for bringing our kids to school and for visiting friends.

For most of us the car has become an indispensable device, comfortable and safe.

But the car is a gas guzzler.

Barely more than a moving stove. Worldwide, about a quarter of all energy used, is flared by these moving stoves.

A proportion which seems even more surprising when you actually examine the energy efficiency of using cars to move ourselves from A to B? A quick calculation: A petrol car engine has an efficiency of 15 to 20% when it comes to converting gasoline into a rotating motion. The remaining 80 – 85% of the fuel’s energy is wasted in the form of heat, which in turn has to be removed through cooling.

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If that wasn’t bad enough, the rotating motion is transmitted to the wheels by the gearbox, at an efficiency of just 50%, thus reducing the total efficiency to 7-10 %. Take away from that the energy expended overcoming road friction and wind resistance, and our number drops to a measly 3-5%.

Most efficiency calculations stop there, but if we were to continue as we should and take into account the overall purpose of our cars, it becomes even worse. Let’s face it, all we’re trying to do with them is move ourselves from A to B, a task for which we deploy a 1,000kg car to transport (in my case) about 100kgs of human being.

Which ultimately leaves us with an energy efficiency figure for the petrol-powered car of less than 0.5 %. How sad is that?

Can we do better?

Yes we can, using electric vehicles.

Indeed, we are now witnessing the introduction of the electric vehicle – so defined by the existence of an electric motor and a large battery pack, but with the remainder of the car largely unchanged – which is already giving us considerable efficiency improvements.

The electric motor runs at an efficiency of 95%, and charging and discharging the battery has an efficiency of 80%. Which, combined with an average power plant production efficiency in the Netherlands of 40%, means the electric car engine has an efficiency rating of 30%.

Almost double that of the comparable 15-20% figure for the petrol engine.

“Which ultimately leaves us with an energy efficiency figure for the petrol-powered car of less than 0.5 %.

How sad is that?�

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our cars our power

With future improvements still possible. Electric motors can be mounted in the wheels, thereby eliminating the friction losses in the gearbox; and if we can build our cars from bio-plastic, which is much lighter than the steel used today, we would arrive at a personal displacement energy efficiency of about 5%.

Which may not seem very high, but is 10 times better than the combustion car, and would result in 10 times less energy being used in transport.

us an electric power production efficiency of 45%, again an improvement on the 40% average of conventional power plants.

Harnessing the power Taking it another step forward, if our fuel cell cars produce power so efficiently, what’s to stop us using their motors to produce power for our homes and offices when they’re parked?

hydrogen fuel cell electric cars?

Car parks at which we would not only be able to automatically refuel our cars with hydrogen produced on-site from natural gas or biogas, but also connect them – as mini generators – to the national grid and the district heating system.

Just a single such 500-car parking facility would match the output of a conventional 50MW power plant, and would easily be able to provide electricity for

“We currently only use our cars for about 5% of the time we could. For the other 95%, they remain, complete with their 130 horse power / 100kW engines, idly parked outside our homes or offices.”

Hydrogen fuel cells In the future electric cars can even be powered by their own on-board generators, in the form of hydrogen fuel cells, rather than by batteries charged from the national grid.

Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen gas with 60% efficiency and the hydrogen itself can be produced from natural gas or biogas with an efficiency of 75%. Thus giving

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We currently only use our cars for about 5% of the time we could. For the other 95%, they remain, complete with their 130 horse power / 100kW engines, idly parked outside our homes or offices. Rather a waste when you consider that each one of those engines can easily produce enough electricity for up to 100 homes.

And what if we were to build car parks especially for these

the 50,000 homes that make up a city such as Delft, here in the Netherlands.

Which of course raises the question, will we still need power plants in the future?

The answer is no. In the Netherlands for example we can easily replace all our power plants with our cars. There are currently eight million cars on the road, driving approximately 100 billion kilometres per

annum between them, and every year we buy more than half a million new ones. These new cars alone equating to 50,000MW of ‘power on wheels’.

To put that into perspective, Dutch energy companies have just 25,000 MW of capacity installed in power plants.

So every year we buy more than 2 times as much ‘power on wheels’ than is currently installed in all our power plants.

Each year? Yes, each year! And those cars are yours and mine.

On a global scale there are about 1 billion cars on the road, and every year 80 million new cars are bought. Which, again just counting the new additions, amounts to a ‘power on wheels’ increase in capacity of 8,000 GW, compared to the current world wide installed capacity of 5,000 GW. And best of all perhaps, is that if we were to use our cars to produce electricity in the car park, which is then fed into the national grid, we would rightly expect to be paid in return.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Although it does of course bring with it the sobering thought that some of us might one day find ourselves being financially outperformed by our own cars.

Ad van Wijk is a sustainable energy entrepreneur, consultant and professor in Future Energy Systems at TU Delft (Delft University of Technology.

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‘Share and share alike’ (cont)

Jennifer Lotz is part of the Green Village team in charge of the water and waste management systems. Always a great opening gambit at social functions.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

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If I had to summarise the four main visions of the Green Village, as we march boldly on towards creating a completely sustainable system, they would be as follows: 1. To become a clean energy producer.

2. To routinely use our own waste as a resource.

3. To produce clean water.

4. To produce a clean air environment.

And as lofty as those pillars might sound, the important thing to remember here is that they aren’t individual visions but rather interactive with one another, each affecting its neighbours.

It is known and in fact, anticipated, that solutions will indeed change over time with innovation and advances in technology; making it imperative to create/design a system solution that stems away from finite, linear options to solutions which more closely mimic the tendencies of our natural environment.

The answers to sustainable solutions are all around us.

We just need to be perceptive enough to notice these subtle but ever-working networks in the biosphere while also being innovative and creative enough to mimic these intricate patterns of nature in our society.

Nature has its own laws for the recycling and reuse of nutrients/ resources; all nutrients on Earth have their own very effective and efficient recycling and reuse systems in place.

But as we at the Green Village get down to the nitty gritty business of turning our four main visions into a reality, I hear a common cry. “But surely with 70% of the Earth’s surface being covered by water in the form of our vast oceans, we have plenty of the stuff. Don’t we?”

A question which I usually handle by pointing out that actually this translates to 97.5% of the world’s water resources being saline. This means that the available fresh water is only

2.5%, of which, approximately 70% is inaccessible being as it were, inconveniently frozen in icecaps or hidden in deep underground aquifers. This leaves less than 1% of the world’s fresh water reserves available for direct human consumption from lakes, shallow underground sources and reservoirs.

Which rather puts a spin on the conversation I find. A depiction though which brings us closer to understanding the importance of protecting and being conscious users of our limited freshwater resources, regardless of how dire it seems to do so in our own individual circumstances.

We are all connected. There is not one event that can take place in isolation in nature. This must be and is understood at the Green Village, as the water and wastewater infrastructure design is a key component of the initial concept.

“A sustainable water system implies self-sufficiency in terms of water supply and usage as well as having the capability of closing nutrient loops.”

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water water eveywhere

A sustainable water system implies self-sufficiency in terms of water supply and usage as well as having the capability of closing nutrient loops.

With this in mind, the Green Village has envisioned and designed a forward-thinking water and wastewater system in which closing nutrient loops, utilising waste as a resource, source-separation and decentralisation are all paramount factors in creating the eventual autarkic water system.

The Green Village will utilise a combination of vacuum toilets and waterless male urinals in their wastewater infrastructure design. This combination will provide the platform for an enormous water saving potential while also allowing for source-separation of urine and faeces.

A sustainable water system implies self-sufficiency in terms of water supply and usage as well as having the capability of closing nutrient loops.

Harvesting energy/materials from waste then becomes an interesting topic. Okay, not necessarily great dinner party conversation, but ‘interesting’ in a more holistic sense.

For example, a conventional dual, low-flush toilet (common in most households in the Netherlands) flushes with 4L for the large flush and 2L for the small flush. Whereas, the waterless urinal, as the name suggests, does not use any water, while the vacuum toilet uses no water to flush and a minimal amount of water (1L) to rinse the toilet bowl. Thus, the water-saving potential becomes quite clear.

While keeping the importance of utilising less fresh water resources in mind, and also regarding materials recovery as vital, the technological capacity of the collection device (aka ‘the toilet’) becomes a central theme. The toilet will not only determine the water usage within the GV, but will also provide the means for sourceseparation – okay I’m going to have to say it now - of urine and faeces, which allows for materials recovery in a local and economically feasible manner.

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In addition to the importance of water-saving, comes sourceseparation, closing nutrient loops and utilising waste as a resource, which are each individual yet interconnected pieces of the design. Sourceseparation, decided upon by the collection device (the toilet), provides concentrated streams in order to cost effectively manage research and development on those resulting

streams while also significantly decreasing water usage and the resulting impact of necessary infrastructure design. As I said, everything is inter-connected.

For example, re-use opportunities for urine can be studied and investigated.

There are already many wellestablished, fully-functioning communities which have adopted this wastewater philosophy, the majority of which are in Sweden.

In some cases the urine is used, quite effectively, directly as a fertilizer, while other cases include the manufacture of a struvite (granular pellet) form of fertilizer by extracting the nitrogen and phosphorous from the urine.

In this way, the nutrient loops of nitrogen and phosphorous are closed, and waste, notably human waste, is used as a resource. There are numerous opportunities in terms of using (human) waste as a resource, backing up (if you’ll excuse the term) the reason for including an ‘Experimental Toilet Block’ (ETB) at the Green Village. Why should we have all the fun? A block to which not only TU Delft people will be welcome, but also

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The concept of ‘waste’ in the natural environment does not exist.

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water water eveywhere

the general public, business partners and entrepreneurs. All will be invited to collaborate, innovate and create. And, as strange as it might seem, when you remember that we are essentially still talking about toilets here, a place to develop and showcase their ideas.

As long as water remains a paramount focus of the GV, then so too should the ETB, allowing as it will a platform on which to create solutions in terms of water usage, treatment opportunities and nutrient/materials harvesting possibilities. Technological advances are a requirement of shifting to a new paradigm, why not have the Green Village at the heart of the change, in all respects?

The inclusion of a de-centralised wastewater infrastructure system at the Green Village has a myriad of beneficial outcomes: ecological/toxicological, watersaving potential, infrastructure design (saves on resources, money/time), re-use of nutrients from waste and decreasing nutrient overload of coastal bodies of water. (The last of which I’m sure surfers have their own term for.)

Nitrogen and phosphorous are the nutrients of focus since nitrogen requires a significant amount of energy to extract, and phosphorous shortages are foreseen. A shift in the way we view waste is necessary in overcoming current societal challenges. What can we

innovate and create in order to better handle ‘waste’?

The concept of ‘waste’ in the natural environment does not exist. All products (matter/nutrients/energy) and subsequent by-products play an essential role in either the functioning of a ‘niche’ eco-system or in the global ecosystem as a whole.

We simply need to become more aware of the physical environment which surrounds and sustains us when theorising about solutions to shifting to a new paradigm.

Having previously studied Environmental Technology Engineering in Canada, Jennifer now lives in the Netherlands researching and analysing various options for the alternative wastewater system design at the Green Village (TU Delft). She has an undeniable passion for the environment and the search for sustainable solutions to the Earth’s most urgent challenges.

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‘Share and share alike’ (cont)

SALAD DAYS

Why Growing Our Food In High-Rise Urban Towers Actually Makes An Awful Lot of Sense

By Dr. Dickson Despommier, of verticalfarm.com fame By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today.

At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices.

What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

A Potential Solution: Farm Vertically The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the PAGE 32

urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies.

The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world’s urban centers.

If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semiarid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities.

This means that, for the majority, we humans are protected against the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigors of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year.

However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate regime, that is not what follows. Massive floods, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hurricanes, and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. Don’t our harvestable plants deserve the same level of comfort and protection that we now enjoy?

The time is at hand for us to learn how to safely grow our food inside environmentally controlled multistory buildings within urban centers. If we do not, then in just another 50 years, the next 3 billion people will surely go hungry, and the world will become a much more unpleasant place in which to live.

The Valcent designed Verticrop sytem of hydroponic trays on rotating rail

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Vertical Farming

MR TEN PERCENT

Let’s start with ten percent and see what happens next

By Dr. Dickson Despommier I was about to give my rehearsal talk at a recent TEDx conference when a rather distinguished looking older woman (another presenter at the same conference) approached me, and with a stern facial expression that one could only interpret as constrained hostility, stared directly into my eyes and confronted me: ”Please stop this foolish crusade advocating for vertical farms in cities. A man with your amount of influence and education should know better”.

She stopped just short of poking her index finger deeply into my chest as she ranted. Having finished her tersely delivered directive, she pivoted smartly

PAGE 34

in military fashion and walked off into the empty darkened auditorium to await her turn at our practice session. I barely had the opportunity to thank her for being so forthright, candid, and above all fearless about expressing her opinion of urban agriculture, and in specific for my role in propagating enthusiasm for it.

Remarkably, I resisted following her to her seat and getting into a heated argument/discussion with her about climate change and the demise of agriculture in general. Instead, I went on about the business at hand and gave my eighteen minutes on the virtues of urban agriculture and the role that vertical

farming might play in its development. It occurred to me upon much reflection that what she really might have meant to say was that vertical farming will never be able to replace outdoor farming so why bother trying.

In her own talk, she spoke passionately of the population explosion and too many mouths to feed, but did not expound even a little as to what she might want to do to alleviate the situation. Her primary concern appeared to be about her newly arrived grandchild and the depressing future it and the next few generations of humans will have to face. Very depressing, really.

Her message was not dissimilar from that of Al Gore or James Lovelock as to the state of the planet; lots of depressing data and no apparent solutions on the horizon. In all my experience as a public speaker I do not recall ever having expressed the idea that vertical farming should replace all outdoor farming as the only solution to the ills of the world. Nonetheless, I think that was her take on what I was all about. Suffice it to say that

since then I have endeavored to give better reasons for insinuating agriculture into the built environment.

lost some 110 billion dollars worth of grain crops due to a protracted drought throughout the American Midwest.

Let’s begin the argument in favour of urban agriculture by admitting that cities are the main reason we are in such a bad state of affairs with respect to rapid climate change and its deleterious effects on traditional agriculture. In 2011 for example, the United States

Unless a miracle happens, it appears almost certain that the state of California will be the next victim of drought in 2014.

This could affect virtually every US citizen, with significantly higher food prices and may even affect food availability, as well.

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Vertical Farming

Cities only occupy some 2-3 percent of the Earth’s landmass, but emit over seventy percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide. Nearly fifty percent of us now live in cities. Seven billion people require farmland equivalent in landmass to the size of South America. This calculates out to an astounding 6,890,000 square miles! That means that cities need some 3,440,000 square miles of land to satisfy their daily caloric needs.

From the 1950s to the present, the Brazilian rainforest has been negatively impacted by encroachment, mainly for the sake of agriculture, sacrificing some 700,000 square miles of hardwood forest for farmland to feed its own growing population.

Hm, you might say. Up to this point, the facts I’ve just presented seem to support the outlook forecasted by the doomer gloomers. But the built environment need not shoulder the entire burden of food production for there to

be real hope for straightening out the mess we have made for ourselves.

If cities produced just ten percent of the ground crops they currently consume, by employing sustainable indoor vertical farms and greenhouses to do so, then nearly half of the damaged portion of the Brazilian rainforest could theoretically be restored (340,000 square miles worth) and a significant amount of carbon would be sequestered as the result.

This calculation is based on the fact that indoor farming is carried out year round and is over ninety percent efficient at producing food crops. By the way, outdoor farming is, at best, only fifty percent successful (insect pests, plant diseases, adverse weather conditions) and can only occur at temperatures that consistently average 55 degrees fahrenheit. Enabling cities to be productive centers for locally grown vegetables, herbs, and fruits, might be all that is needed to turn the corner

to a more sustainable future.

Ultimately, I strongly believe that we should work towards the creation of eco-cities that mimic in every way the functions necessary for sustaining an intact ecosystem, using our creative intellects and cutting-edged technologies to get the job done.

Primary productivity is an essential feature of all ecosystems, so why not start with this activity as the basis for creating the eco-city? Today, it is easy to do, witness all the new varieties of vertical farms and rooftop greenhouses going up inside the built environment.

Generating just ten percent of our farm production within the world’s cities just might be enough to slow down our runaway climate regime and give us some much needed time to figure out ways of dealing with rising sea levels, as the climate continues to challenge our quality of life on Planet Earth.

DR. DICKSON DESPOMMIER spent thirty-eight years as a professor of microbiology and public health in environmental health sciences at Columbia, where he won the Best Teacher award six times. In 2003, he was awarded the American Medical Student Association Golden Apple Award for teaching. He has addressed audiences at leading universities including Harvard and MIT, and he has also been invited to speak at the United Nations. In addition, he has been asked by governments of China, India, Mexico, Jordan, Brazil, Canada, and Korea to work on environmental problems. Despommier lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

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Completely constructed from glass and steel, this model is just one of Despommier’s designs for a vertical farm

The Dragonfly Project in New York,

“Modeled after the wings of a dragonfly, this incredible urban farm concept for New York City’s Roosevelt Island intends to ease the problems of food mileage and shortage, and reconnect consumers with producers.

Urban farming is a growing trend amongst savvy city dwellers today, but in a densely packed borough like Manhattan, growth must come vertically. Spanning 132 floors and 600 vertical meters, the Dragonfly can accommodate 28 different agricultural fields for the production of fruit, vegetables, grains, meat and dairy. A combination of solar and wind power make Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut’s Dragonfly concept 100% self sufficient.”

(Alexandra Kain, inhabitat.com) Read more: The Dragonfly: A Giant Winged Vertical Farm for New York City | Inhabitat Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building PAGE 37

Construction

PRINT ME A BUILDING WOULD YOU? Chinese contractor ‘prints’ 10 buildings in just one day The race to develop the first viable 3D-printing process for the construction of buildings is on.

Recently for example, a Chinese company, Yingchuang New Materials, constructed 10 buildings in just one day, using recycled building waste in a novel new 3D-printing process.

The structures were constructed using builder’s waste reinforced with cement to form all parts of the buildings except for the roof which had to be made separately.

The mix is extruded from a custom-built machine that took 12 years and 20 million yuan (£2 million) to develop.

The buildings are all low-level structures that will be used as office space in Shanghai and appear to be the first 3D-printed buildings to actually be used as accommodation.

Elsewhere, Dutch companies are experimenting with similar methods. Ultimaker has

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developed a device called the KamerMaker which exudes molten plastic to produce blocks that can then be assembled into a building. The plastic is a bio-plastic industrial adhesive that contains 75 percent plant oil reinforced with microfibers and incorporating a honeycomblike structure for strength. The blocks are then reinforced with a light concrete.

The process was recently used

by Dutch architects Dus to begin constructing a full-scale house but Ultimaker has also tested a translucent plastic and a wood fibre mix to form a substance that can be sawn and sanded like MDF. Another Dutch company, Janjaap Ruijssenaars, has been working with sand mixed with a binding agent in a project to develop a building shaped like a moebius string using an Italian D-shape printer. Meanwhile, researchers at UCLA have also joined in by testing a process called Contour Crafting in which a robot printer positioned on a

computer controlled gantry is used to build structures from a quick setting concrete. The robot climbs the building as it is constructed and the thinking is that it could one day be used to build high rise structures at minimum cost. The robot is essentially a nozzle on a gantry.

UCLA believes it could one day construct buildings in under 24 hours, but there is concern about the effects on construction workers, which the device would ultimately replace.

It uses a pattern stored on a computer and could slash the cost of housebuilding, while also being utilised for disaster relief in areas affected by earthquakes or conflict.

The advantages of 3D-printing for constructing buildings are cost, recyclable materials and reduced, if not zero, waste.

However, the big disadvantage, the subject that is at the heart of many conversations on this issue, is the effect on jobs. If this process can be used for

buildings, what is to stop it from being used for many other large-scale structures, from cars to ships and maybe even aircraft?

On the upside we have the potential to revolutionise a lot of currently labour intensive industries, but on the downside we will have to work hard to make sure the savings translate

to jobs in associated areas.

It will certainly be interesting to see where this innovation goes from here.

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Construction

HOW TO BUILD A RECORD-BREAKING SKYSCRAPER IN 90 DAYS The Broad Group, a construction company in China, believes that the definition of an efficient, sustainable, modern building is one that is 90% manufactured off-site and then intuitively assembled in its final position in a matter of weeks.

In an interview recently with management consultancy McKinsey & Company, the Broad Group chairman and CEO, Zhang Yue, expanded on his view that a ‘non-standard’ approach to construction can produce incredible results in terms not only of grandeur, but also of time, cost, resource-efficiency, carbon impact and energy consumption.

In an interview with one of McKinsey’s Shanghai office directors, David Xu, the construction company chief explained how their unique prefabrication and fast assembly techniques are already highly advanced, having been honed on the 2010 construction of the six-storey Broad Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo in just one day.

Followed by the 15-storey Ark Hotel in less than a week, and the 30-storey T30 tower and hotel in just 15 days.

His next ambitious project, Sky City, will be the world’s tallest PAGE 40

structure at 202 floors, with a frame made completely from (dismantleable) pre-fabricated steel. As Zhang Xu explained in the March 2014 interview, he intends the development, which also comes with a magnitude-9 earthquake resistance capability, as a “step toward redefining urbanization and addressing the energy and pollution problems that have accompanied industrialization in China.”

Zhang Hu believes that the current construction industry isn’t fully aware of its long-term impact on people’s lives. “The consequences of construction errors can reverberate for decades, centuries, and even a millennium. Yet the industry does not always think long term. We tend to think in terms of a project—one building or infrastructure asset—and its timeline.”

That we should be asking ourselves strategic and long-

term questions. “What is the objective of this building or asset? How does it relate to the rest of the neighborhood and the city? How will it affect people’s quality of life? How much energy does it use? What problems could it create?”

China’s rapid development over the last few decades and its increasing trend towards urbanisation has left many of its cities creaking under the strain, stifled on a daily basis by pollution.

“People living in big cities, with excessive pollution and energy consumption, can hardly enjoy a high quality of life.

Urbanisation should not happen at the expense of land and the environment. Stakeholders in China can pursue a long-term path to land- and energyefficient urbanization.”

Zhang HU points out that current construction techniques, where most of the work takes

The Broad Pavillion which was erected at the Shanghai Expo in under 24 hours place manually and on site is antiquated. “For example, today a skyscraper can take five years or more to complete. When the Empire State Building was constructed, it only took about 13 months.”

There are two main reasons for the slow adoption of technology in China according to Xhang Hu. The huge levels of demand that mean there are profits to be made without having to change methods or ideology; and the proliferation of ‘standards’ controlling the industry which discourage the use of innovative designs and materials.

Since the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 Broad Group has been exploring the idea of safe, sustainable buildings.

“I was attracted to the idea of challenging conventional thinking about construction.

Our construction process places special importance on air quality, energy conservation, and sustainable materials. By using 20-centimeter insulation layers, quadruple-paned windows, power-generating elevators, light-emitting-diode lights, and Broad’s coolingheating-power and air-filtration technology, Sky City will be five times more energy efficient than a conventional building.

In China, most builders use concrete because it is standard and they are familiar with it.

Sky City will be made mostly of steel, all of which can be reused, if the building is ever decommissioned.”

However Zhang Yue is adamant that a change of mindset will be required before other contractors in China will follow their lead. He cites the example of thermal insulation. “It does not require fancy technology, simply a willingness to do it. A small, up-front investment in insulation significantly reduces the overall cost of a building by lowering heating and cooling expenses. Why then are so few builders in China using thermal insulation? In a word, it is about mind-sets.

Thermal insulation is outside of their conventional process and thinking.”

A resistance to change that Zhang Hu likens to car production.

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Construction

The T30 Tower

“If conventional construction is a man building cars in his garage, our approach is to build cars on the assembly line.

Ninety percent of the work for our prefabricated, sustainable buildings is done in the factory.

Only the remaining 10 percent is done on site. Plumbing, electric, heating and cooling vents, plus the flooring and ceiling, are fitted into a module of 60 square meters. The walls, doors, and windows are stacked on top of the module, which is then transported to the construction site as a whole.

“Our production process is not only fast, but it maximises efficiency and minimises waste—less than 1 percent construction waste, compared

PAGE 42

with the 30 percent generated by conventional methods.

Because the majority of work is done in advance, our approach also speeds on-site construction. And because our main site is the factory, our transport and logistics costs are lower. We have greater capacity in the factory to store additional materials and supplies, whereas at a conventional construction site, materials like cement and steel are often delivered daily because the site cannot accommodate extra supplies.

All in all, our construction process maximises efficiency— in resources, labour, logistics, and transport.”

Zhang Hu is optimistic however that other contractors will start to follow their lead once they see the benefits of doing so.

“We hope to be a model in countries like China, where the urban population is growing, existing infrastructure is incomplete, and the demand for infrastructure development is significant. But the precondition is that we finish the job and do it well. I must build the best product with the highest efficiency, of the highest quality, at the lowest possible cost. For other builders to follow suit, the production process must be efficient and cost effective, without sacrificing quality.

“If a building is expensive to develop, the market will be limited. If labour costs are too high, or the construction speed is too slow, the market will evaporate. If quality is hard to control or technicians are required to learn many new and advanced technologies, the barriers to entry will be too great.

“Return on investment must also be realized fairly quickly, in two to four years; otherwise, investors will lose patience.”

Zhang Hu explains that the record-breaking proportions of Sky City will not only act as a beacon for their new construction methods, but also for sustainable high-rise design.

“We are constructing the tallest building to promote the concept that urbanisation need not sacrifice land or energy efficiency. This is the real significance of Sky City. When

a building is taller, it naturally uses less land. Also, Sky City is a mixed-use development and will include residential housing; commercial space for business, shopping, and entertainment; a school; a hospital; and two square kilometers of green space covered by 100,000 trees.”

An inter-dependency that Zhang Hu sees extending to local transport systems.

“Residents will have access to everything they need in this self-contained development.

Think of how lovely our cities could be if we all traveled to work and school and ran errands on foot. Such a lifestyle lessens energy consumption and the number of roads, cars, and traffic jams in our city.

“According to our calculations, Sky City could help reduce the number of cars in Changsha by 2,000 and carbon emissions

by 120,000 tons. These figures mean more than the title of world’s tallest building. We are determined that Sky City will have an impact on the people and city of Changsha, on China, and ultimately on the world.”

An impact which Zhang Hu hopes will lead to a revolution of not only the construction process, but also of resource efficiency and the constructionindustry business model and oversight.

“If we do not take action and showcase a different model that challenges conventional construction, the industry will not change. There will be huge obstacles, many of which are beyond my imagination. But my resolve is strong. And I look forward to the day when we can reflect on those obstacles over coffee on the 202nd floor.”

When a building is taller, it naturally uses less land.

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Projects of Oneplanetcrowd take care of a better planet, they are environmentally friendly and have a social and societal impact. Oneplanetcrowd is the largest sustainable crowdfundingplatform of the Netherlands.

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Invest and Enjoy!

www.oneplanetcrowd.nl

PANEL BY PANEL

Robin Whitlock takes a look at what is going on in the UK to encourage ordinary homeowners to ‘retrofit’ their houses for energy efficiency.

First things first, retrofitting is a loose term and so it is more accurate to describe a range of approaches to building renovation under the term ‘retrofit’. At a basic level, retrofitting encompasses a range of measures that can be implemented by householders themselves, but more commonly the term refers to a complete renovation that has to be conducted by skilled contractors.

This is especially true with the current energy crisis, in which household energy bills are rocketing skyward in price. This has focused the nation’s attention on the need to renovate properties with measures that reduce energy loss, thereby making the building more ‘energy efficient’.

At present, the UK housing sector contributes 37 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions largely through inefficient heating and poor insulation. The government PAGE 44

is therefore very keen to refurbish Britain’s existing housing stock in order to meet our obligations under EU climate change legislation.

In turn, this will also help to check rising energy bills, with obvious financial benefits for householders.

Energy efficiency issues also affect non-domestic, commercial buildings, but the main vehicle for government action at the moment is targeted at the domestic household sector, largely through the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme. The aim of this is to encourage households to implement various measures such as fitting new roof or cavity wall insulation, double glazing and renewable energy technologies such as solar thermal panels with the cost being met by a government loan to be repaid through instalments on energy bills.

Other schemes, such as Feed-in Tariffs (FiTS) and the Renewable Heat Incentive, are also available. These smaller schemes are essentially ways in which the householder

can implement smaller-scale retrofits without too much assistance from contractors, such as the fitting of ground or air-source heat pumps, solar PV or solar thermal panels, biomass boilers, smart meters or other forms of microgeneration.

Outside agencies are also increasingly involved in retrofitting, from local authorities conducting a wide ranging programme of fitting solar PV panels, insulation and heat pumps to their social housing stock, to organisations

like the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) who are driving innovation in the search for new and more efficient technologies.

For example, the TSB’s ‘Retrofit for the Future’ programme is aimed at achieving an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from each home.

The approach is to encourage collaboration between housing providers, designers, contractors and researchers in order to stimulate the retrofit market.

The programme is based on six principles it considers

important for a successful retrofit: planning, the building fabric, indoor air quality, services, working on site and engaging residents. These collectively form a ‘whole house’ approach and how they are brought together in a retrofit programme can greatly improve the overall impact of the retrofit, thereby also improving the circumstances of the people who live there.

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BLAST FROM THE PAST

By Abhay Goghari

The Central Library in Vadodara, India, is an ideal example of how some of the main principles of integrated energy efficiency were being implemented by architects in India at the beginning of the last century.

Integrated energy efficiency solutions, an increasingly popular term in contemporary architecture and interior design professions, was in practice in India at least a century ago.

One living example is the Central Library in the city of Vadodara (Baroda) in the state of Gujarat, India. The library was commissioned by the visionary Maratha King Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III of the erstwhile Vadodara state in colonial India. During one of his frequent foreign tours, the King had visited the magnificent Library of Congress in Washington, USA, and was so impressed with it that he decided to commission a similar edifice in his capital city. Thus came into existence the Central Library in 1910, which, with a wealth of over 300,000 books stacked on four floors, is even today one of the largest seats

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of community reading and knowledge sharing in the country.

The smartest energy enhancement feature of this library is its toughened Belgian glass flooring. These 19mm glass slabs are so robust that there is no chipping or cracking even after a century of constant wear and tear. The glass flooring serves a critical energy-saving purpose of the building. As the Librarian, Mr. Kaushik Shah explained, the flooring reflects sunlight from large windows facing each other across the labyrinth of the library floors. This natural light, when bounced by the glass floor, provides comfortable, uniform and sufficient illumination for book browsing over an area of more than 10,500 square feet.

Divided into four floors, Mr. Shah revealed that when the library was commissioned,

there was no electricity in the vicinity, so sunlight was harnessed in this manner to produce abundant natural illumination. Even today, there is no need for artificial lighting until dusk on overcast monsoon days. The large windows also act as air gateways, facilitating ample air inflow throughout the enclosed space. Lush, tall greenery on both sides of the building not only filters but also cools this air before it enters the building, and hence even on days when the ambient temperature is over 400C, one does not require air-conditioning or even fans inside the library. Besides which, the cross ventilation keeps the air fresh, so the enclosure does not emit that pungent ‘library’ smell.

The two-layered ceiling design further aids in reducing the heat factor of the enclosure. The sun-

facing ceiling is covered with interlocking hollow brick-type baked clay structures which reflect and deflect sunrays.

About ten feet below this layer is the sloping false ceiling made of wooden beams. The space between these two layers acts as a heat trap, and effectively stops heat precipitation from the top of the building. The sideways heat penetration is negated by 2 feet thick exterior walls.

Unverified but reliable legend has it that these walls are insulated with Mica, thus providing efficient fire proofing to the library.

In a unique feat of structural engineering, the load bearing structure is suspended, and hence the weight distribution occurs in a reverse, topto-bottom pattern, with massive girders ‘holding out’ a four-storey structure! This technique reduces the need for

intermediate structures such as partition walls, concrete floor slabs, etc., thus making the area lighter in weight and less crammed.

From an environmental perspective, a combination of features of this edifice creates an almost bacteriafree and insect-free ecology in the interiors. The horizontal rows of twin-faced book racks running through four floors are positioned at about 5� distance from the walls. This separation avoids transmission of insects, termites and microbial colonies from the walls to the books. The flooring is entirely of glass, there is minimal masonry, and there are no internal partition walls or floor slabs. In totality, these thoughtful measures have kept the books and its readers germ-free and bacteria-free for over a century!

When the library was commissioned, the designers had ensured self sufficiency in water by providing a sump in the compound for water harvesting.

The Central Library is a brick and mortar legend which is a silent testimony of integrated energy efficiency in architecture. A combination of smart engineering, prudent resource utilization and intelligent use of sunlight has created a case study out of this edifice, which, after a century of existence, has become a role model of sustainable, energy-efficient space design.

The fact that this feat could be achieved even a century ago should be an inspiration to the contemporary fraternity of conscientious architects and interior planners who strive to reduce the carbon excess baggage of the planet.

Author: Abhay Goghari: agoghari@gmail.com With informative inputs from Mr. Kaushik Shah, Librarian PAGE 47

SAFE HANDS?

Abhay Goghori makes a case for the role of architects as Energy Efficiency Ambassadors of not only our existing buildings, but those yet to be born A conscientious architect is to a building design, what a sculptor is to stone. She or he gives the blueprint a purpose to exist as brick and mortar reality. And that purpose, in contemporary context of rapidly accelerating climate change impact, is to create built environments where humans can live and work in a collaborative spirit with the surrounding life forms and ecology.

This outlook necessitates establishing a synergistic relationship between the building, its inhabitants and the surroundings. This trilogy will then expand concentrically to create harmonious human communities coexisting with other diverse micro and macro ecologies. The positive outcomes will not only enable habitants of such green

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buildings to live and work in a better manner, but also create inclusive habitats which will provide a home for one and all on this planet.

The green brigade of architects has realised the dire need to create such inclusive habitats, and towards this end, it has identified energy efficiency as one of the key drivers.

total green house gas emissions originate from built spaces, and can be traced back to the use of fossil fuel. Importantly, they occur during the lifecycle and maintenance stages of the buildings, implying that various forms of energy consumption in the day-to-day use of buildings are the main culprits for these emissions.

In sync with this, Architecture Architecture 2030, a leading 2030 has decided to pursue two not-for-profit organization in primary objectives - to devise the US, is committed to the ways and means of constructing cause of carbon-neutral built built spaces that reduce energy spaces by the year 2030, and consumption actively and or has determined to convert these passively, and to promote robust spaces from major polluting regional models based on agents to solution providers. different climatic, environmental The United Nations Environment and ecological zones, which Program (UNEP), in its policy can withstand climate change document titled Buildings and impacts, preserve natural Climate Change, has estimated resources, and make smart use that almost one third of the of low-cost renewable energies.

Broadly, the above approach sets the tone for creating energy efficient buildings by adopting the ‘problem is the solution’ approach. It is estimated that by 2035, almost 75% of the world’s built spaces will be either new or renovated.

This provides a ‘historic opportunity’, as Architecture 2030 puts it, for architects to proactively engage in planning and constructing energy efficient structures. They can play the role of catalysts and usher the world into a green housing era by actualising certain measures at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

These measures are hinged to: 1) improving energy efficiency of not only the buildings but also of systems, appliances and gadgets used in them; 2) heralding a change in civic outlook towards energy consumption; and 3) reducing and substituting fossil fuel use.

activity in the world. Herein, architects’ advocacy will play a significant role in popularising the long term benefits of green structures at the retail level and convince the end-users that green is the only way to go for the sustainable future of the planet.

Towards the cause of increasing energy efficiency of buildings, the UNEP document advocates adherence to energy efficiency standards set by different countries. Since these standards would apply the most to new and renovated buildings, it would be an apt measure to cover most of the construction

In the domain of installing smart energy systems, appliances and gadgets too, a consortium of stakeholders, including architects, can influence retail buying decisions in the personal, domestic and community categories of systems and products.

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safe hands?

the use of clean energy in buildings.

The spectrum is wide and varied, from airconditioning to white goods, and so are the spin-off benefits.

As for consumer education and awareness, the architects can double up as teachers and mentors. They can help the consumers deconstruct the perception that green housing is costly, by promoting its long term benefits which are not limited to the users, but extend to the entire spectrum of stakeholders.

They can prevail upon the project implementers to select processes and products that run on alternate energy or hybrid energy, and also persuade individual users to choose clean energy or energy efficient options in the household.

Architects are parents of all new and renovated buildings. Along with this parental privilege, comes the responsibility of creating a smart next generation of built spaces that will sustain the people and the planet for longer than presently estimated.

Lastly, architects can become change agents in propagating

“As for consumer education and awareness, the architects can double up as teachers and mentors.�

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at home

BATTEN DOWN THE

HATCHES!

Our very own green super sleuth David Atwood gets to grips with the whole business of energy. What it is exactly, where it comes from, how come we seem to need so much of it these days, ‘it costs how much?’, and whether there is anything we can do about it, you know, on a building-by-building, person-by-person basis.

Did you know that residential and commercial buildings use 35% of world energy consumption and account for more than a third of carbon emissions? This is more than transport and industry, sectors that we more typically associate with “dirty” emissions.

That’s a lot of lights!

We only really have reliable data for the developed world, which in any case represents the lion’s share of use, where buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption, with housing the largest subsector.

Consumption varies between regions due to differences in PAGE 52

climate (both extremes of heat and cold require additional energy to keep us comfortable), income (the more we earn, the more washing machines and air conditioners we use), house sizes (for example an average US house is double the size of the average European one), family unit size and lifestyle and behaviours (as people´s quality of life improves they switch to more efficient fuels and implement efficiency standards and building codes), but in the developed world, it ranges between 20 and 30% of energy use.

When we look around our houses, we´d probably guess that all the modern gadgets and flat screen TVs would be hungry consumers of power,

but acually it is heating and cooling that makes up a massive 50% of their energy use with washing, refrigeration and cooking also taking up another 20%.

Electronics and computers only account for 6% (putting that advice to turn off your mobile phone charger into context!).

Commercial Buildings – which doesn´t just mean retail stores and offices, but also includes schools, government building and hospitals as well – represent 18% of total energy usage in the US and 13% in the EU. As with the residential sector heating and cooling is a major part of consumption (45%)

for commercial buildings, with lighting also having a major impact: you only need to walk through a high street or drive past office blocks to understand this.

Well, I guess we´re all more clued up these days‌ We are, but the global energy usage of the building sector is still expected to grow by 40% in the next 20 years. But

even more significant than this perhaps is the marked difference between developed and developing countries.

The more developed OECD countries, with their aging populations, mature economies, well established consumption patterns and now stricter building codes, will see a not insignificant rise of 15%.

However, the major impact

here will be from the developing world, as economies see strong economic growth; living standards rising and increasing access to energy, leading to greater usage of heating, cooling, lighting and appliances in the home.

The commercial sector also expands retail and office footprints. As non-OECD economies catch up the western world, this growth is

When we look around our houses, we´d probably guess that all the modern gadgets and flat screen TVs would be hungry consumers of power, but acually it is heating and cooling that makes up a massive 50% of their energy use with washing, refrigeration and cooking also taking up another 20%

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at home

expected to lead to a 70% increase in their energy usage in buildings. One thing to note here is that these projections don´t take into account the potential disruption to economic growth that unchecked emissions could bring: quite simply, it seems to me, the planet cannot support such economic growth under a “business as usual” scenario.

Can´t we do something about this?

An IEA study shows that implemented globally, energy efficiency measures could deliver two thirds of the energy related emissions reductions that we need to keep us on the path to prevent unsustainable global warming.

Great! What do we need to do?

It is estimated that two thirds of potential energy savings in buildings can come from increasing efficiencies in the household sector largely around heating and cooling. These measures might include upgrading of heating systems, wall/roof insulation, double glazing and draft proofing in colder climates and the use of efficient air-conditioning, natural ventilation, shading in warmer climates.

But behaviour changes also play a part – delaying putting the heating on in early winter and then turning it down a few degrees makes a significant difference as does keeping the aircon at a higher temperature.In commercial buildings, key gains can be had by installing smart systems that do simple things such as turning heating and cooling systems down when unoccupied; as well as for lighting – not only installing LEDs, but also motion sensors and timers.

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If we consider new building design in both areas, significant savings can be made by using modern materials for glass that allows light in, but blocks heat from the sun, as well as improving natural lighting and ventilation systems through external shading and opening windows and skylights.

Sounds Pricey Not at all! The ease and cheapness with which such measures can be implemented has led to energy efficiency being termed the “First Fuel”, in the sense that it leads to net cost savings over time. With increasing energy prices, saving energy makes even more sense. Study after study has shown positive financial paybacks in short periods of time.

So - if it saves money, it saves the planet, why isn´t everyone doing it?

Well, even though the solution saves money and the decision to invest in it should be a seemingly obvious one, perhaps not surprisingly, a number of problems arise.

While in the developing world there is the opportunity to radically reduce building energy consumption from the beginning of the building´s life due to better material usage and design, in the developing world things are complicated by the maturity of the markets.

We can´t just knock it all down and start again!

The need to retrofit aging housing stock with fragmented ownership means that progress is slow.

Another major problem in both the rented accommodation and commercial property sectors is the thorny issue of “split incentives” which sees landlords being reluctant to invest

David is a renewable energy consultant and entrepreneur based in Barcelona where he came to study an MBA after a previous life working as a tax consultant and never left (well – apart from a lot of travel to South Africa where he has been developing wind and solar projects) in their buildings purely for the benefit of their tenants, and tenants who don’t see the point of investing in their property if those improvements ultimately end up being owned by their landlords.

Then quite often, even when tenants are in a position to do something about their energy usage, the matter quite simply might not be on their radar.

Commercial buildings have high operating costs of which energy is only a percentage.

It could well be that from a business model point of view, the facility manager is far more occupied with making sure the rubbish is collected and the empty units rented out.

Other significant problems include a lack of awareness of the savings that can be had and information about how to achieve them. Even when people have visibility

on this, they often lack access to finance what are usually large ‘up-front’ investments.

It might make sense in excel world for a pensioner to insulate her roof, but it still requires cash in the bank to make it happen.

Somebody do something!

Given the scale of the energy and greenhouse gas savings that are being left on the table, it isn’t surprising that this sector is a focus of action for governments and multilaterals such as the World Bank.

Such as certification systems that give tenants visibility on consumption and encourages them to demand energy efficient premises from landlords.

Indeed, at the end of the day, I think it will be improved public education and demand that will raise awareness and help create the sort of innovative financing schemes we will require. To ultimately lead us to a world full of cheap-to-run, energy efficient homes and workplaces. Which is the point, isn’t it?

Current measures are a mixture of direct action such as mandating efficient design, materials and self-sufficient energy sources through building regulations and the education and training of installers, and more indirect ones that aim to get the market to function.

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my top 10 green cities

MY TOP 10 GREEN CITIES

by Robin Whitlock

An absolute assessment of the top green cities across the globe is very subjective and widely open to personal opinion on many counts, but some of the following cities are undoubtedly front-runners with regards to green living in urban spaces.

10. Reykjavik

One of the most favourable, it seems to me, is Reykjavik in Iceland. Fortunately for them, the citizens of Reykjavik are able to exploit the geothermal energy that rises to the surface beneath them.

However, they have also expanded their commitment to sustainability by aiming for complete independence from fossil fuels by 2050.

9. Portland

Undoubtedly one of the greenest cities in the USA. Over a quarter of its population travels around the city using public transport, cycling or car sharing. The city uses 20 percent more renewable energy than other cities in the US and consequently it saves at least 250,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. It has also completely banned the use of plastic bags and was one of the first US cities to adopt a climate change action plan. The city has around 250 miles of cycle lanes, paths and trails and has legislation in place to restrict expansion into the countryside in order to protect the rural landscape it needs for food production.

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8. Vancouver

Aiming to develop a new cycle path system in order to transform its transport facilities. It also uses solarpowered trash compactors and draws 90 percent of its power from renewable energy. The city council works in harmony with the city residents with regard to waste recycling and environmental management.

7. Zermatt

One of a small number of cities in the world to have banned the car from its streets. The Swiss city’s citizens travel around on bicycles, horse carts and by walking although there are a number of electric vehicles, used particularly by the city emergency services.

6. Freiburg

Being completely flattened by bombing in World War 2 allowed this German city to rebuild itself on sustainable principles after the war. The green hills surrounding the city act as a means of limiting air pollution and many of the residents live in energy saving houses. Around 100 passivhaus buildings are being trialled in the city at the moment and trams form the backbone of the public transport system. It also opposed the building of a nuclear power station nearby and so is a nuclear-free city.

5. Oslo

The city largely replaced its heating oil resources with renewable energy by 2012 and currently all its buses use biofuels with other forms of public transport relying on hydroelectricity.

85 percent of the city’s school children walk, cycle or use public transport and 94 percent of the household waste is recycled.

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my top 10 green cities

4. Amsterdam

The City of Amsterdam is on a mission to become one of the most sustainable cities in the world by 2020 and by the looks of it they are well on their way.

They are the 5th Global Power City in Europe, the most “bicycle friendly” city in Europe, the 3rd Innovative City worldwide, the 5th European Green City and by 2015 all new building projects in Amsterdam will be climate neutral.

3. Copenhagen, Denmark.

It has been reported that a third of the city’s residents use their bikes primarily in getting to work and school, and in getting around the city. By next year the numbers of bike users are expected to reach up to 50% of the total number of local residents. In 2009, this city was host to the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference, proving that the world has been acknowledging its efforts to save the Earth.

2. Dallas, Texas.

One of the first cities to mandatorily implement the Green Building Standards.

All commercial and residential building projects are required to meet the city’s Green Construction Code or to get certified under Green Built Texas, LEED and other sustainable green building codes and standards. And because of the requirements to follow strict city plumbing codes, it is expected that all the succeeding building projects in the city will reduce water usage by up to 20%.

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1. Stockholm.

Stockholm took the title of the European Green Capital back in 2010 for its outstanding commitment to sustainability. Its carbon emissions are impressive, the average for a European city is 10 tons per capita, however Stockholm produces only 3.4 tons. It’s also famous for the fact that over 40% of the city is made up of green spaces.

There are many other cities around the world with equally impressive credentials, but of course it does rather depend on your particular green criteria.

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