1

Peter Luscuere

Beyond Sustainability

Delft University of Technology

Content

• Sustainability 7

• Energy 10

• Water 4

• Top Soil 5

• Materials, biological 6

• Materials, technical 7

• Wrap up and RNE 8

Sustainability, dimensions I

Challenges

Resources

- Energy

- Water

- Materials

- Top Soil

Biodiversity

Health

Effects

Climate

Change Scarcity Fairness

Ecology Economy Equity

Sustainability, dimensions

Values Ecology Economy Equity Re- cources

Biodiversity Health Effects Climate Change

Scarcity Cost /

Benefits PR

Metaphor Social

Responsibility Fairness

Energy SO2, Acid rain NOx, PM 2.5 CO2 Fossil fuels Pay Back

Time ******* Life Cycle Analysis *******

Total Cost of Ownership

******* Life Cycle Costing *******

Hard & Soft Costs and Benefits

'Net Positive'

Energy Positive Buildings

'Supergrid' Coal Powered Electricity

************ Child Labor

*********** Resource Depletion

************* 'Externalising'

Costs *************

Rampant Environmental

Pollution

Solar-, Wind-, Environmental-, Geothermal Energy and Highly Productive Biofuels (Algae)

Water

Contaminated Water

Hormones & Medicines

Rising Sea Level

Fresh Water 'Clean'

Cleaner Discharge as

Intake

Geo-Political Governance

(lack of) Local Cleaning (Reed filters), use of Algae, Nutrition

Regeneration

Materials

Waste *) Hazardous Emissions

Chlorofluorocarbons

Virgin Materials

'Healthy' Actively Cleaning Buildings

'Securing' Resources Non-Toxic, -Carcinogenic or –Mutagenic Substances, From

Down- to Re- and UpCycling

Top Soil

Loss & Degradation

Contamination CH4 -

Emissions Phosphate

'Fertile'

Positive Contribution to

Top Soil Production

Displacing Arable Land by

BioFuels Apply Green Roofs & Walls, Close Cycles, Recovery of Nutrients, Large Scale Eco-Rehabilitation Projects

*) Toxic-, Carcinogenic-, Mutagenic, etc. Environmental Challenges / Solutions / model v11, PG Luscuere, December 2015

2

Efficiency & Effectiveness I

• Efficiency is doing things right

• Effectiveness is doing the right things

Source: Steven Beckers

Is a high boiler efficiency effective? a

Exergy of heat

Ex(Q) = Q * (1 – T0/T) (T0=293 K or 20 °C)

Heat Exergy

(°C) (%)

1.200 80

1.000 77

800 73

600 66

400 57

200 38

100 21

80 17

40 6

30 3

20 0

Energy is conserved

Exergy can be destroyed

Efficiency & Effectiveness II

• We do bad things very efficient

• Wrong things are done perfectly right!

• We’re not good in doing the right things

3

Positive Footprint

• Efficiency is all about reducing costs and

reducing negative effects

• It is the embodiment of a negative footprint

• What if we could generate positive footprints?

• It would be beneficial to Society

Source: Steven Beckers

Source: Douglas Mulhall Source: Douglas Mulhall

Energy, renewable transition

Energy, renewable transition Energy, renewable transition

4

Nuclear Power as a solution? The abundance of the sun

Source: Richard Perez & Marc Perez

Price drop outpacing Moore’s law Price drop outpacing Moore’s law

5

Positive Footprint: Energy

• Produce more renewable energy as

consumed by the building

• Including the embodied energy

Univ. Prof. Dr. -Ing. M.N. Fisch IGS – Institut für Gebäude- und Solartechnik | TU Braunschweig

IG

S

Passiv-

Haus

Plus- Energie

Haus

Primärenergie Errichtung und Betrieb Primärenergie Bau – „Graue Energie“

EnEV -

Standard

Jahre

…über dem Lebenszyklus „Plusenergie“

PV Installed in Germany

2011: 24,8 GW peak cap. ≈ 50 power plants 2015: 40 GW

Used 5-10 % of time!

[Ad van Wijk, 2012]

6

Mobility: Fossil – Electric – Fuel Cell Mobility: Fossil – Electric – Fuel Cell

Mobility: Fossil – Electric – Fuel Cell

[Ad van Wijk, 2012]

Mobility: Fossil – Electric – Fuel Cell

[Ad van Wijk, 2012]

7

The Third Industrial Revolution

Convergence of new Energy Regimes and Communication Technologies

– 1. Steam Engine and Steam Powered Printing

– 2. Combustion Engine and Electrical Communication

– 3. Renewable Energies and Internet: Intergrid

Five Pillars

– Renewable energy

– Buildings as energy sources

– Hydrogen and other energy storages

– Power grids to Intergrid by internet technology

– Electric and fuel cell vehicles

[Jeremy Rifkin, 2008]

Water

Source: USGS

Water in the world

2,5 % Fresh

1,3 % at Surface

26,9 % non Frozen

Available:

87 ppm ! A

Scarce

Commodity

Water

Source: USGS

Water in the world

2,5 % Fresh

1,3 % at Surface

26,9 % non Frozen

Available:

87 ppm !

How many cups of water needed?

1,100 !! www.waterfootprint.org

A

Scarce

Commodity

Water

Source: USGS

Water in the world

2,5 % Fresh

1,3 % at Surface

26,9 % non Frozen

Available:

87 ppm !

How many cups of water needed?

1,100 !! www.waterfootprint.org

A

Scarce

Commodity

8

Water

Source: USGS

Water in the world

2,5 % Fresh

1,3 % at Surface

26,9 % non Frozen

Available:

87 ppm !

How many cups of water needed?

1,100 !! www.waterfootprint.org

A

Scarce

Commodity

Positive Footprint: Water

• Produce locally a better water quality

out as in

Effective Hospital Sewage Treatment

ROI ≈ 5-10 y

Natural energy:

Solar, wind or biomass,

or any low temperature

heat

Feed water:

Seawater, brackish or any

water source

Pure water:

from less then

1µS/cm to drinking

water quality

Vacuum Membrane Destillation

Low pressure

Low temperature

Multi stage-

Membrane distillation

9

TOP SOIL

50 % is lost in the last 150 y

(WWF)

TOP SOIL

50 % is lost in the last 150 y

(WWF)

Desertification

TOP SOIL

50 % is lost in the last 150 y

(WWF)

Desertification

Deforestation

TOP SOIL

50 % is lost in the last 150 y

(WWF)

Desertification

Deforestation Blowing in the wind

10

TOP SOIL

50 % is lost in the last 150 y

(WWF)

Desertification

Deforestation Blowing in the wind Blowing in the wind

Positive Footprint: Topsoil

• Have more Topsoil produced over the

lifetime of the building as is destroyed by

the building / project (Worldscale)

• Improve Top Soil quality, based on local

threats: erosion, compaction and organic

matter content (Dutch scale)

FORD ROUGE CENTER storm water strategies

Source: EPEA

FORD ROUGE CENTER storm water strategies

Source: EPEA

Original plan: 50 M$

Realization: 15 M$

11

Rehabilitation Eco-systems

John D. Liu in China

Biological Materials

Are renewable by Definition

They Grow !

But often not as fast as we consume !

42

Biological Materials

Are renewable by Definition

They Grow !

But often not as fast as we consume !

43

Biological Materials

Are renewable by Definition

They Grow !

But often not as fast as we consume !

44

Source: Australian Government, Department of Agriculture

12

Biological Materials

Are renewable by Definition

They Grow !

But often not as fast as we consume !

45

Source: Australian Government, Department of Agriculture

Biological Materials

Are renewable by Definition

They Grow !

But often not as fast as we consume !

46

Source: Australian Government, Department of Agriculture

• See Waste as Resource

Positive Footprint: Biological Materials Waste as a Recource, eg CO2

• CO2 as a resource, food:

– Urea, Bevarages, Decaffeinate, Greenhouses

• CO2 as a resource, industry:

– Polycarbonates, CO2 to CH4 ,

Thermodynamic cycles,

Biofuel / Biomass

13

Yield from biofuel feedstock

Source: National Renewable Energy Lab

Yield from biofuel feedstock

Source: National Renewable Energy Lab

Yield from biofuel feedstock

Source: National Renewable Energy Lab

Yield from biofuel feedstock

Source: National Renewable Energy Lab

14

Micro-algae

Micro-algae

Super Critical CO2

Liquid-like density

Great for turbines

Gas-like viscosity and

surface tension

Ability for “fine-tuning”

dissolving properties

ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids

Fragrances

Proteins

Technical Materials, eg Copper

Paul Mobbs, University of London

15

Copper, one doubling left

Paul Mobbs, University of London

Technical Materials

Are being depleted!

Zn

Technical Materials

Are being depleted!

Zn

Technical Materials

Are being depleted!

Zn

16

Technical Materials

Are being depleted!

PG Luscuere after AM Diederen

Zn

Waste as Resource ?

• What do we do with our waste?

– Put it in landfills ?

– Burn it ?

• and call that sustainable energy ?

Waste as Resource ?

• What do we do with our waste?

– Put it in landfills ?

– Burn it ?

• and call that sustainable energy ?

– From Down- to Re- or Up cycling !

• Waste as Resource, what is the value?

What is the value of our waste?

• Gold:

– 1 kg gold: ≈ 30 k€

• 1 kg of gold comes from:

– 200 - 1,000 ton ore from gold mines

– ≈ 3,3 ton of used mobile phones!

– + 471 kg Cu, 10 kg Ag, 0,4 kg Pd, 10 g of Pt

• Urban mining / Waste as Resource

• ‘Ex Waste’

Source: USGS

17

The limits to growth

On the Cusp of Global Collapse?

Updated Comparison of The Limits to Growth with Historical Data, Graham M.Turner

Paul Mobbs, University of London

Positive Footprint: Technical Materials

• Necessity to re- and upcycle

• Need for disassembly

– Materials

– Substances

• Need for redesign

– Products

Positive Footprint: Technical Materials

• Necessity to re- and upcycle

• Need for disassembly

– Materials

– Substances

• Need for redesign

– Products

– Processes

Beyond Sustainability

• Energy

– Sun is abundent, fossils are the problem

• Water

– Clean&sweet water is scarce, energy can help

• Top Soil

– Lost Topsoil can be formed, but is it enough?

– Solutions global and local

18

Beyond Sustainability

• Materials

– Biological materials grow, but often not as fast

as we consume

– Technical materials are critical

• Recycling and upcycling are essential

• Need for separation/severability materials and

substances

• Redesign products and processes

Research

1. Energy, materials and use of space

2. Water, top soil and food production

3. Circular Economy

4. Society

• Building a community between various

societies and parties in the Built

Environment

Metropole region

Rotterdam Den Haag Roadmap Next Economy

19

OCAP-pipeline; CO2 from industry and power

delivers 400 kton/y CO2 fertilizer to 580

greenhouses

BMC Moerdijk; From Chicken Manure to power and

regaining phosphate from ashes as fertilizers

AEB Amsterdam; Growing proteins from residuals

in sewage treatment ‘Power to Protein’

Peter Luscuere

Beyond Sustainability

Building a Community

Delft University of Technology