Off-grid: community energy and the pursuit of self-sufficiency in British Columbia's remote and First Nations communities

Remote or off-grid communities in Canada primarily rely on diesel generators for the provision of their electricity. Often surrounded by potential renewable resources, they are characterised as the low-hanging fruit of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. While much is said about the promises of community energy projects, as well as technologies and policy mechanisms for addressing the needs of these communities, little attention has been paid to what communities, themselves, might want for their energy projects and what the implications of those desires might be for both technology development and community energy policies. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the on-going energy pursuits of a number of remote First Nations communities in British Columbia. It identifies a desire for community self-sufficiency as a primary motivation for engaging with energy projects on the part of the communities and discusses the various meanings and implications of self-sufficiency in the context of community energy projects. These meanings and implications primarily include the two dimensions of material self-sufficiency and political self-determination, the latter of which suggests a view of community energy projects as processes of decolonisation among First Nation communities in British Columbia. It then suggests that the pursuit of this goal is somewhat incongruent with the approach that government and industry have taken in addressing community energy, especially the way in which remote communities are viewed as the low-hanging fruit of various sustainability projects.     

Modeling urban solar energy with high spatiotemporal resolution: A case study in Toronto,Canada

This research presents a method to determine the maximum potential for the capturing of solar radiation on the rooftop of buildings in an urban environment. This involves the modeling of solar energy potential and comparison to historical building energy demand profiles through the use of 3-D solar simulation software tools and geographic information systems (GIS). The objective is to accurately identify the amount of surface area that is suitable for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and to estimate the hourly PV electricity generation potential of existing building rooftops in an urban environment. This study demonstrates a viable approach for modeling urban solar energy and offers valuable information for electricity distributors, policy makers, and urban energy planners to facilitate the substantial design of a green built environment. The developed methodology is comprised of three main sections: (1) determination of suitable rooftop area, (2) determination of the amount of incident solar radiation available per rooftop, and (3) estimation of hourly solar PV electricity generation potential. A case study was performed using this method for Ryerson University, located in Toronto, Canada. It was found that solar PV could supply up to 19% of the study area’s electricity demands during peak consumption hours. The potential benefits of solar PV was also estimated based upon hourly greenhouse gas emission intensity factors as well as Time-of-Use (TOU) savings through the Ontario Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program, which allows for better representation of the positive impacts of solar technologies.     

Automated energy management in distributed electricity systems: An EEPOS approach

The increasing capacity of distributed electricity generation brings new challenges in maintaining a high security and quality of electricity supply. New techniques are required for grid support and power balance. The highest potential for these techniques is to be found on the part of the electricity distribution grid.

This article addresses this potential and presents the EEPOS project’s approach to the automated management of flexible electrical loads in neighborhoods. The management goals are (i) maximum utilization of distributed generation in the local grid, (ii) peak load shaving/congestion management, and (iii) reduction of electricity distribution losses. Contribution to the power balance is considered by applying two-tariff pricing for electricity.

The presented approach to energy management is tested in a hypothetical sensitivity analysis of a distribution feeder with 10 households and 10 photovoltaic (PV) plants with an average daily consumption of electricity of 4.54 kWh per household and a peak PV panel output of 0.38 kW per plant. Energy management shows efficient performance at relatively low capacities of flexible load. At a flexible load capacity of 2.5% (of the average daily electricity consumption), PV generation surplus is compensated by 34–100% depending on solar irradiance. Peak load is reduced by 30% on average. The article also presents the load shifting effect on electricity distribution losses and electricity costs for the grid user.     

Application of treated wastewater and digested sewage sludge to obtain biodiesel from Helianthus annuus L. seeds oil

Waste from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) for Helianthus annuus L. production may be a viable solution to obtain biodiesel. This study achieved two objectives: assess the agronomical viability of waste (wastewater and sludge) from the Alcázar de San Juan WWTP in central Spain for H. annuus L. production; use H. annuus L. seeds grown in this way to obtain biodiesel. Five study plots, each measuring 6 m × 6 m (36 m²), were set up on the agricultural land near the Alcázar de San Juan WWTP. Five fertilizer treatment types were considered: drinking water, as the control; treated wastewater; 10 t ha^?1 of air-dried sewage sludge; 20 t ha^?1 of air-dried sewage sludge; 0.6 t ha^?1 of commercial inorganic fertilizer. Soil, irrigation water, sewage sludge, crop development and fatty acid composition in achenes oil were monitored. The 20 t ha^–1 dose of sewage sludge proved effective to grow H. annuus L. with similar results to those grown with a commercial fertilizer. However, precautions should be taken when irrigating with wastewater because of high salinity and nutrient deficiency. Sunflower oil was composed mostly of linoleic and oleic acid. The remaining fatty acids were linolenic, estearic, nervonic, palmitoleic, and palmitic.     

河南省秸秆能源化利用研究

在日益严峻的能源短缺和环境污染的双重压力下,进行秸秆能源化的开发和利用对于河南新型城镇化建设具有重大战略意义.河南秸秆资源丰富,但秸秆能源化利用尚处于初级阶段,利用率非常低,只有健全秸秆收储体系,改进各种秸秆能源化利用方式的技术性能,加强应用和推广,提升秸秆能源化利用的经济效益,加大对秸秆能源化利用相关主体的引导和扶持,提供政策和资金支持,才能为河南秸秆能源化发展提供良好的环境.     

Production costs and operative margins in electric energy generation from biogas. Full-scale case studies in Italy

The purpose of this study was to observe the economic sustainability of three different biogas full scale plants, fed with different organic matrices: energy crops (EC), manure, agro-industrial (Plants B and C) and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) (Plant A). The plants were observed for one year and total annual biomass feeding, biomass composition and biomass cost (€ Mg^?1), initial investment cost and plant electric power production were registered. The unit costs of biogas and electric energy (€ Sm^?3_biogas, € kW h^?1_EE) were differently distributed, depending on the type of feed and plant. Plant A showed high management/maintenance cost for OFMSW treatment (0.155 € Sm^?3_biogas, 45% of total cost), Plant B suffered high cost for EC supply (0.130 € Sm^?3_biogas, 49% of total cost) and Plant C showed higher impact on the total costs because of the depreciation charge (0.146 € Sm^?3_biogas, 41% of total costs). The breakeven point for the tariff of electric energy, calculated for the different cases, resulted in the range 120–170 € MW h^?1_EE, depending on fed materials and plant scale. EC had great impact on biomass supply costs and should be reduced, in favor of organic waste and residues; plant scale still heavily influences the production costs. The EU States should drive incentives in dependence of these factors, to further develop this still promising sector.     

Urban sustainable energy development: A case study of the city of Philadelphia

Cities throughout the world are key sites for energy sustainability activities. However, analysis of such efforts to date has focused on a sub-set of atypical cities: early adopters and/or world cities. This article undertakes a case-study analysis for an ordinary city, Philadelphia, PA in order to assess the extent to which prior research provides adequate policy explanation for ordinary cities and to gain empirical insight on two under-researched aspects: policy actors, and the policy-making and implementation sites (action sites) for urban energy sustainability. Overall, the types of policy drivers, modes of governance, and enabling factors and barriers in the Philadelphia case fit with prior studies. Focusing on actors and action sites, however, offers insight on the city’s relative policy-making approach based on “non-controversy”, the key role of third-sector actors in both policy-making and implementation, and the diversification of action sites through external-level policy-making operationalised locally nevertheless at the expense of reduced control by urban actors. These findings lead to recommendations for urban energy sustainability research and practice.     

我国开发太阳能的紧迫性与可行性对策研究

太阳能是一种具有无限性、无偿性、清洁性特征的自然能源,开发太阳能对缓解我国资源短缺、保护生态环境、促进生产力的可持续发展具有重要战略意义.分析了我国开发太阳能的紧迫性和可行性,探讨了我国太阳能开发的制约因素,提出了建设性的对策.     

电力行业的节能减排与低碳经济

中国能源结构以煤为主,火电行业是碳排放量的主体,面对低碳经济的发展模式,电力行业势必将成为CO2减排的主力军。目前,火电行业通过"上大压小"政策,实现结构减排;通过提高电力工业的烟气脱硫,实现工程减排;通过扩大清洁能源的比例,减少煤炭消耗总量,实现总量减排。使用清洁能源是实现碳减排的有效途径。指出了电力行业"节能减排"的现状和措施,分析了电力行业在"低碳经济"中所面临的新形势,并对低碳电力技术的研究与运用进行了展望,阐述了通过利用清洁能源促进碳减排的迫切性和必要性。     

新型烟囱的节能效果与分析

介绍了一座80m烟囱由径向进气方式改为弧形切向进气的工程案例。列出了烟囱改造前后引风机运行一日的能耗数据，对比分析得出采用弧形烟道具有一定的节能效果，探讨了采用弧形烟道烟囱降低能耗的基本原因。