Between the Poles

SPAR 2013: Integrated geospatial, LiDAR and design datasets for large infrastructure construction projects

Kevin Gilson, of the Project Visualization group at Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), gave an overview of how PB manages 3D+ datasets in support of design and construction for large infrastructure projects such as the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the I-95 New Haven Harbour Crossing /Q-Bridge reconstrcution, and the Alaskan Way viaduct project.  He showed how the project visualization team leverages geospatial data, LiDAR data, design data and construction planning data together in large integrated datasets that concurrently support visualization, stakeholder communication, design, construction planning and site logistics.

PB has more than 30 staff dedicated to project visualization.  That included folks who do 3D modeling, design visualization, web design, and programming.  3D technologies include building information modeling (BIM), 3D design, virtual desgin and construction (VDC) and laser scanning (LiDAR).

3D modeling for design and construction

Some of the reasons that designers and construction firms are adopting 3D technology are the serious limitations of 2D sheet sets, still legally required fro s-builting but very unreliable, the design efficiencies of 3D parametric models, and the limitations of siloed project data.  PB has adopted the concept of project information models or PIMs, that integrate information about all aspects of the design and build process and that potentially can flow data through for operations and maintenance.

3D modeling and model-based design are used by PB for design validation, clash detection, and parameteric modeling, civil integration management, 4D modeling (time+3D), 5D (cost+time+3D), and design visualization.  Model-based design involves integrating CAD, GIS, survey, analytics, BIM and associated databases, and 3D visualization typically in a vitual gaming environment.

Construction firms in particular see tremendous advantages in 4D models that integrate design and gespatial data and allow the construction team to virtually build the project so that they can check staging and construction sequencing and site logistics virtually.  5D and higher dimensions allow them to add additional metrics including cost, resources, materials, and equipment.

The benefits that PB realize by this integrated approach based on 3D+ dataest include finding and fixing conflicts between different design groups (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, structural, and so on) during the design phase rather than during construction when clashes are much more expensive to fix.  Another benefit is being able to quantify things using analytics, so  that decisions are data-driven rather than subjective.

A major benefit is less re-work is required reducing the risk of cost and schedule overruns.  A big advantage is improved communication and coordination between all project stakeholders, and especially with non-technical decision makers.  Being able to see photorealistic visualizations of what the project is going to look like makes a huge difference in communicating with politicians and the public.  PB uses gaming technology making it possible to experience a project before a shovel has gone into the ground.  For example, on highway projects, PB's visualization makes it possible to drive the highway and even the detours required during construction in a virtual environment so that the public can experience the changes and be prepared for them before they actually happen.

Another important benefit that Kevin sees from a project approach that includes visualization is that "sexy deliverables" get peoples attention, within the project team as well as with external stakeholders.  Several other speakers at SPAR 2013 also emphasized the importance of the "sexiness" factor.

Laser scanning in construction

Kevin described a number of applications of laser scanning (LiDAR) as part of the 3D constrcution process.  A major application of LiDAR is contruction monitoring, capturing construction progress as well as being able to automate the process of checking for divergence from design when contractors for a variety of reasons don't build what is designed. 

Another important Laser scanning application is accurate and reliable as-builts.  At SPAR 2013, speaker after speaker in different sectors of the construction industry reiterated that current 2D as-builts, still legally required, are unreliable and rarely looked at by anyone post-construction.  Marco Vidali Castillo at ICA which is responsible for the Autopista Urbana Sur project in Mexico City  gave an example of how trying to use 2D as-builts can lead to problems necessitating major re-engineering.  LiDAR scans of a completed project can provide the reliability that 2D as-built sheet sets lack.  On the Autopista Urbana Sur project Marco says that ICA intends to deliver LiDAR scans as well as the legally required 2D as-built sheet sets.

3D modeling and sustainability

There are also benefits from the perspective of sustainability to PBs project approach. Collaboration typically has relied on the exchange of paper documents which on a large project can involve many thousands of paper documents.  Collaborating in a virtual environment can dramatically reduce paper flow while improving the quality of communication.  It can also improve traffic flow and resource management during construction, thereby reducing emissions. A life-cycle approach to data management during design and construction, with data being reused for operations and maintenenace can reduce rework resulting in significant efficiencies.  

Selecting software tools

The PB project visualization team takes a best of breed approach in selecting software for 3D modeling and visualization. An important criterion in selecting tools is interoperability between the different technologies.  Currently the software stack that PB relies on includes

Geospatial

• ESRI
• Global Mapper
• Infraworks (Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler)

CADD

• Microstation InRoads
• AutoCAD/Civil 3D
• Solidworks

Visualization

• 3ds Max
• Sketchup
• Realtime - UDK, Unity

Collaboration/4D

• Navisworks

Water conservation in industry: Why does using less water often cost more ?

At the Canadian Water Network conference we heard a fascinating presentation by Helmi Ansari, Director, Sustainability and Organizational Capability, PepsiCo Foods on how PepsiCo has reduced its water (and energy and waste) footprint and some of the business challenges specific to the water industry they have encountered.

PepsiCo is known internationally for its water conservation efforts.  Last year it won the Stockholm Industry Water Award for its 20 percent improvement in global water efficiency since 2006.

PepsiCo Foods Canada has 8 plants and 16 distribution centres in Canada and about 7000 employees.  PepsiCo's sustainability mantra is "leave no trace".  The long term vision is to run its business so as to leave no trace on the planet.  The vision is very aspirational, but I was quite surprised by how much real progress has been made. 

It started started in the early 90's when Pepsico created "green teams" in their plants.  The teams were responsible for environmental compliance. Then in the late 90s resource conservation teams were added.  Their goals were to reduce use of natural gas, electricity and water by 30 %, 25 % and 50 %, respectively, for every unit of food that they made.  Then in 2008 an initiative aiming at "net zero" plants  was started.  

Their interim commitments are aggressive

• Improve water efficiency by 75 %,
• Reduce manufacturing fuel usage by half
• Reduce fleet fuel usage by half
• No manufacturing plant and distribution centre waste going to landfills
• Lead in sustainable packaging innovation

The latest data shows that water efficiency has improved by  46 %.   Over 99% of the waste generated in PepsiCo Foods plants and distribution centres does not go to landfills.  According to Helmi this is the highest in the world for this type of industry and PepsiCo Canada was the first Pepsico subsidiary to achieve this objective. Fuel usage is down by a quarter, and fleet fuel usage is down by a quarter as well.  They have implemented heat recovery in every one of their plants.  According to Helmi they have the largest all-electric fleet in the world, and have just  completed the one millionth mile driven in all electric vehicles.

Reusing waste heat

Helmi gave an an example of energy saving through repurposing waste heat.  PepsiCo makes SunChips at their plant in Cambridge, Ontario.  They had a large boiler burning natural gas to produce steam to cook the chips.  After about a three year research and engineering effort, they were able to turn the boiler off because they are now cooking potatoes using waste heat from another process. SunChips for all of Canada are now being  cooked using waste heat that used to go up the stack into the atmosphere.

Net zero plant

Another impressive example is an entire plant that can run virtually off the water and electricity grid.  The Frito-Lay plant in Casa Grande, Arizona produces over a 100 million pounds of food a year.  In 2010 the plant received LEED Gold certification, apparently the first for a renovated food production plant.  Last year the whole plant was declared "near net zero" meaning it runs 90-100% off the grid,  90-100% of the water is recycled and over 99 % of its waste does not go to a landfill.  It has 36 acres of solar cells in an adjacent field; its own membrane bio-reactor  waste water treatment plant, with the treated water being reused in the plant, and a large boiler that burns landscape waste from a 75-mile radius, providing all of the plant's steam.  According to Helmi it is the only large scale food plant with this level of  sustainability.

Net zero using "potato water"

To make 4000 or 5000 pounds of potato chips per hour used to require about 120 gallons of water per minute.    A few years ago recycling technology was introduced which reduced water consumption to 60 gallons per minute.   After investing in more technology this was further reduced to  25 gallons per minute.  They are now looking at running the plant with "potato water", using the water in potatoes (potatoes are 80% water) much of which now goes up the stack as steam during the cooking process.  They calculate that if they can run their large chip plants entirely on potato water that would save a billion liters of water per year.

From a water conservation perspective, these are impressive achievements.  And you might expect that there were financial benefits that contributed to motivating PepsiCo to improve water efficiency, but surprisingly this is often not the case.

Business benefits ?

A major business benefit of a plant that can run on little or no water, is that it can be located in arid parts of the world, like Phoenix, Arizona, which is near where the Casa Grande plant is located.  Most of us would expect that another important business benefit of using less water is that it woud reduce costs.  The reality is quite different because of the way the water industry works.

At one of their plants in a small town where PepsiCo was the only major industry they were able to reduce water consumption by 40%, but they found that next year their water bill went up 40 %.  When they talked to the water utility, they were told that the utility worked on a fixed cost basis, and since the Pepsico plant was the only major industrial water consumer, rates had to be increased otherwise the water utility wouldn't be able to meet its obligations to its suppliers.

There is another problem.  When a plant uses a lot of water the effluent is very dilute, but as less water is used the effluent becomes more concentrated.   For example, reducing water consumption from 120 gallons/minute to 25 gallons/minute means the plant's effluent becomes roughly five times more concentrated.  At one of their plants that managed to reduce water usage by 55-60%, they are now having to pay much more for waste water treatment and their total water-related costs have actually increased.

Pepsico is at a point where as they continue to be more water efficient in North America, they're not seeing a financial benefit.   Their most water efficient plants are in Europe, North, Africa, and Australia where the pricing structure is very different and they are rewarded for conservng water. 

Unsustainable water service delivery model

Don Lowry, past President and CEO of EPCOR Utilities, gave his perspective on what is a pervasive North American water problem, a water service delivery model that is not sustainable.  North American industries that use water are caught in yesterday's paradigm of regulation which does not recognize the total cost of water, from acquisition through to treatment and re-injection.  Because water is managed on a fragmented basis, top water efficiency performers like PepsiCo are being penalized.   PepsiCo is being charged at the top rate because the pricing structure was designed with a view to punish people who have high concentrations.  According to Don breweries are in a similar situation.  As they have become more efficient, their effluent has become more concentrated and as a result their water-related costs have gone up, to the point where many of them are looking at how they can convert their effluent into something else so they can avoid high waste water treatment charges.

Water as a free commodity

According to Don the fundamental problem is that water is treated as a free commodity.  The water pricing model means that you are not being charged based on the volume of the commodity you consume, but on the cost of processing it to convert it to a potable state. If it was priced as other commodities are, such as natural gas or oil, conservation would be very financially rewarding.

UN geospatial initiative focuses on sustainable development

At the Geospatial World Forum (GWF) in Amsterdam last year, Paul Cheung of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) voiced the concern about their role that many national mapping agencies and other government organizations with responsibility for geospatial information have had since the advent of Google Map/Earth, private data companies like Digital Globe, Geoeye, TeleAtlas and Navteq, crowd-sourced geospatial data like OpenStreetMap, and open data policies adopted by many governments around the world.

The objective of the UN GGIM initiative is to help government fit into the new world of Google Map/Earth and the rest of the private geospatial industry.  Based on the assumption that neither the private sector nor government can do it all, the GGIM has a process in place to define the role of government in managing national geospatial information.  It has asked geospatial practitioners around the world to provide guidance on where they see the geospatial industry headed and their views on the roles of government and the private sector.

The Second High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) was convened in Doha, Qatar in February, 2013 by the Secretariat of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), together with the Government of Qatar.

The Forum bought together 350 participants from 60 Member States, international organizations, the private sector, and UN entities.  The discussions centered on building national geospatial information systems, an examination of the technological trends impacting the future of geospatial information management, the challenges experienced and the solutions used to develop geospatial reference data sets, the need to use geospatial information to address sustainable development issues, and UN-GGIM's leadership role in ensuring global geodetic frameworks.

The final declaration of the Forum, the Doha Declaration Advancing Global Geospatial Information Management listed important focus areas for GGIM activities.

• a sustained operational global geodetic reference frame and infrastructure to support the increasing demand for positioning and monitoring applications
• the greater use of geospatial information in sustainable development by supporting the the Global Map for Sustainable Development (GM4SD) with an initial focus on managing risks of natural disasters to urban populations
• an agreed set of authoritative core global reference datasets to support global sustainable development activities
• a stable, credible, and reliable national geospatial information infrastructure in each country built on internationally recognized standards
• more training programs related to geospatial information management at all levels
• regional collaboration in the promotion and development of geospatial information management

Geodesign Summit: A new innovative planning protocol that incentivizes conservation

Al Reynolds presented a new and innovative schme for Rural Land Stewardship (RLS) that challenges the traditional paradigms of regulation (e.g. zoning) or land acquisition (e.g. Nature Conservancy) by incentivizing the protection of the habitat without public funding or regulation.  Rural land stewardship is a private/public process based on scientific data and market-driven incentivization.

The area where this has been applied is in southwest Florida on the edge of the western Everglades.  It is 300 sq miles of primarily agricultural land and is home to some of the few remaining Florida panthers as well as other endangered species.

The Florida 2060 project aimed at painting a picture of what Florida is expected to look like in 2060 given current trends.  This particular part of Florida was projected to be overrun by urban sprawl - almost 70% of the study area is projected to have been developed by 2060.

• 135 000 acres - Developed lands
• 16 000 acres - Public land
• 44 000 acres - Agricultural/natural lands

Rural Land Stewardship

The currency in this program is a stewardship credit.  It's calculated using a multi-layered suitability analysis.  It is based on a Natural resource index system which gives a higher score for land that is ecologically good for endangered species.

In the past land that hosted endangered species was not considered to be finacially as valuable as much as land that did not host endangered species, because of the risk of regualtion. The Rural Land Stewardship program reverses this.  Land is more valuable if it hosts or provides good habitat for endangered species.  Endangered species become an asset instead of a liability.

Al described an example, the new town of Ave Maria, home to 5 000 people.  The town was deveeloped under the Rural Land Stewardship program and is 1/10 the size that a town with a similar population would have had if developed under a tradtional development paradigm.  

• 45 000 acres - SRA development
• 16 000 acres - Public land
• 40 000 acres - Agriculture preservation
• 94 000 acres - Natural resource conservation

In additon to reducing urban sprawl the RLS program protected several panther corridors.  And what absolutely distinguishes the development of Ave Maria is that the process managed to keep both developers and environmentalists happy.

One of the key enablers is the availability of geospatial data.  In fact Al said that there was a proverbial firehose of data and the real problem was data management and the analytics required to make sense of the data and provide actionable information. 

Transparency for all stakeholders into the process of analyzing the data and computing the indexes which determine the value of land (in stwewardship credits) is essential in developing trust among all stakeholders.

Based on his experience in this bit of Florida Al argued that traditional zoning doesn't make sense in the modern world.  We need to replace regulatory regimes like zoning with processes like the Rural Land Stewardship program that are based on scientific data.

Geodesign Summit: Changing how we manage our built environment

David Bartlett, who leads IBM's Smarter Planet initiative, believes there is an " immediate requirement to significantly and urgently change the way our built environment is managed."  And he is very sanquine about the capacity of our evolving technology to do this.  The Internet of Things is approaching a trillion objects.   Moore's law conrtinues to operate so we have incredible processing power.  The cloud is enablng us to make this processing power available to just about anybody with any type of device any where. Big data technology is enablng analytics in real-time.  We are rapidly approaching havng enough computing capacity to capture digitally, visualize and model our entire built environment.  IBM's Smarter Planet initiative is aimed at helping to make this happen.  According to David 42% of the world's energy goes to buildings so improving the efficiency of buildings is a primary focus of the Smarter Planet intiiative.

In October 2009 President Obama signed a directive calling for a more sustainable operations  strategy across the federal government. Commercial buildings use roughly 40 percent of the energy in the United States and the federal government owns approximately 182 million square feet of office space nationwide.  The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has a goal of reducing energy usage across federal buildings at least 30 % by 2015.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
The GSA has contracted IBM to create a cloud-based centralized system that will monitor building performance and feed information into a central building management dashboard. It is expected that better analytics will help the government automate building controls to help property managers take more active control over building performance.

The initial focus during the first year of the smart building initiative will be 50 buildings (including the White House) that have already been identified as energy inefficient. It is estimated that the project could save approximately $15 million in operational costs annually.

Where do we start ?

A frequent question that David often gets after an organization buys into the smarter planet vision is where do we start.  IBM has developed a capability maturity model that offers a roadmap for organizations to use to assess their current situation to determine at what stage they are and then provides guidance to what they should prioritize to get to the next stage.

Motivating change

One of the most important tools in motivating change is transparency.  The internet faciliates transparency.  President Obama's administration has made government transparency using the internet a top priority.  David has found that transparency and gamification is extremely powerful in motivating change and in overcoming institutionalized inefficiencies ("but we have always done it this way").

Crowdsourcing green at the Los Angeles Unified School District

IBM has found that educational institutions and defense departments are the most receptive to the Smarter Planet vision. 

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is an interesting example.  LAUSD, which is the second largest school district in the country, decided it wanted to be the nation's greenest school district..  LAUSD has 700,000 students and more than 14,000 buildings spread out over 710 square miles.  But they had no budget for doing the green initative.  What they did have was an IBM asset management system and a lot of students with mobile phones.

Students, teachers and staff became part of the solution.  A mobile app developed by an IBM partenr was installed on students and others' mobile phones that made them all green monitors and reporters identifying maintenance issues such as leaky faucets and broken air conditioning units by sending text messages and photos through their mobile phones. The mobile app sends the photos and texts for analysis to the server where a GIS shows staff where the problem is located and records the problem in the asset management system.  Gamification was used to encourage compeitition, for example, for who is the best green reporter.  Within the first eight months of implementing the program LAUSD responded to more than 750 maintenance requests. Things are getting fixed and students and others feel like active participants in the program to make the schools greener. 

IBM plans to announce the next three school districts to participate in the Smarter Planet program.

Geodesign Summit: Creating 3D BIM models for the entire LA community college system

Michael Rendler is the Director of e7 Architectural Studio which is a non-profit organization working with the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).  Its goals are to assist in designing environmentally sound and sustainable additions to current and future campuses.  Michael gave a fascinating overview of how 3D models for all the buildings on LACCD's mulitple campuses were developed.

The LACCD is the largest community college district in the United States and serves more than 250,000 students annually at nine colleges, spread throughout 36 cities in the greater Los Angeles area.  About eight years ago it was decided to initiate a project ro create 3D BIM models of all the buildings on the LACCD  campuses.  One of the most important motivations for creating these models was that BIM models would faciliate energy performance analyses of LACCD buildings. 

There are several very interesting and unique aspects to the development of these models.  First of all the models were created entirely by LACCD students.  Existing structures were laser scanned and BM models were developed from the point clouds. 

Secondly, to ensure a uniform representation of all the buildings across all of the campuses, it was decided to adopt standards wherever possible.  The standards used include IFC, SDSFEI, OMNIClass, and COBIE.

Thirdly, the BIM models were stored in a geospatial database (Oracle Spatial) using real world coordinates.  Real world coordinates enabled the models to be easily integrated with geospatial data from a variety of sources.

The models could then be used for a variety of purposes including visualization, energy performance modeling, predictive maintenance,  and safety and security simulations.

For the safety and security simulation the models were brought into a gaming environment to allow  gamification of safety procedures.

Analytical tools help China's municipalities reduce greenhouse gas emissions

According to the OECD, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this share is projected to reach 60% by 2030.  Cities consume between 60 and 80% of energy production worldwide and account for an equivalent share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.   In OECD cities GHG emissions are increasingly driven less by industrial activities and more by the energy services required for buildings (lighting, heating and cooling, electronics use) and transportation.  In China in contrast, industry still plays a major role in Chinese cities’ GHG emissions.

China's carbon intensity reduction goals

In 2009, China announced that it will cut its carbon intensity - greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) - by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.   China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan set a goal to reduce the country’s carbon intensity by 17 % by 2015.   Municipalities and provinces have been assigned a significant level of responsibility for achieving portions of this target.

China’s national carbon intensity target is being assigned to provinces and then to cities.  Already in November 2009, several cities began to develop low carbon action plans in line with the announced national goals.   The National Pilot Program on Low-Carbon Provinces and Cities by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) was launched in July 2010 and selected five provinces (Guangdong, Liaoning, Hubei, Shaanxi and Yunnan) and eight cities (Tianjin, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Guiyang and Baoding) to participate in the pilot program.  In particular the cities were directed to establish a statistics and information management system for GHG emissions and to take measures to reduce GHG emissions.

The areas were chosen to be geographically and economically diverse, so that what is learned from the pilot will be applicable to the country as a whole.

Challenges facing municipalities in low carbon planning

These most serious challenges facing municipalities in planning to meet national low carbon goals are  how low-carbon city planning realted to other municipal planning processes, how to measure and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at a city level, and how to account for GHG emissions from imported electricity, power that is generated outside the municipalities.

City-level GHG inventories are the foundation  for municipal low-carbon planning processes, but these are missing from most current low-carbon development plans in Chinese cities.  While city-level GHG accounting methodologies have been developed by ICLEI,  these have been found to be difficult to apply in China.

Most Chinese cities get their electricity from generation plants outside municipal boundaries, and most municipal low-carbon plans have so far failed to account for these indirect GHG emissions.  The proportion of a city's emissions due to imported power is typically significant.  A GHG inventory In Guiyang found that GHG emissions from imported power were responsible for over a quarter of Guiyang’s total emissions in 2009.   If muncipal GHG accounting does not include emissions from externally generated power generation, local governments will not be incented to include electricity efficiency in their low carbon plans.

In additon there are several challenges that are unique to China because of the difference between Chinese and Western cities and because China's goal is carbon intensity reduction, as opposed to emissions reduction.

While Western cities typically set an absolute emissions reduction target, most Chinese cities represent rapidly developing economies that need to maintain high economic growth rates.  Chinese cities have to look at energy intensity, emissions per unity of GDP.  For example, moving to  higher value industry that may produce the same level or even a higher level of emissions, may be a wise energy intensity reduction strategy for a city.

As mentioned above, Chinese cities’ emission reduction efforts over the next several years will focus on industry, due to the high proportion of GHG emissions from the industrial sector, whereas in Western cities the focus tends to be on buildings.

Another major challenge is that China’s current statistical system focuses only on industrial energy use, and data on the other GHG sources, transportation and building sectors, are not readily available. Setting specific emission reduction goals for these sectors in China is harder than in Western cities.

Standardized carbon accounting and reporting

In China the lack of a standards for carbon acccounting and reporting makes it difficult to compare carbon accounts between cities.  Apparently some of China’s municipal low-carbon plans have adopted the IPCC inventory methodology, which was designed for entire countries, while others have employed foreign methodologies that may not be appropriate for Chinese cities.  To address this challenge the Program of Energy and Climate Economics (PECE) at Renmin University in China has developed a simplified city level energy-related CO2 inventory methodology which is suitable for Chinese cities.  The PECE analytical tools have already been deployed in Guiyang, Qingdao, and other Chinese cities.

The PECE approach to estimating city-level Greenhouse Gas (GHG) accounting is a simplified city-level GHG accounting methodology to calculate energy-related CO2 emissions that takes into account the data availability and statistical capabilities of Chinese cities.  It involves four steps and includes estimating GHG emissions for imported electric power.  The end result is a city -specific GHG inventory of total CO2 emissions, as well as sector-specific and technology-specific CO2 emissions.

Cost and benefot analysis for low carbin policies

PECE has also adapted the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP)  to make it suitable for municipal low-carbon scenario analysis in China.  The model is designed to simulate a city-level energy system.  It estmates the energy demand and CO2 emissions of a city as well as the emissions reduction potential of different technical solutions under different assumptions of population, economic growth, economic structure, and energy services demand.

Prioritizing carbon-reduction options

To assist with the development of technology roadmaps, and to promote new technology in municipal low-carbon development planning, PECE has also developed a method for low-carbon technology identification and prioritization called the marginal abatement cost curve (MAC).  GHG reduction potentials and mitigation costs are estimated using the LEAP model. From this data, the MAC curve can be used to prioritize technologies according to net costs or benefits.

Taken together the PECE tools are intended to provide Chinese municipalities with a practical, standardized way for city-level carbon accounting and reporting, estimating the costs and benefits of alternative low carbon policies, and prioritizing mitigation measures.

Smart grid, smart buildings and energy efficiency initiatives in Asia

I've blogged recently about energy efficiency initiatives in Europe and the U.S., and I think it is fair to say that Europe is doing more in this area as part of its 20-20-20 objectives than other major economies for several reasons, one of which is an agrressive mandate to reduce GHG emissions.  Another is the goal of reducing its dependence on foreign energy.  There are also member state-specific motivations, for example, Germany's decision to shut down all its nuclear facilities by 2022.  But there is a lot happening in this area in Asia as well and in the future it is expected that Asia will become the largest market for energy efficieny.

Our demand for energy, especially electric power, is forecasted to continue to increase.  The economies of the world where demand for energy is rising more rapidly than anywhere else is in what the International Energy Agency (IEA) refers to as non-OECD countries, including China, India, and Brazil.  In its most recent International Energy Outlook 2011 the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that energy use in non-OECD nations will increase by 85 percent between now and 2035, compared with a projected increase of 18 percent for the OECD economies.

To help accommodate expanding demand while reducing emissions, renewable energy has become a worldwide initiative.  Renewables energy sources include wind, solar, hydro and other sources of non-emitting power.  For example, the Chief Minister of Gujarat recently dedicated the 300 MW Gujarat Solar Park, covering 3,000 acres of desert and one of the largest solar parks in Asia.  But some economies are finding that energy conservation is the cheapest "alternative energy" source.

Smarter grid and smarter buildings

To improve the reliability of our electric power grids and simultaneously enable the integration of distributed intermittent renewable energy, utilities worldwide are working to make electric grids smarter. Smart grid technology involves empowering consumers; integrating distributed generation to support intermittent renewable energy; implementing bidirectional communications networks; replacing older equipment with  intelligent devices, adding sensors such as synchrophasors, making electricity distribution networks self-healing, and automating distribution networks, including substations. 

Increasingly utilities are not only looking to make the grid more intelligent but also to manage demand more intelligently.  In the United States the top priorities for electric power utilities in 2012 identified by analysts not only include traditional smart grid related technologies such as distribution automation, analytics to manage big data, support for electric vehicles (EV), electric power storage, and solar PV, but also smart buildings.

Japan invested $100 billion in technology in the 1990's to improve the reliability of its transmisssion and distribution grid.  Both Japan and South Korea have joint smart grid projects underway with U.S. Jurisdictions including New Mexico and Chicago.  China plans to invest $490 billion in grid upgrades by 2020, including about $90 billion in smart grid technology. 

India is projected to soon become the world's fifth largest economy, but to achieve this the IEA estimates that India will require 600-1200 GW of new capacity by 2050 (that's about the total power generation capacity of the U.S.).  In addition to investing in nuclear pwer and renewables, the most immediate challenge is the up to 30% of India's power generation that is lost to "aggregate technical and commercial" (AT&C) losses.  To address these challenges in  May 2010 the Union Government created the India Smart Grid Task Force, chaired by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister.  One of the five working groups created by the Smart Grid Task Force is focussed improving the efficiency of the Indian grid by reducing AT&C losses.

Smart buildings

Smart buildings means buildings that not only use less power, but are able to manage peak load.  Globally the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that residential, commercial, and public buildings account for one-third of the globe's total final energy consumption.  In the U.S. in 2008 buildings accounted for 72 percent of U.S. electricity use.  In the future the proportion of energy consumed by buildings is expected to increase as emerging economies develop, rising temperatures increases demand for cooling buildings, and rising personal wealth increases consumer demand for appliances. This has made improving the energy efficiency of buildings, both existing and new structures, a global priority.  According to a recent study by Global Insight currently only 6% of worldwide construction activity incorporates green technology.  Driven by regulation, owner and investor demands, resource cost, security concerns, and third party standards, it is projected that by 2020 this could increase to 75%.

The European Union (EU) has taken a leading role in improving the energy efficiency of buildings.  The EU has mandatory carbon emission reduction standards, referred to as the 20-20-20 standard, which among other things requires the EU to improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020.  Another important objective is reducing its dependence on imported energy, which currently accounts for half of EU energy usage.  In 2002 the European Commission promulgated the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which requires all EU member states to upgrade their building regulations and to introduce energy certification schemes for buildings.  About a year ago the European Commission (EC) proposed a new Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) , also known as the EPBD recast, which imposes a legal obligation for all member states to establish energy saving schemes, with the public sector leading by example.

Energy efficiency is especially critical for Germany which not only needs to comply with the 20-20-20 standard, but also to find energy sources to replace its (non-emitting) nuclear power plants that are scheduled to be closed by 2022.  In Germany buildings currently account for 40 percent of power consumption and a third of CO2 emissions. The German 40 year master plan calls for aggressive energy efficiency policies including new insulation standards and for all buildings in Germany to be refurbished in line with the new insulation standards by 2050, reducing energy requirements for heating by 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050, and providing tax relief on energy taxes to companies contributing to energy savings.

Japan‘s announced mid-term emission reduction target is to cut Japan's GHG emissions by 25% by 2020 compared with 1990, subject to international negotiations.  But Japan has said that it plans to revise this target in light of the Fukushima accident and presumably in light of the recent decison to shut down its nuclear power plants by 2040.  According to an analysis by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the largest reduction will need to be realized in commercial sector, by about 27%. Residential/commercial-sector accounts for 30% or more of final energy consumption and has increased remarkably compared to the industrial and transportation sectors.  Energy saving measures for commercial buildings are urgently required, since the commercial sector including office buildings consumes more than half of total energy consumption in the residential/commercial sector. Moreover its growth has been more striking than that of the residential sector.

The Chinese government has recenty announced a goal of having green buildings account for 30 percent of new construction projects by 2020.  The joint released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is the first time that China has  a goal for the development of green buildings and underlines China's intent to speed up the development of energy-efficient construction to bring China's building energy consumption ratio closer to that of developed countries by 2020.. 

The government intends to speed up green construction by increasing policy incentives and improving industry standards, as well as promoting technological progress and the development of related industries.  The Ministry of Construction (MOC) is responsible for the development of a national energy efficient design standard for public buildings which was adopted by the MOC in 2005. It sets a target of 50% energy reductions compared to pre-existing buildings for commercial and residential buildings.

According to a recent report by the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), the Asian smart building market will grow from the current size of US$ 427 billion to US$ 1,036 billion in 2020.

Zero energy buildings

A major area of focus in the EU is “nearly zero energy” buildings.  A nearly zero energy building on average over a year generates as much energy from renewable energy sources as it consumes.  For new buildings, the EPBD recast fixes 2020/2021 as the deadline for all new buildings to be designed to be nearly zero energy.  For public buildings the deadline is even sooner, by 2018/2019.

The Government of Japan put forward its "zero emissions buildings" target in April, 2009.  It defines a zero emssions building (ZEB) as one that has net zero CO2 emissions on an annual basis through energy efficiency and renewable energy generation on-site.  The announced objective ia that all new public buildings will be zero emissions by 2030.  This is a similar timeframe to that mandated by the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) that requires that by 2030 all new Federal facilities must be “net zero energy” buildings.

Pike Research has projected that as a result of the recast EU EPBD Directive and similar legislation in other parts of the world, such as Japan, worldwide revenue from nearly zero energy building construction will grow at an annual rate of 43% over the next two decades, reaching $690 billion by 2020 and $1.3 trillion by 2035, with much of the growth occurring in the EU.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced the Building Energy Efficiency Policies (BEEP) database.  The BEEP database collects information on buildings energy codes including minimum energy performance requirements that focus on achieving zero energy buildings, buildings energy labels which increase awareness about energy consumption of buildings, and incentives schemes for capacity building, technical assistance and raising awareness.  The database includes information from all IEA member countries as well as China, India, Tunisia, South Africa and Russia.

Conceptual energy modeling in a simplified BIM workflow

Project Vasari is a technology preview of a simplified design tool for creating conceptual building designs with integrated analysis for energy and carbon. Vasari is for early concept work.  One of its big differentiators from products like Sketchup is that it is intended to fit into a building information modeling (BIM) workflow.

Project Vasari has been sponsoring a series of talks about different aspects of the project.  The next one is specrficially about conceptual energy modeling.  By understanding the big picture energy implications of a building design early you can save time and money by identifying the key energy drivers.  In this talk Lura Griffiths, LEED® AP BD+C, E.M.I.T Senior Energy Analyst at Glumac, will present several examples of real building designs and how their energy performance was analyzed in the early stages of design using conceptual energy analysis.  The results of the early analyses helped guide the design and make significant impacts on the energy use of the buildings.

Date: August 8, 2012

Time: 11:30 AM Eastern time

You can register here.

Energy efficiency directives for Federal buildings in the U.S.

I blogged recently about the prioritization of energy efficiency in the EU, driven by the 20-20-20 energy efficiency objective as well as energy independence.  Pike Research has projected that as a result of the recast EU EPBD Directive and similar legislation in other parts of the world, worldwide revenue from net zero energy building construction will grow at an annual rate of 43% over the next two decades, reaching $690 billion by 2020 and $1.3 trillion by 2035, with much of the growth occurring in the EU.

In the U.S. there are a number of aggressive mandates for Federal government buildings, the idea being that the Federal government should take the lead be a model for the private sector.  In 2006 a  Memorandum of Understanding entitled Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings signed by 22 agencies set the stage for these initiatives.  A major goal of the MOU is the implementation of common strategies for planning, acquiring, siting, designing, building, operating, and maintaining high performance and sustainable buildings.

The U.S. Federal government owns about 445,000 buildings with total floor space of over 3 billion square feet, in addition it leases 57,000 buildings with about 374 million square feet of floor space. 

How the GSA is complying with these directives can be found in the GSA's FY 2011-2016 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan.  A more detailed overview of the requirements can be found in the SAME Frontier Post presentation July 2011.

Executive Order 13423

Executive Order 13423 (EO 13423) "Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management", signed by President Bush in 2007. The order sets goals in the areas of energy efficiency, acquisition, renewable energy, toxics reductions, recycling, renewable energy, sustainable buildings, electronics stewardship, fleets, and water conservation.

Order 13423 is a national initiative to reduce the average annual energy consumption of the entire Federal building inventory, which is the responsibility of the General Services Administration (GSA). Specifically, its goal is to

• reduce facility energy use per square foot by 3 percent per year through the end of 2015 or by 30 percent by the end of fiscal year 2015, relative to a 2003 baseline.  To achieve this goal, GSA’s inventory must reach a metered annual energy consumption of approximately 55,000 BTU/GSF (British thermal units per gross square feet).

Energy Policy Act of 2005

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) signed by President Bush in 2005 addresses energy production in the United States, including: (1) energy efficiency; (2) renewable energy; (3) oil and gas; (4) coal; (5) Tribal energy; (6) nuclear matters and security; (7) vehicles and motor fuels, including ethanol; (8) hydrogen; (9) electricity; (10) energy tax incentives; (11) hydropower and geothermal energy; and (12) climate change technology.

EPACT 2005 requires that

• directs all Federal agencies to install advanced metering to measure electricity use in buildings.
• federal buildings be designed to use 30% less energy than they would by complying with the industry standard - ASHRAE Standard 90.1. 
• increase renewable electricity consumption by the federal government by 3 percent in fiscal year 2007-2009; 5% percent in fiscal year 2010-2012; and 7.5% in fiscal year 2013 and each fiscal year thereafter.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) signed by President Bush in 2007 reinforces the energy reduction goals for federal agencies put forth in Executive Order 13423, as well as introduces more aggressive requirements. The three key provisions enacted are the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, the Renewable Fuel Standard, and the appliance/lighting efficiency standards.

EISA 2007 requires the GSA to reduce its designed energy consumption with respect to the average commercial building energy usage as determined by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency (EIA). 

• In 2010 the GSA was required to use 55% less energy than an average commercial building and continue with incremental decreases every five years.
• By 2030, GSA must construct all new facilities to be net zero energy buildings.
• Finally, EISA 2007 stipulates that every 5 years, GSA must select a third-party green building certification system, with corresponding level of certification, to document the overall sustainable performance goals of GSA’s new and modernized buildings.

Executive Order 13514

Executive Order 13514 (EO 13514), "Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance," was signed by President Obama in 2009. The goal of EO 13514 is "to establish an integrated strategy towards sustainability in the Federal Government and to make reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) a priority for Federal agencies."  This EO does not rescind/eliminate the requirements of EO 13423. Instead, it expands on the energy reduction and environmental performance requirements for Federal agencies identified in EO 13423. 

EO 13514 lays out the following numerical targets for Federal agencies:

• Ensure at least 15% of existing buildings and leases (>5,000 gross sq ft) meet the Guiding Principles by FY2015, with continued progress towards 100%.
• Ensure 95% of all new contracts require products and services that are energy-efficient, water-efficient, biobased, environmentally preferable, non-ozone depleting, contain recycled-content, non-toxic or less-toxic alternatives.

This EO also sets non-numerical targets that agencies must reach, including:

• Reduce building energy intensity.  
• Ensure all new Federal buildings that enter the planning process in 2020 and thereafter are designed to achieve zero-net-energy standards by 2030.

Guiding Principles (2008)

The Interagency Sustainability Working Group (ISWG) created by EO 13423 has updated the Guiding Principles of the MOU of 2006 including updates to the Guiding Principles for Sustainable New Construction and Major Renovations and the creation of a separate Guiding Principles for Sustainable Existing Buildings.