Siemens Gamesa Pursues Hybrid Wind and Solar Projects With Energy Storage

Posted on August 7, 2018 by abrahamwien18

The company confirms hybrid systems are a growing focus area.

By Jason Deign
View the original article here.

Siemens Gamesa Pursues Hybrid Wind and Solar Projects With Energy Storage

Siemens Gamesa, the leading turbine manufacturer, is looking to go beyond wind — into hybrid systems with solar and storage.

The company’s chief technology officer, Antonio de la Torre Quiralte, told GTM that Siemens Gamesa remains committed to the wind market. However, it is increasingly interested in other technologies to reduce renewable energy intermittency.

“Following the merger about one year ago, we realized that our two former companies were quite interested in resolving the renewable problem, which is discontinuity,” he said.

“As part of our business strategy, there is a clear mandate from our CEO and our board that we will resolve, with a huge investment in new technologies, solutions for the market that will allow, quite soon, stable renewable procurement of energy.”

The development of systems that can provide baseload or near-baseload capacity could involve the hybridization of potentially complementary generation technologies such as wind and solar. But storage is a big part of the equation.

“It definitely is in our roadmap,” de la Torre said.

De la Torre said the manufacturer is focused on solutions rather than products, integrating energy storage with renewable plants at the project level.

He also said Siemens Gamesa is looking beyond today’s existing utility-scale battery storage capacities, which typically run to tens of megawatt hours, to gigawatt-hour levels of storage.

Batteries will remain the company’s technology of choice for standalone hybrid and off-grid systems, which demand storage capacities of between 500 kilowatt-hours and 50 megawatt-hours for onshore wind and PV plant balancing.

But Siemens Gamesa is also investigating a thermal storage system called the Future Energy Solution, which could boast much higher capacities. A demonstration plant currently under construction in Hamburg will be able to deliver 1.5 megawatts of power for 24 hours.

Siemens Gamesa hopes to use this kind of technology for round-the-clock renewable energy generation. “We have to integrate several renewable sources,” said de la Torre. “Currently we are investigating all relevant sorts of storage.”

Recently, for example, Siemens Gamesa started testing a 120-kilowatt, 400-kilowatt-hour redox flow battery at its La Plana test center near Zaragoza in Spain.

The test center had previously been used by Gamesa to put together a hybrid system combining traditional gensets with wind, solar and storage in 2016. Customer interest in hybrid systems with storage has grown in the last six to nine months, de la Torre said.

One example is the Bulgana Green Power Hub project owned by Neoen in Australia, where Siemens Gamesa will be acting as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and will be integrating a 194-megawatt wind farm with 34 megawatt-hours of Tesla storage.

Hong Zhang Durandal, a business analyst with MAKE Consulting, said Siemens Gamesa’s growing interest in hybrid systems reflects a wider trend within the wind industry. OEMs are not interested in having storage as a product, he said, but see value in adding other technologies to wind farms, for example to help avoid curtailment or smooth out imbalances.

It also makes sense for Siemens Gamesa to explore thermal or redox flow technologies for bulk, long-duration storage, he said. “For lithium-ion, getting to gigawatt-hours is just cost-ineffective,” he said. “It’s too large a system to justify the cost of the batteries.”

In a recent question-and-answer session published by Wood Mackenzie, Durandal said wind-plus-storage could offer new opportunities for energy production in the U.S.

“Wind farms paired with energy storage can shift energy from periods of low prices to take advantage of spikes and shift energy in bulk when it is most needed,” he said.

Pairing wind with energy storage also helps with ramp-rate control, can avoid curtailment and could open the door for project owners to compete for ancillary services revenues.

“We are seeing increased interest by wind turbine OEMs across the globe in exploring and developing utility-scale wind-plus-storage systems,” Durandal said. “Not only can the development of such systems strengthen the portfolio of the OEMs in key markets, [but] hybrid systems can also play a significant role in the deployment of more wind energy in the future.”

The World’s Biggest Solar Project Comes With a ‘Batteries Included’ Sticker

Posted on July 1, 2018 by abrahamwien18

By Brian Eckhouse and Mark Chediak
View the original article here.

The world’s biggest-ever solar project — a $200 billion venture in Saudi Arabia — comes with a “batteries included” sticker that signals a major shift for the industry.

SoftBank Group Corp. partnered with the oil-rich Saudis this week to plan massive networks of photovoltaic panels across the sun-drenched desert kingdom. The project is 100 times larger than any other proposed in the world, and features plans to store electricity for use when then sun isn’t shining with the biggest utility-scale battery ever made.

The daytime-only nature of solar power has limited its growth globally partly because the cost of batteries was so high. Utilities that get electricity from big solar farms still rely on natural gas-fired backup generators to keep the lights on around the clock. But surging battery supplies to feed electric-car demand have sent prices plunging, and solar developers from California to China are adding storage to projects like never before.

Cheaper Batteries

Costs are expected to drop in half by 2025 as factories ramp up battery production

“The future is pretty much hybrid facilities,’’ said Martin Hermann, the CEO of 8minutenergy Renewables LLC, a U.S. company that’s expecting to include batteries in the vast majority of the 7.5 gigawatts of solar projects it’s developing.

Affordable batteries have long been the Holy Grail for solar developers. Without them, some of the best U.S. solar markets, like California, have too much of electricity available at midday and not enough around dusk when demand tends to peak.

Wind Wins

While the solar industry has grown, it still accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity supply and has been outpaced by investments in other green technologies. Wind farms are set to overtake hydroelectric plants next year as the biggest source of renewable energy in the U.S., accounting for more than 6 percent of the nation’s electricity generating capacity, government data show.

Now, the economics of storage is shifting. The price of lithium-ion battery packs tumbled 24 percent last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and the U.S. is allowing solar-dedicated storage to qualify for a federal tax credit. More utilities and local energy providers are mandating that new solar farms include batteries to store power.

Adding batteries to solar plants could revolutionize the industry. California has contemplated going all-renewable by 2045. It won’t be able to do that without storage, said Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of SolarReserve LLC, a solar project developer that uses molten-salt energy-storage technology.

More Control

“Storage just adds control,” said Logan Goldie-Scot, a San Francisco-based energy storage analyst at BNEF. “In a number of markets, you are seeing customers seeking a greater deal of control.”

By the end of 2018, it’s possible that U.S. utilities may be asking for batteries on every solar project proposed, said Ravi Manghani, an energy analyst at GTM Research. That would mean the country is about to embark on a major battery boom. Only about 1 gigawatt of storage had been installed in the U.S. through the third quarter, according to BNEF.

Several large developers already are proposing storage units as part of their projects, including NextEra Energy Inc.

Cypress Creek Renewables LLC, which builds clean-power plants, is contemplating batteries at every one of its early-stage solar projects, according to Chief Executive Officer Matthew McGovern. The company installed batteries at 12 solar farms last year.

The shift isn’t just in the U.S.

The Saudi-SoftBank project calls for an astonishing 200 gigawatts of generating capacity that would be built over the next decade or so, with the first electricity being produced by the middle of next year. Based on BNEF data, the project would dwarf the total solar panels that the entire photovoltaic industry supplied worldwide last year.

Evening Hours

A key feature of the project will be the construction of “the largest utility-scale battery” in two to three years that will supply “evening hour” power to consumers, Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s founder, told reporters in New York this week.

Tesla Inc., the Palo Alto, California-based carmaker that’s building batteries with Panasonic at a giant factory in Nevada, will supply the storage units for a solar project in the Australian state of Victoria. Houston-based Sunnova Energy Corp. is selling solar and battery systems in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s power grid in September and tens of thousands of people still don’t have electricity.

China-based Trina Solar Ltd., once the world’s largest maker of photovoltaic panels, is seeking to invest 3.5 billion yuan ($556 million) in integrated energy projects this year that could include power generation, distribution grids and storage, Vice President Liu Haipen said Wednesday in an interview in Beijing. Most of the investment will be in China, but the company is exploring opportunities in Germany, Spain, Australia and Japan, he said.

Cheaper batteries are even providing a boost in the residential market for solar systems.

“It’s a game-changer,” said Ed Fenster, executive chairman of San Francisco-based Sunrun Inc., the largest U.S. installer of residential solar systems. “The demand that we’re seeing is outstripping our expectations.”

— With assistance by Stephen Cunningham, Vivian Nereim, and Feifei Shen

How Energy Storage Can Limit the Impact of Extreme Weather

Posted on July 1, 2018 by abrahamwien18

John Jung, President & CEO, Greensmith Energy
View the original article here.

Photo Credit: Howard Scott

Last month, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Maria, the sixth fastest hurricane on record, caused an estimated $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This would make it the third costliest hurricane in history, following Katrina and Harvey.

Now seven months later, there are still parts of Puerto Rico that are still without power. I can only imagine how this prolonged outage is making relief and recovery efforts difficult.

For those of us in the energy business, we see a better pathway for communities to avoid prolonged outages that hinder relief and recovery efforts.

One solution – already in the marketplace and in use around the world – is the combination of energy storage and islanded grid systems.

Islanded systems, also known as microgrids, can operate with or without a connection to grid. When you add energy storage, communities benefit from a more flexible, versatile distributed energy resource.

What exactly does that mean?

Traditional grid operators, without adequate energy storage, follow conservative limits on the deployment of distributed energy resources to maintain reliability.

Energy storage enables integration of more renewable energy sources so that grid systems can better respond to dynamic fluctuations in electricity consumption, and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. As solar, wind and hydro become the world’s main energy sources, renewables are no longer an incremental component in energy production.

And, renewable energy costs are the lowest ever. So, with islanding and storage combined, microgrids can safely lift limits on renewables, bringing a substantial benefit in places where electricity prices exceed the cost of electricity for renewables.

The Graciosa Hybrid Renewable Power Plant, located on the island of Graciosa in the northern part of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, is a recent example of a Greensmith microgrid project that will combine solar and wind generation, together with energy storage using lithium-ion batteries. When completed, the Graciosa plant will enable 1 MW of solar and 4.5 MW of wind power to be supplied to the grid, reducing the region’s reliance on imported fossil fuels and significantly reducing GHG emissions.

Credit: Howard Scott

Beyond the advanced energy storage technology Greensmith is known for, we help a growing number of power companies and developers integrate and maximize a diverse mix of grid resources using our industry-leading GEMS software platform. Our suite of proven grid-scale and microgrid energy storage solutions delivers renewables integration, reliability and resilience. In fact, more than one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the United States is running on Greensmith’s GEMS software platform, which provides full visibility into a grid system operation and can pinpoint and isolate any malfunctions.

Faster response time means a greater chance of avoiding power outages. And, as we have seen in Puerto Rico, and the bomb cyclones that hit the northeast in March, extreme weather events were happening much more frequently across the country and the world.

The frequency of natural disasters is an important reason that more of us should look at energy storage and microgrids as a necessary infrastructure improvement for customers and utilities.

It’s clear that, while microgrids are complex systems, when deployed with energy storage solutions, they are essential to the evolution of our power grid.

Mapping the Boom in Global Solar Power

Posted on May 4, 2018May 4, 2018 by abrahamwien18

By Molly Lempriere
View the original article here.

Solar power is growing faster than any other renewable energy in the world, according to new research by the IEA. But where in the world is the technology booming the most?

Solar is growing at speed in several states, including Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, and looks set to continue this trend through this year and beyond.

In 2016, solar power was the fastest growing source of new energy globally, accounting for up to two thirds of new power capacity added, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This was in part due to China embracing the technology, which represented half of all new solar panels.

The dramatic increase has allowed the IEA to raise its predictions of renewable capacity growth by 12% from 2015, and the agency advises that growth could potentially reach 27% if enhanced policies addressing regulatory uncertainties and grid integration are implemented.

Falling prices and government policies are the main reasons for the increase, but why has solar taken off more quickly in some countries and states than in others?

Australia’s solar power potential

Australia has an awesome solar resource, which it has only recently begun to take advantage of with analysts predicting that solar energy capacity in Australia could double this year alone. In January, 111MW of new rooftop solar panels were installed, a 69% increase from last year. Meanwhile, 30 industrial-scale solar power plants are scheduled to come online throughout the year with more projects due to be approved.

These large-scale projects are expected to add 2.5GW and 3.5GW to the Australian grid, while rooftop solar will add around 1.3GW. These will vastly increase the percentage of solar in the energy mix, with current resources at just 7GW. The solar boom is expected to grow further, as prices continue to drop and it becomes more accessible.

This boom has also been supported by Tesla’s 100MW battery in South Australia. The technology has been extremely successful, responding to power outages in milliseconds during the summer and easing power demand.

China reinforces efforts in renewables

China has had one of the most dramatic switches to renewable energy. From 2013 more than half of China’s capacity additions have been from renewable or nuclear sources, as the country tries to reduce its reliance on coal and tackle air pollution.

Today, China has the biggest solar market in the world after adding 34GW of power in 2016, double the amount added in the US. It is also home to the leading solar power farm at present, Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, along with a major floating solar plant, located in Huainan, Anhui Province.

This is only the start, with investments in greater and better projects seemingly unending and 8MW of solar already added in the first quarter of this year. However, despite huge growth, solar still only accounts for 1% of China’s energy mix, with 66% still met by coal. By 2050, this is expected to be a vastly different picture with some government predictions suggesting that 86% of demand will be met by renewables, and a third of that made up of solar.

The US sees steady progress

Following the election of President Trump, many industry experts were sceptical about the role renewables would play in the US energy sector, due to his policies favouring coal and natural gas, and suggestions of redistributing funds away from environmental technologies.

But solar installation has continued to boom throughout America, as mature markets such as California, which boasts 18,296MW of solar, have slowed while younger markets in the middle of the country are continuing to grow. Solar is growing at speed in some states, including Utah, Arizona and Nevada, and looks set to continue this trend through this year and beyond.

This is predominantly due to the dramatic reduction in the cost of solar, which has fallen by as much as 85% since 2009. The drop has made solar installations cost competitive with natural gas in many of the sunnier states.

India ascends the energy market

In March, a vast solar project was launched in Pavagada, southern India. When completed the plant could well be the largest solar project to date as it will span 13 acres and produce 2,000MW – enough to power 700,000 households. This is just one of many new super-sized solar projects that are springing up throughout the sub-continent.

India’s energy transition has been almost as dramatic as China’s, overtaking Japan in 2017 to become the third-biggest market for solar power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming to reach 100GW of solar energy capacity by 2022, which would be thirty times as much as in 2015.

The country has ambitious goals, and with its quickly growing economy and large percentage of the population still living without power, solar has a lot of potential in India. It currently accounts for about 5% of the energy mix, but 14 solar parks have already been approved for construction and 22GW of solar power are expected to be added to the grid by the end of this year.

Germany’s rise in renewables

Germany has the greatest solar power capacity of any European country, boasting 40.9GW in 2016 and with plans to continue to build its solar fleet. While Germany is more commonly associated with wind power, solar is expected to continue playing a significant part in the country’s Energiewende, or ‘energy turnaround’.

Germany is pursuing an increasingly diversified energy sector with increases in technologies such as wind and solar allowing it to run off of 85% renewable for a day in April 2017. The country is aiming to fulfil about 200GW of energy demand with solar in the future, with annual instillations of 6GW-7GW required to meet this target. If this is achieved, however, Germany could become 100% reliant on renewable energies for its power.

Japan goes large on solar

Despite its small size in comparison to many of the other solar success stories, as of 2016 Japan had an impressive 38.7GW of solar power capacity. Following the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and the resultant shutdown of the majority of its nuclear power plants, Japan has become increasingly focused on renewable energy to ensure it will not remain reliant on expensive fossil fuel imports.

This drive towards renewables has led to several new solar projects, increasing the share of solar in Japan’s energy mix to 4.3% by 2016. It is currently the fourth-biggest solar market and despite being overtaken by India continues to boom. In March, the largest floating solar plant in the world officially opened in Japan. The Yamakura Dam reservoir in Chiba Prefecture has a capacity of 13.7MW and was a joint venture between Kyocera and Tokyo Century, an organisation established in 2012 to promote the construction of major solar projects in Japan.

South Africa shows its support

While northern African countries have steamed ahead with solar technologies, in particular concentrated solar power (CSP), sub-Saharan countries have struggled to make the most of the vast resource. But this is slowly changing, with projects both big and small popping up across the continent helping bring reliable and sustainable energy to more people.

South Africa is one of the many countries that has thrown its weight behind renewables, predominantly wind and solar. It has now committed to an Integrated Resource Plan to diversify and strengthen its energy mix between 2010 and 2030 , which includes the goal to achieve 9,600MW of solar power capacity.

Already there are a number of large solar plants in South Africa, such as the KaXu Solar One plant near Pofadder in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The 100MW CSP plant produces enough power to supply 80,000 homes and offset 315,000t of CO₂ emissions a year.

As of 2016, solar power was providing 1MW of power to the national grid in South Africa. This has already helped improve the notoriously unreliable power supply, and is set to improve it further over the coming years as the resource plan is implemented.

Ta’u, American Samoa goes 100%

Ta’u in America Samoa became 100% reliant on solar power for electricity in 2016. The idyllic island uses 5,000 solar panels and 60 Tesla solar packs to provide a reliable and clean source of power to its 600 residents.

Ta’u is one of a few island nations around the world taking advantage of renewables, including Tokelau, a set of three tiny islands between New Zealand and Hawaii which has also made the switch. Islands such as these are some of the most at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change, a sure encouragement for many to make these dramatic shifts to reduce their CO₂emissions.

Ta’u’s diesel supply was often affected by bad weather, leaving generators short and electricity unreliable. For years, the main island in American Samoa Tutuila has had to subsidise shipments of 100,000 gallons of diesel, costing as much as $400,000 a year.

It took two years to construct the microgrid on Ta’u, and despite some struggles getting it up and running, it has been a success. Although Ta’u is only small, it is an example of solar success and is being used as a pilot project for the rest of American Samoa, which is aiming to transfer to 100% solar power by 2040.

EMERALD SKYLINE TO DEVELOP SOLAR FARM IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITY TO PURSUE ELECTRICAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGY.

Posted on May 4, 2018 by abrahamwien18

“Solar generation and electricity storage technology are rapidly evolving sustainable energy alternatives. The combination of solar power generation and electricity storage is being utilized in projects around the world”

May 1, 2018 from Emerald Skyline Corporation

BOCA RATON, FL, May 1, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, Emerald Skyline announced that it will develop land located in southern Arizona for the purpose of solar generation and electricity storage technology research. The project, Emerald City Solar, recognizes that both solar generation and electricity storage technologies are rapidly evolving and will continue to become more cost effective. The southern Arizona project will include research and development facilities to continue to evaluate new technologies as they emerge. It is expected that the total generation of the solar farm will continue to increase along with the value per kilowatt hour of the electricity generated as new technologies are deployed. Emerald Skyline believes the future of renewable energy is in the storage technology and will be exploring novel ways of delivering and storing energy. They have assembled a world-class team to conduct research and development to drive innovation and advanced sustainable technologies to manage surplus renewable power for use on demand and supply of power.

SOLAR FARM

The site of the solar farm development enjoys the best solar profile in the United States and is near major urban centers including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The electricity generated could be sold to the local electric power utility company at prevailing Power Purchase Agreement rates of about .07 per kilowatt hour (KwH). However, through the use of proven electric storage technology, the value of the electricity could be significantly increased through the selling into the power grid during peak demand periods at much higher spot market prices. Selling power in this manner is called Regulation Services.

ELECTRICITY STORAGE

Deployment of electricity storage is increasing at explosive rates and has been described by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) as a game changer in the industry. Several new companies can provide large battery-based storage units and have the operating systems required to interact with the electricity grid. Through storing electricity and injecting the stored power into the grid during peak demand periods the cost of peaking power can be greatly reduced. By selling power into the grid during peak demand at much higher prices the value of the solar power farm can be greatly enhanced.

“As a sustainability and resiliency consulting and LEED project management firm, this partnership enables us to collaborate with a host of industry partners to not only produce energy but also to test and demonstrate the benefits of solar energy storage technologies. When electricity storage is not available, excess solar electricity is wasted. When storage is installed, the excess energy can be saved and subsequently used to reduce the use of a fossil fuel,” reports Abraham Wien, LEED AP O+M, Director of Architecture & Environmental Design for Emerald Skyline.

To find out more information about Emerald City Solar or electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar and the current development in electrical energy storage technologies for a greener tomorrow, please contact Abraham Wien at [email protected] or call us 305.424.8704.

Promoting Elder Wellness with Artificial Light

Posted on February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 by abrahamwien18

By: Rodney Smith
Director of Energy Independence for Emerald Skyline Corporation
Inventor of Bio-Light

Humans evolved on Earth over thousands of years before the invention of artificial light, under natural light conditions of sunlight, moonlight, and a relatively little bit of fire light. These natural light conditions are reflected inthe physical structure of the eye, with cones being tuned to daylight and rods to night time light conditions. Humans are diurnal (daytime) beings, while some other animals are nocturnal, so our normal pattern of wakefulness and activity is during the daytime.

There is another form of light sensor in the eye discovered more recently that does not contribute directly to sight yet plays a role in secretion of melatonin: the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGC).

During the past ten years brain scientists have discovered that in addition to patterns of light being transmitted via the optic nerve to the visual center in the brain, there is also a branch that transmits data regarding light conditions to a command center in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

Light and the Endocrine System

The SCN processes the light data and sends command signals to several glands in the endocrine system to either secrete or suppress secretion of certain hormones critical to normal body function. The pineal gland, in the hypothalamus in the brain, suppresses secretion of melatonin in the presence of bright white light, specifically when the SCN has identified a narrow 10 nanometer band of light spectrum (out of 330 nanometers of human visible light spectrum) from 450 to 460 nanometers.

Action spectrum for melatonin regulation in humans

When melatonin secretion is suppressed we become more alert. Melatonin secretion normally occurs when exposure to the bright white light diminishes, e.g. at sundown, but only does so if the trigger has been set by bright white light exposure earlier in the day. Melatonin also serves as a powerful antioxidant which floods the body with natural anti-cancer agents while we sleep.1

The adrenal gland is also largely controlled by the SCN based on light conditions in an opposite way from melatonin. Cortisol secretion is stimulated in the presence of bright white light and suppressed normally at night. Cortisol serves as a wake up call to the body, raising our core body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure from a sleep state, and is also a factor in normal digestion. If the SCN does not signal the adrenal gland to secrete cortisol, we may be tired and listless. Changes in our digestive system could cause abnormal processing of foods especially carbohydrates and can be a factor in hypoglycemia associated with diabetes.3

Light and the Elderly

People that lack exposure to natural sunlight are the most prone to have issues with mental and physical well-being resulting from abnormal hormonal secretion. Many elderly people lack adequate sunlight exposure. Furthermore the lens of the eye thickens and yellows with age, resulting in a 75% reduction in light passing through the lens by age 75. The yellowing of the lens reduces the blue end of the light spectrum where the circadian rhythm spectrum is found. The result can be sleep deprivation and the many issues that accompany it, including depression and circulatory issues, among others.

Spectral Power Density of GE “Natural Light” Fluorescent tubes

Unfortunately, traditional lighting does not provide the specific spectrum of light required between 450 and 460 nanometers for normal secretion and suppression of melatonin. Even with specialized “natural” light fluorescent tubes, the required light spectrum actually is at a low point in providing the critical spectrum while there are peaks on either side of the narrow band. The problem of proper light exposure cannot be solved by simply increasing the level of fluorescent light.

Spectral Power Density of LG 5630 LED at 6,500 Kelvin

Fortunately, LED lighting is far more controllable in terms of light spectrum as well as in terms of dimming and low glare if well designed. Light being emitted from a source can be measured in spectral power density (SPD) at specific light spectrums measured in nanometers. It is possible to utilize LEDs in a fixture that has a perfect score of 100% SPD at the desired light spectrum. This is important, as the critical light spectrum can be passively delivered at reasonable levels of light in the ambient environment. Previously, light therapy devices required a patient to actively stare into a bright light box for two hours – which is an unpleasant experience to say the least – and not something many elderly residents can be expected to do. Delivery of the needed light spectrum passively will help assure all residents receive the desirable light and do not require active therapy.

If the LED fixture is designed as a side-lit panel, the light is indirect light and a pleasant glow to the eye, even at the higher light levels recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) for elder care facilities. With traditional lighting it is very difficult to even achieve the recommended light levels in a tolerable manner, and impossible to provide the critical light spectrum for circadian light. Assuring that elderly residents have adequate light levels to enjoy their interests and hobbies will raise their activity levels and mental engagement.

Spectral Power Density of LG 5630 LED at 2,700 Kelvin

There is a second part to the required light. While it is critical to have the bright white light especially in the morning, it is equally important to have warmer light with less blue light later in the afternoon and in the evening. If there is only bright white later in the day, melatonin secretion will continue to be suppressed.

LED lends itself to control so with modern wireless radio frequency control systems such as ZigBee, which is an IEEE telecommunication standard widely deployed by electrical power utilities to communicate wirelessly with smart meters and appliance among others, that facilitates implementation of automated lighting controls on a facility-wide basis for such functions as circadian light scheduling. By using an LED light fixture with both bright white and warm diodes, it is possible to control the light so the bright white is provided in the morning when needed and the warm light later in the day.

This is similar to how the light from the sun changes as the evening arrives. Furthermore, a ZigBee telecommunications platform can also connect with low cost light sensors to provide ambient light data to the control system that can adjust the level of intensity of the light as well as provide the capability to control other devices such as window blinds to further reduce energy consumption. The lighting system can also be linked through ZigBee to other automated sensor and control systems, such as fire detection and security systems.

In addition to the host of wellness benefits described above, LED lights can deliver up to 85% reduction in electricity consumption as well as providing maintenance-free lighting for up to 100,000 hours. For a light fixture on 24 hours per day, such as in a hallway, 100,000 hours of operation equals approximately 12 years. Light bulb maintenance is a significant component of facility maintenance and can free-up valuable employees to perform other maintenance tasks.

Recommendations

The flexibility of control of LED technology is arriving at a time when we can put it to good use for those living primarily indoors, as the elderly do. Opportunities now exist to deploy lighting designed to promote healthy endocrine system function. New eldercare facilities should be designed from a lighting perspective to IES standards, and they can also promote wellness of residents. The improved health can delay transition from Independent Living, to Assisted Living, to Skilled Nursing or Memory Care. In addition to the benefit to residents, making the most of LED capabilities can also reduce hospital transports, resulting in healthier bottom lines for operators.

For more information contact Rodney at [email protected]

Footnotes:

1 The American Cancer Society www.cancer.com

2 Brainard, G.C. et al, Action Spectrum for Melatonin Regulation in Humans: Evidence for a Novel Circadian Photoreceptor, Journal of Neuroscience 21 (2001) 16, pp 6405-6412.

3 The Cortisol Awakening Response-applications and implications for sleep medicine, G.J. Elder, M.A. Wetherell, N.L. Barclay, J.G. Ellis, Sleep Medicine Review 2014 June; 18(3):215-24.

Additional Reading:

Light and Human Health: An Overview of the Impact of Optical Radiation on Visual, Circadian, and Neurobehavioral Responses, Illuminating Engineering Society, M.C. Figueira, G.C. Brainard, S. W. Lockley, V.L. Revell, R. White, TM-18-08, 2008

Lighting for Health: LEDs in the New Age of Illumination, United States Department of Energy, 2014 The Impact of Light in Outcomes in Healthcare Settings, A. Joseph, The Center for Health Design, 2006

CircadianDisturbanceinPatientswithAlzheimer’sDisease,D.A.Weldemichael,G.T.Grossberg, International Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2010

Lighting and the Visual Environment for Senior Living, Illuminating Engineering Society, ANSI/IES RP-28-07, 2007

SIRT1 Mediates Central Control in the SCN by a Mechanism that Decays with Aging, H.C. Chung, L. Guarante, Cell 153, 1448-1460, 2013

The Cortisol Awakening Response in Context, A. Clow, F. Hucklebridge, L. Thorn, International Review of Neurobiology, NIH, 2010; 93: 153-75.

IoT, LEDs, lighting, and the future of workplace planning

Posted on February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 by abrahamwien18

In the real estate industry, understanding how our buildings are used is critical to understanding how to manage our buildings.

View the original article here.
By Brad Pease

What is IoT and why is it useful to workplace planning?

IoT = Internet of Things: The interconnection of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data via the internet.

In the real estate industry, understanding how our buildings are used is critical to understanding how to manage our buildings. Buildings may be built of brick and mortar, but they are not static; they constantly evolve based on the needs of their occupants. People change their schedules and their locations within a building; and the people and technology that they need access to change too.

For building owners, understanding how your second highest investment (your real estate) interacts with your highest investment (your people) is critical to your company’s long-term financial success. Do you have too much space? Not enough? The right type of space? The right quality of space? These are all questions that you need a good source data to understand, and the dataset should allow you to trend how your building is used. This trending data empowers your workplace planning team to spot opportunities to make meaningful changes.

A new data source for workplace planning: IoT-connected lighting

Workplace planners need a device to collect data. Rather than adding a ton of sensors to a building – or worse, to people – designers need something that is in every room, and that indicates how the space is used. The answer is likely above you right now. It is indicating that you are present, and is tuned to the needs of your current task. The answer, of course, is the lights.

IOT lighting data can help owners establish a workplace design strategy. While this isn’t the typical use-case for lighting system data, it can be used to understand space utilization and adds a powerful dimension to workplace planning and decision making.

As every space in a building requires lighting, and the only reason we have lights is for people, lights are the ideal candidate to use as a data source; and lights don’t need a lot of added intelligence to be a great data source. Here are three useful ways to track lighting data for workplace design:

Whether a light is on or off indicates if the room is occupied.
The number of fixtures or lighting scenes that are used in a room will indicate the type of function that is occurring in that room.
The total hours of fixture use can indicate the utilization of the space and, in the case of multi-use spaces, the most frequent activities that users engage in.

When all the above is tracked, trended, and analyzed, you will understand: which spaces in your building are used the most; which spaces don’t get used at all; and what type of spaces are over-used, potentially leading to resource constraint that your employees need to do their work. Trending the data across a building or campus will allow you to optimize your investment in changes to your real estate, perhaps allowing you to invest in a new way of using your space based on the best data sources available: your employees. That’s better than investing in a new building!

Powering LEDs through the Ethernet

The cost to implement an IOT lighting system can be reduced through the advancement in LED technology. Using LEDs reduce power consumption plus LED lights offer more options as to how to power those lights. LEDs are so efficient that it is possible to power them using an ethernet cord, eliminating a traditional power cord. Called Power Over Ethernet (POE), you can both control and power an LED light with one cord instead of two. The cost to install a power cord is the same as the cost to run Ethernet, and it eliminates the need for wireless or additional control wires in the fixtures – which results in a lower cost of installation. And using POE, light fixtures are suddenly accessible for IoT uses because they are connected to a two-way data line.

Once you have Ethernet connectivity to every fixture, the controllability and data collection opportunities sky rocket. You don’t need smart fixtures – you need just one centralized smart controller that sends, tracks, and trends fixture use. Once connected to a cloud-based interface, facility managers and building owners are granted instant information on their building utilization. Simply add POE technology to your next lighting upgrade, and you’ll open a whole new data source for your workplace design strategy team.

The wellness connection: how a POE- and IOT-connected lighting system contributes to an optimal work environment

POE- and IOT-connected LED fixtures can be used to increase health and wellbeing along with optimized energy performance. LEDs can modify the spectrum of light being supplied, which in combination with dimming capability, allows a lighting designer to optimize a space for human cognitive performance.

Humans evolved outdoors for thousands of years before moving inside to work under artificial lighting. People perform better, feel better, and enjoy their surroundings more when connected to nature. And natural light has thousands of permeations a minute, and constantly changes to reflect the time of day, weather, and surrounding surface reflections.

LEDs can be tuned to match the natural cycles of daylight, with blue hues in the morning giving way to red hues in the evening. This circadian lighting pattern allows interior spaces to mimic the natural rhythms of the outdoors. Programming artificial lighting to match natural light, has proven to improve cognitive performance. It can also help building occupants to wake up, fall asleep quicker at night, and stay refreshed longer.

The future is bright

IoT-connected lighting is more than a technology trend; IoT-connected lighting allows us to find new uses for old things and reframe our understanding of items that were once viewed as static. Lights, their power, and their controls can provide a rich data source that will allow you to optimize your real estate and your people, which improves the future of your business. IOT-connected lighting takes the guesswork out of many real estate needs, contributing to sustainability and wellness.

EMERALD SKYLINE PARTNERS WITH UGMO TECHNOLOGIES TO PROVIDE WIRELESS UNDERGROUND MONITORING AND WATER CONSERVATION TO COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES.

Posted on December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 by abrahamwien18

South Florida-based Emerald Skyline brings soil moisture data via UgMO wireless sensors to guarantee our clients never over or under water their property.

“In this economy and water shortage, installing UgMO is one of the smartest things I’ve done…” – Client

from Emerald Skyline Corporation

BOCA RATON, FL, December 18, 2017 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, Emerald Skyline announced that it has partnered with UgMO Technologies to provide innovative wireless underground soil moisture monitoring and eliminate over and under watering at commercial properties. Together, we provide savings in water, energy, and dollars.

UgMO™ soil sensors are the first wireless sensors that provide data for intelligent irrigation control. In fact, they measure temperature and moisture levels in real time 24 hours a day to allow for watering only in the zones that require water. Reducing landscape irrigation reduces one of the biggest areas of waste for commercial properties. Many commercial properties over-water by 30-to-300%.

This product is easy to install and works with most existing irrigation clocks. The equipment is installed at no cost leaving our clients with no capital investment. Savings can be seen immediately for a low fixed monthly payment that includes service and maintenance for the length of the contract and clients may cancel at any time.

The savings of irrigation water are between 20-80% that translates to high dollar amounts every year. The zone-by-zone intelligence guarantees monetary savings while maintaining the health and appearance of manicured grounds.

“We are always looking for ways to provide superior products and services to meet our clients sustainability and resiliency needs. We are pleased to add UgMO commercial irrigation management systems to Trex Fencing, ChargePoint EV charging stations and Blue Pillar Internet of Things powered by Aurora to the quality products Emerald Skyline provides to our clients and customers.” reports Abraham Wien, LEED AP O+M, Director of Architecture & Environmental Design for Emerald Skyline.

Don’t wait another season to start saving on water with this proven and effective solution for intelligent irrigation, and to raise the bar for environmental stewardship.

To find out more information about UgMO Advanced Irrigation at your building or facility, please contact Abraham Wien at [email protected] or call us (305) 424-8704.

Developing a Water Management Plan

Posted on December 18, 2017 by abrahamwien18

By Paul L. Jones, CPA, LEED Green Associate
Director, Financial Advisory Services for Emerald Skyline Corporation

Water conservation has become a major source of savings for major industrial corporations:

Intel is installing a water recycling project at its Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro, Oregon. When complete, the facility will have the potential to recycle over a billion gallons of water annually while improving the quality of water that leaves the facility.
- Since 1998, Intel has conserved more than 52 billion gallons of water. In 2015, it saved 820 million gallons of water in Oregon through water conservation efforts.

Cummins, the engine manufacturer, has beaten its water conservation goal – to reduce water use intensity by 33% by 2010 – by achieving a 42% reduction in the third quarter of 2016.
- As a result, it has increased its facility water goal to a 50% intensity reduction by 2020 from a baseline of 2010. This revised goal represents a total water savings of 763 million gallons since the 2010 benchmark was established.

Ford Motor Co. has instituted water saving technologies at its Chicago Assembly Plant that aims to re-use 90% of water used in the pre-treatment process, reducing the need to use Chicago city water.
- Late last year, Ford updated its manufacturing water strategy which calls for an additional 30% reduction in water use per vehicle from 2015 to 2020 along with a long-term aspirational goal of zero drinkable water use in manufacturing.
- The company saved 10 billion gallons of water between 2000 and 2015, a decrease of 61% – by implementing new water-saving technologies in the manufacturing process.

A successful water management program starts with a comprehensive strategic plan. The process for developing a strategic plan is generally the same for an individual facility or an organization. The plan provides information about current water uses and charts a course for water efficiency improvements, conservation activities, and water-reduction goals. A strategic plan establishes the priorities and helps a site or organization allocate funding for water-efficiency projects that provides the biggest impact. Based on information from the Department of Energy, this article describes the general steps Emerald Skyline Corporation uses to create a water management plan for its clients.

Step 1 – Set an Overarching Policy and Goals

To develop a comprehensive strategic plan, the facility or organization should set specific water use reduction targets. The strategic plan should also include senior management support for water efficiency. This can be done in two ways:

Provide a written policy statement that ties water efficiency to the long-term operating objective of the facility or organization

Provide staff and financial resources to track water use, maintain equipment, and implement cost-effective water use reduction projects.

Step 2 – Access Current Water Uses and Costs

Understanding the current water uses and costs is essential to a comprehensive plan. This step involves collecting water and cost data and determining a baseline that will be used to calculate cost savings and determine overall water reduction potential associated with water-efficiency opportunities.

At the facility level, this task includes performing the following steps:

Determine the marginal per-unit cost of water and sewer service
Verify the appropriate rate structure is applied
Identify services the utility might provide to help manage water efficiently.

Utility information should include the following for potable and non-potable water, we obtain:

Contact information for all water and wastewater utilities
Current rate schedules and alternative schedules that are appropriate for a particular use or facility type to ensure the best rate
Copies of water and sewer bills for the past two years to identify inaccuracies and ensure the appropriate rate structure is applied
Information about rebates or technical assistance from the utilities to help with facility water planning and implementing water-efficiency programs. Energy utilities often offer assistance with water-efficiency programs
Production information if the facility produces its water or treats its own wastewater, or both.

After collecting water use data, we take the following steps:

Determine a baseline annual water use for a specific year or an average water use over several years. If monthly data are available, plot the monthly use over time. Is water use increasing, decreasing, or steady?
Try to determine what caused the major trends. Is there a seasonal pattern to water use? This is often the case when irrigation water is used or cooling water demand increases in the summer months. Analyzing the data in this way will help you understand current water use trends.

At the organization level, this step involves collecting detailed water use and cost data and real property inventory from all sites. When collecting this information, consider that you need to separately gather data about potable water use and industrial, landscaping, and agricultural water use (primarily non-potable water) that is associated with reduction targets.

Step 3: Develop a Water Balance

An important step in creating a water management plan is to establish a water balance for the facility or organization. A water balance compares the total water supply baseline (determined in Step 2) to water that is used by equipment and applications.

Estimate Water End Uses

Determining water use at the equipment or application level can be challenging. Most facilities have metered data for total water supply but may have limited or no sub-metering data about component uses. The following five steps outline the process for determining water use at the equipment level:

We create an inventory of all water-using activities using the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) best management practices(BMPs) list as a starting place to identify major equipment types (available upon request from Emerald Skyline Corp. or at the following link: https://energy.gov/eere/femp/best-management-practices-water-efficiency). During the audit, we tap the expertise of others at the facility who have direct knowledge of building mechanical systems and process equipment to generate a complete inventory.
We perform a walk-through audit of the facility to identify all significant water-using processes and associated operating characteristics. As part of the walk-through audit, we note the operating schedule, flow rate, model number, and condition for each piece of equipment. If need be, we also use a bucket and stopwatch and make a quick, rough estimate of equipment flow rate (e.g., faucets, showerheads, and once-though cooling). During the walk-through, we pay particular attention to drain lines that are plumbed to floor drains in building mechanical spaces and utility chases.

We trace these back to the originating equipment to make sure they are accounted for in the water balance.

For all water uses in the inventory, we obtain any available sub-metered data to help quantify the particular uses
Evaluate any seasonal patterns and compare them to the inventory of uses. Are any uses seasonal, such as cooling tower use or irrigation? The seasonal pattern of water use (peak use) can help quantify these uses
For unmetered water end uses, we create engineering estimates of water use. For example, estimate:
Water use from plumbing fixtures (toilets, urinals, faucets, and showerheads) based on the number of occupants and daily use per occupant
Cooling tower use based on cooling capacity and load factor (see BMP #10)
Irrigation water use based on irrigated area and inches of water applied
Operating equipment water use based on water use per cycle and frequency of cycles.

Develop the Water Balance

We can now create a water balance with the quantified water uses by major equipment type. Compare the sum of the end-use water consumption to the total supply. The difference between these two values represents the “losses” in the system (see figure). These losses may be a result of:

Water leaks in the distribution system or equipment
Inaccuracies in the engineering estimates used to determine equipment water use
Accounting errors such as poorly calibrated meters or unit conversion problems. If the losses are more than 10% of the total water supply, further investigation is probably warranted to determine the cause of the imbalance. This may include a comprehensive leak detection program.

This process will enable us to uncover the high-water-use activities, which will help you prioritize water-saving opportunities.

Step 4 – Assess Water Efficiency Opportunities and Economics

Based on the outcome of the water balance, the next step is to find ways to increase water efficiency and reduce water use. Use the FEMP BMPs for water efficiency as a starting point to identify operations and maintenance, retrofit, and replacement options for:

After we identify the water efficiency opportunities, we perform an economic analysis to determine if the projects are life cycle cost-effective. In this analysis, use the marginal water and sewer rates identified in step 2. We also include other related costs, such as energy and operations and maintenance changes, which resulted from the measure. For example, faucet and shower head retrofits save energy by reducing hot water use (and the electricity to heat the water).

We use the Building Life Cycle Cost Programs software to determine the economics of energy and water projects. Also, we determine the annual escalation rate of the marginal cost of water to escalate water costs in the future.

We ensure water supply, wastewater, storm water issues, and water efficiency BMPs are taken into account at the earliest stages of planning and design for renovation and new construction. We recommend developing equipment specifications that target water-efficient products so they are automatically purchased for retrofits, renovations, and new construction. As an example, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center implemented a product specification for water-efficient plumbing products.

Step 5- Develop an Implementation Plan

After identifying water efficiency projects that you want to pursue, we build an implementation plan which you may want to use this plan to:

Assign teams to be responsible for implementation
Prioritize projects based on targeted end uses
Project a date for installing efficiency measures
Project annual water use based on implemented efficiency projects
Identify potential funding sources.

The implementation plan should predict if water goals can be met by the site or organization by implementing cost-effective water-efficiency measures. The plan should also include education and outreach efforts for the building occupants to help reduce water use.

Often, a major hurdle in the planning process is finding funding for projects. Emerald Skyline will work on your behalf to identify sources of water efficiency rebates and project financing.

Step 6 – Measure Progress

Afterwards, as evidenced by the reports of Intel, Cummins and Ford, it is important to regularly review the strategic plan to make sure measures are implemented and goals are realistic and are being accomplished.

A key element of good water management is tracking water use. Install sub-meters on water-intensive processes, such as cooling towers and irrigation systems, to help manage these processes better and meet annual reporting requirements. You should assign someone to be responsible for tracking ongoing water use. Continue to plot total water use as new water bills become available. Also plot any available sub-metered data. Evaluate trends and investigate and resolve any unexpected deviations in water use. Track water use reductions and publicize your success.

Step 7 – Plan for Contingencies

Consider including water emergency and drought contingency plans that describe how your facility or organization will meet minimum water needs during emergency, drought, or other water shortages. Consider assessing the site for future water availability risks that are associated with climate change. At the organization level, this information can be used to target sites that have or may have water availability risks to help prioritize sites for funding water-efficiency projects.

Information Source

The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy within Federal Energy Management Program provides a detailed description for the development of a Water Management Plan (https://energy.gov/eere/femp/developing-water-management-plan) including Best Management Practices (“BMP”) water efficiency. The information provided is appropriate for both private and public facilities.

Businesses Are Facing a New Reality. These Are the Ones That Are Succeeding.

Posted on November 28, 2017November 28, 2017 by abrahamwien18

They’re taking responsibility for their effect on people and the environment.

By Peter Lacy
View the original article here.

Astrid Stawiarz Getty Images for UN Global Compact

Evidence is mounting to show that the frequency and ferocity of extreme weather events is intensifying on a global scale. From severe droughts to powerful storms, we are living in an increasingly changeable, uncertain, and unpredictable world.

You don’t have to believe in climate change to accept this new reality. Resilience and the ability to manage challenges impacting us and our environment are of far greater importance to both business and society. Take the recent destructive hurricanes in the U.S. and the Caribbean, or the devastating floods in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh that represent a stark example of this new reality and of our growing vulnerability.

The role of business within this new reality is changing. Businesses have a critical role to play in helping solve the challenges we face through providing services and solutions that support society. In fact, businesses that do not adapt their models run the risk of eroding trust and ultimately, forfeiting customer loyalty.

Uncertainty in the world—from extreme events, to declining natural resources, to the changing skills required for employment—gives forward-thinking C-suite leaders an opportunity to adopt conscious capitalism through the incorporation of key elements like trust, collaboration, and stakeholder orientation into day-to-day business practices. And, as consumers increasingly demand that their brands reflect these objectives, companies that want to remain competitive will need to adapt by joining the circular economy.

At its most basic, the circular economy replaces the current wasteful linear economic model. Instead of organizations relying on finite resources, they conduct sustainable business. They find renewable resources. They remove waste at every stage, from sourcing to recycling—creating a business model that restores and regenerates, rather than depletes and throws away. They look at how products are made, who makes them, and where, as well as how those same products are recycled or sustainably retired. In fact, adopting a circular economy model is not simply about products and services but also the way we do business as companies. It presents an opportunity to move beyond simply meeting sustainability standards to a solution that transforms the current model of business and one that can create a competitive advantage for the leaders.

Leading companies are still innovating, but now in a way that takes responsibility for their effect on people, the environment, and the state of our world. And they have realized that—contrary to popular belief—doing so can still be profitable. Accenture research shows a potential $4.5 trillion reward for achieving sustainable businesses by 2030. And a number of companies are already making progress toward this aim.

Rubicon Global, for instance, a pioneering U.S.-based waste management company that connects customers directly with independent waste haulers, is disrupting the current waste disposal model to reduce waste to landfill, while passing on $1 million in savings to its clients across 80,000 locations.

Nike, another leading example, is rapidly transitioning toward its closed-loop vision with a bold target for FY2020: zero waste from contract footwear manufacturing going to landfill or incineration without energy recovery. To date, 70% of all Nike (NKE, -0.43%) footwear and apparel incorporates recycled materials, using 29 high-performance, closed-loop materials made from factory scraps.

As the circular economy and conscious capitalism take hold, the C-suite is taking note: 64% of UN Global Compact CEOs say sustainability issues play a central role in their strategic planning and business development, while 59% of CEOs report that their company can accurately quantify the business value created through their sustainability initiatives, up from 38% in 2013.

The circular economy, a critical aspect of this change, is already happening—so much so that the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders, in collaboration with Accenture Strategy and in partnership with Fortune, recognize leaders through The Circulars, the world’s leading circular economy award program. The Circulars, presented each year at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, attracts entries from individuals and organizations across business and civil society, from global giants such as Unilever to innovative startups such as Method. A winner at The Circulars in 2015, Method was built on wholly circular and sustainable principles, ensuring 75% of its products are cradle-to-cradle certified, meaning they are designed and produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Method has eliminated countless toxic chemicals from homes by using natural inputs.

These are just a few examples of organizations driving value through circular economy innovation—there are many more. In a world in which conscious capitalism is becoming mainstream, the circular economy has a significant role to play in enabling businesses to make the transition whilst continuing to deliver value to customers, shareholders, and society. As more businesses take the lead, the opportunity that the circular economy represents will become a reality.