Employing Renewable Energy in Buildings and Urban Areas: Case of Off-Grid City 2009, South Korea Ali M.S. Kashkooli, Youngki Kim, Hasim Altan School of Architecture, The University of Sheffield, Crookesmoor Building, Conduit Road, Sheffield S10 1FL, United Kingdom Corresponding author: e-mail:
[email protected]
REFERENCE NO Ref # 9-03
Keywords: Renewable energy, Off-Grid design, Off-Grid City 2009 South Korea
ABSTRACT Indisputably, increase in Earth population calls the world to a new challenge. The challenge is to prevent the waste of energy as a source of human activities. At the same time, dependency of industries and life on fossil fuels has caused lots of damage to the environment. These in turn, led all human sectors as: researchers, engineers, mangers to think deeper than before in order to find new sources of energy. Hence, ‘renewable energy’ sounds an effective approach to solving this problem. The principal goal of this article is to investigate ‘renewable energy’, its principles and approaches, and also to consider some new sources of energy (e.g. wind, solar energy etc.). Moreover, it focuses on a new approach of energy efficient design, an ‘Off-Grid’ design, as a new way to make buildings and urban areas independent of fossil fuels. In addition, the paper deals with a real example of conceptual design works ‘Off-Grid city 2009, South Korea’ which won the Honourable prize of ‘Incheon International Design Competition 2009, South Korea’, to demonstrate how renewable energy can be employed in structures and urban spaces in real world. The results reveal the significance of considering renewable energy, and Off-Grid concept in design and planning buildings and urban areas, by also taking into consideration the local values, cost effective issues etc.
1. INTRODUCTION Undoubtedly, these days by rapid world urbanization and increase in consumption of resources a new challenge has been emerged. In the previous century overall urban populations have risen from 15 to 50% and this is likely to rise to 60 or 70% within this century. Although the urban centres dwell in only 2% of the land area of the Earth, they consume 75% of the World’s natural resources. The main reason for this is the increase of demand for buildings in which to live, work, rest and play. Thus, will their associated environmental impacts (Fletcher, 2001). As a result, today the world is facing a lack of energy and natural recourses, which has revealed the significance of looking for some new approaches of saving energy and materials in different levels of construction procedure. The concept of sustainability has become a key idea in national and international discussions following publication of the Brundtland Report (Brundtland, 1987).
2. RENEWABLE ENERGY Renewable sources, all ultimately derived from the Sun’s energy, are including solar power (both active, i.e. incorporating moving water or air, and passive systems and photovoltaic devices), wind and wave power and biological sources such as wood and fuels derived from crops. They are renewable (similarly sustainable) because the Sun will continue to provide their energy.
All of the Earth’s energy comes from the sun. In the case of renewable energy sources and how we harness that solar energy, the link is often very clear: sunlight shining through a window or on a solar heating panel creates warmth, and when it strikes a photovoltaic (PV) panel the sunlight is converted directly into electricity; the sun’s energy causes the winds to blow, which moves the blades of a wind turbine, causing a generator shaft to spin and produce electricity; the sun evaporates water and forms the clouds in the sky from which the water, in the form of raindrops, falls back to earth becomes a stream that runs downhill into a micro-hydroelectric generator (Kemp, 2005) (see Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Solar energy circulation
Table 1, introduces some types of renewable energy e.g. ‘active solar heating’, ‘photovoltaic’, ‘wind power’, ‘hydro-electric power’, ‘wood and straw’. It compares them regarding their principle, advantages, drawbacks and site constrains (Kalogirou, 2004, Hren, 2008, Kemp, 2005, Thomas et al., 1999)
Table 1. Several sources of renewable energy. Advantages Drawbacks
Renewable Sources
Principle
SUN
A semi conductor cell (usually made from silicon) converts sunlight directly into electricity. A surface absorbed and transfers heat and light radiated from the sun to a fluid. Two or three blades mounted on tower run wind turbines.
High investment rate No greenhouse gas
WOOD
The steam from wood burning runs a turbine or is used directly for the building.
Feedstock can be waste wood No greenhouse gas
GEOTHERMAL
The natural heat of the Earth warms up an underground water circulation system.
Energy bill reduction No greenhouse gas
OCEAN
The power of the side flows or the swell runs turbines.
High production rate No greenhouse gas
HYDRO ELECTRICITY
Falling water runs turbines.
High production rate No greenhouse gas
WASTE
Methane from waste decomposition is harnessed to produce heat or run a turbine.
Uses waste as a resource No greenhouse gas
Photovoltaic
Thermal solar
WIND
Needs large panel surfaces. Used cells are hazardous waste
Energy bill reduction No greenhouse gas
High investment rate No greenhouse gas
Landscape(large, visible areas) Biodiversity harm and noise Problematic at an industrialized scale (planting of fast-growing trees) Needs outside surface (garden) High installation cost Needs electricity to run the heat pump Big coastline infrastructures Community and economic use loss (tourism) Water basin distribution (big dam flood regions) Biogas needs to be “cleaned” of corrosive hydrogen sulphide
Site Constrains Depends on daily sunshine. Duration and solar intensity.
Needs high wind blow intensity Distance to wood production zones
Greatest efficiency in regions of active volcanoes
Needs accessible coastline High tidal fluctuation Availability of water resource Distance to landfill/manu re production zone
3. OFF-GRID CONCEPT In the 1970s, due to the oil shortage in the world, an initial push to bringing alternative energy sources, such as sun, wind, wave, etc. had started to be introduced into the mainstream (Sorensen, 1991). The term off-grid became popular in the early 1990s to describe homes and other buildings that employ alternative-energy-source solutions rather than main line, municipal-tied energy sources to provide power. Early in the development of alternative living lifestyles, such solutions were believed to be only allocable for those people living in remote locations and/or cooperative communities. As the term off-grid gained popularity with a new generation of energy consumers, it grew into a catch phrase that conveyed living environments that are completely disconnected and without reliance on a public infrastructure. Off the grid by default meant no reliance on
publicly supplied energy, sewer, or water. In the past few years, the term off the grid or off-grid has found great support on the Internet. Even the popular Wikipedia site has a listing for off the grid: “a method of construction that relies on renewable energy sources rather than traditional public utility sources provided by the utility grid”. There are many aspects of energy and resource independence that are applicable to the offgrid term. For instance, rainwater collection of harvesting, used to reduce a homeowner’s reliance on municipal water, provides a component of off-grid living. In the same way, someone may elect to integrate a photovoltaic (PV) system that is large enough to support all of their electrical energy needs but live within the city limits, which requires them to remain, tied to the municipal infrastructure (Ryker, 2005). Off-grid no longer means a system that is 100% independent from gird system, but it instead defines the use of sources and strategies that integrate one or more systems that are not reliant upon the municipal infrastructure. It may dream of a day when we are no longer reliant upon non-renewable energy systems or systems of disposal that are polluting, toxic, and degrading to our environment, our ability to precipitate in the preservation of the environment by incorporating and integrating off-grid practices in possible today. The choice to integrate off-grid systems into our lives not only provides a cleaner lifestyle, but such choices also act as dynamic political statements that can spur the development of cleaner municipal infrastructures from which we can all benefit. As the world is facing with declining oil reserves and a growing population that recognizes the consequences of our actions upon the Earth, not only individuals but entire communities and even large energy cooperatives are now developing clean energy practises. From individual homeowners who have their own PV arrays that work together as a small, clean energy plant when joined in a grid-intertie system, to a state-wide energy cooperative that commits to the development of large-scale wind turbines for energy production, cleaner energy and healthier Earth are within our reach as long as we remain attentive and committed to a vision of a world in which our own perceived needs are now always placed first (Ryker, 2005). 3.1. Some systems in off-grid design The main energy use is electricity which can be generated on-site from renewable energy sources. We can use solar PV panel, wind turbine or geothermal heating device and so on. For example the stand-alone power system; this is an off-grid electricity system included one or more equipment of electricity generation, energy storage and regulation system (Energy-Works, 2009). Water also, is the key source for people’s life, which included in well stream, lake and ocean. In the off-grid water system, the best source is the rain water. Rain gutters installed on the roof to collect and allow water to go down into a storage tank or cistern, and filtration could clean it up for grey water of common use. However the drinking water and cooking water will use special precautions, and use a simple slow sand filter for bathing and cleaning (Green-Trust, 2009). Rainwater harvesting systems Rainwater harvesting is a new way of obtaining water for some uses around the home or building. If a rainwater harvesting system is installed carefully, it could certainly reduced demand on mains water and provide some measure of security in the event of mains failure. The principle of collecting and storing rainwater must be stored in the dark below 18°C, and
then the system will supply clean, perfectly usable water for most purposes other than drinking (Xiaolong et al., 2008). Grey water recycling systems Grey water is used domestic water from showers and bathroom sinks that typically goes into our sewers or septic systems. This “used” water can be collected in some municipalities for reuse in landscape irrigation or toilets. Grey water can be filtered through a sophisticated system which is called a “living machine” in which all grey water or used water is run through a series of biotic filters that purify the water sop that it is clean enough to reuse (Liu et al., 2010). Black water treatment systems Black water contains more pollutants or waste mater, as compared to grey water since it has fecal matter and urine. Black water also contains pathogens, which need to be eradicated or decomposed first before the water can be released safely into the environment (Luostarinen and Rintala, 2005). All the used water in our building is routed to an initial tank via gravity. The black water is given time to settle and a primary colony of bacteria goes to work for 24 hours with treatments and then the settled black water is then diverted into a secondary treatment tank that's divided into 3 separate chambers - Aeration, Sludge settling and Irrigation. In terms of waste off-grid design, Eco-fuel is a factor which can be considered as another new way to generate the renewable energy. Our waste and organic waste will be transformed into biogas energy and some other eco-fuel for heating and cooking as well as the solar energy and wind. Using classification of waste reduce the impact in natural environment (Willison and Côté, 2009). Consequently, as a broad image ‘Off-Grid City’ can be defined as a city which does not rely on municipal water supply, sewer, natural gas, electrical power grid, or similar utility services. Thus, the Off-Grid city could run itself by those systems that can generate electricity (from sun, wind, biomass and waste), heat (from sun and geothermal resources), and water (from rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling for any water uses except drinking water) (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. The concept of Off-Grid Home, Source: DWN by Authors
Figure 2, demonstrates the concept of Off-grid home and this concept could be applied in larger scale into a city. Then, the city could be called the Off-Grid City (Kashkooli et al., 2009b).
4. CASE STUDY: OFF-GRID CITY 2009, SOUTH KOREA Off-Grid City 2009 Incheon, South Korea aimed to contribute the transformation of Incheon Metropolitan City into a world-class city, which was capable to carry out functions and roles commensurate to such status. Moreover, it was intending to consider the current urban issues for the city. The main theme of this project was a futuristic U-Eco Community where new technologies, the environment, and people are being organised in acceptable harmonies. So, the main design principles of this competition are: Ubiquitous City; which can be defined as striving for convenience and safety in life by introducing very new and fresh IT technologies. Environment-friendly city; which means a design based on causing the lowest damages into the environment and saving the natural resources. Communal city; which enhances its locality and acts as an educational platform for future generations (IFEZ, 2009, Kashkooli et al., 2009a, Kashkooli et al., 2009b). Accordingly, a design team including postgraduate students of the University of Sheffield, UK have participated in this design competition project and also named their concept as ‘OffGrid City’, which can be defined as a city and does not rely on municipal water supply, swear, natural gas, electrical power grid, or similar utility services, and can produce its energy by itself; in other words a self-sufficient city! Thus, the project won an ‘Honourable Prize’ award in 2009 Incheon Urban Design Competition (see Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Off-Grid City 2009, South Korea, (AKID-Ltd, 2009)
4.1. Overview of the city and site A brand new city, which roles as the new gateway to East Asia. Thus, in its design, it deals with the people who will ‘live and work’ in it. People who will experience a paralleled quality of life as technology, resources and innovation all come together to create the ideal environment (IFEZ, 2009).
The perfect location: Convenience and accessibility are two important factors in determining the new Songdo city. Hence, its location is a key aspect of what makes this city so unique. Nestled in the heart of East Asia’s economic region-40 miles south of Seoul- the Songdo is minutes away from an international airport. While, one third of the world’s population (China) is located in a 3.5 hour flight away. Hence, it is highly desirable to set the city as an essential centre for free trade and international business (IFEZ, 2009). A city of the future potential: Songdo is supposed to be a symbol of Korea’s role as a major force in today’s global economy. A new city as the newest financial and logistics hub for North-East Asia. Furthermore, most education bodies will be international and keep up with global standard. Thus, it will give high standard education for Korea’s future capability (IFEZ, 2009). The basic concepts for development on the Songdo city are: To develop this area as a foundation for multinational corporations’ Asia-pacific head-quarters and international businesses; To concentrate and intensify advanced knowledge-based industries; To create an international business centre that includes convention centres and exhibition sites; And to plan and develop an environment-friendly city (IFEZ, 2009). The project site was located in the part of area 11, Songdo, Incheon Free Economic Zone and the area is approximately 1,677,704 m² and this site will be playing the role of the waterside centre of the new Songdo city (IFEZ, 2009). Thus, established on the basic guidelines of the land-use, framework of units has been sketched up, and the master plan of project has been completed. Following the design of Songdo master plan, the different units have been designed for aforementioned project. Furthermore, all the buildings have been designed to provide their own energy from sources like wind, solar energy, recycling the waste of materials (Kashkooli et al., 2009a, Kashkooli et al., 2009b). Off-Grid City 2009 has been designed in 7 sections as follows (see Fig. 4): 1- Dragon Village, which includes residential apartments for local and international business men. 2- Songdo Tower, designed as commercial and business centre. 3- Songdo Mall, the grand shopping mall. 4- Songdo Village, which was designed as residential area (apartments) and aimed to reside the middle economic class of people and students. 5- Songdo Eco-Community, which was designed as energy efficient touristic villas; 6- Songdo Research and Cultural Park, which includes a research centre based on libraries, training classes, museums, Seminar rooms, conference halls, cafés, restaurants, and auditorium. 7- Songdo Industrial park, which includes Industrial and official areas for IT industries, and parking section.
Fig. 4. Sections of Off-Grid City 2009, South Korea, (AKID-Ltd, 2009)
4.2. Techniques of Renewable Energy in Off-Grid City 2009 In the project, to achieve an environmentally friendly city, it was aimed to meet the following criteria: Energy efficiency and use of clean renewable energy, green buildings, green transportation, ecologically friendly, water management, waste management, social harmony, and Heritage conservation. Considering the concept of ‘environmentally friendly’ through building and urban design, reduces the energy demand and wastes during their service-lives. Fig. 5 reveals different characters, which have been considered in energy efficient design of Songdo Off-grid city.
Natural Electricity (sun, wind, organic)
Natural Heat (Sun, ground solar road)
Water (Recycled)
Green landscape
Energy efficient building
Fig. 5. The concept of energy efficiency in Off-Grid City
Fig. 6. Different solutions of energy efficient building design
Moreover, different solutions of energy efficient building design have been applied to mentioned design (see Fig. 6). To continue, the paper deals with showing how the aforementioned characters and solutions can be applied to deferent types of buildings in Songdo Off-grid city. Regarding to the situation and function of each urban section and construction (as well as other values of design), a specific package of energy efficient solutions can be suggested (see Fig. 4 and Table 2).
Table 2. Employing variety techniques, sources and system in terms of green design in Songdo Off-grid city.
Black water treatment
Surface running water control
Gray water recycling
Rain water harvesting
waste collection
Solar road
Geo-Thermal
PV
Recycling systems
Wind turbines
Shading Devices
Active Solar
Natural Lighting
Songdo Tower
Natural Vent.
Dragon Village
Use of renewable energy sources
Green roof
Green design techniques
Green wall
Urban Section
Songdo Mal
Songdo Village
Songdo EcoComunity
Songdo Research and Cultural Park Songdo Industrial park
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION In summary, Songdo Off-Grid City can be considered as a piece of urban, architectural, and technological design, which included several solutions in terms of energy efficiency and waste management, as well as original cultural values of location, and contemporary requirements of high-tech 21st century life-style. It represents the Zero Carbon, Zero Energy, and Zero Waste attitude in different urban spaces with various functions such as residential, Industrial, business commercial, research, cultural and shopping spaces. Furthermore, the paper highlighted the importance of considering the concept of energy efficiency through structural and basic design of constructions and urban areas. This in turn, would reduce the waste of energy, time, money and natural resources during the service-life of built environments. It helped opening new doors to architects, engineers, researchers, and designers to carry out further research in terms of new techniques of energy efficient and environmentally friendly design.
Acknowledgements The research is established on a qualitative method and the data has been gathered from journal articles, books, internet websites, and the archive of AKID Consultants (the design team of OffGrid City 2009 project). The Authors would like to appreciate the work of other members of the design team: Xi Wang, Architect- PhD Researcher of Architecture, the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and Aleksandar Dajkovic: Architect- Visiting Master Student of Architecture, the University of Montenegro, Montenegro, for assisting us through the design process of Songdo Off-grid City, and providing a platform for further research and analysis in the concept area. Moreover, our special thanks go to the School of Architecture and particularly to the Building Environments Analysis Unit (BEAU) Research Centre at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom for sponsoring the project.
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