Using "waste-water" for energy independence: Transcriptions I

A. Lisa Meline

Take 1:

The existing equipment here at 404 aviation boulevard is all rooftop equipment. So we have airconditioners, we have boilers; they are all up on the roof, they are exposed to the elements, when it is hot in the summertime the heat is pounding down on that equipment, um, and in the winter time when it is cold the same thing ; the difference is with this system we are bringing everything within the building or under... ground; all of the heat pumps are going to go up in the cieling space... it's within the conditioned space essentially of the building... which is going to ... um... help with the lifetime of that equipment but more than that we're actually coupled to the ground heat exchanger... all that pipe out under the parking lot ... that, um, provides us that constant tempered water source for operating those heat pumps. So the result is energy efficiency and longer lifetime of that equipment...

Take 2:

So there are very... there are many benefits to geothermal heat pump systems. Some of the benefits include that it is an all electric system, so there's no gas... required for heating; the same heat pumps that do heating also do cooling... the controls for operating those geothermal heat pumps are very simple, they are simple thermostatic controls in most cases that simply respond to the needs of the people in that particular zone ... um... ... we have the ability to both heat and cool at the same time so an example... a good example is right here in this building ... in the morning the east side of the building ... now let's talk summertime, the east side of the building gets warm, the air conditioning comes on ... with the conventional system the whole building is getting air conditioning at whatever the hottest part of the building is wanting, and in reality the people on the other side of the building are now cool... are... are too cold. So with heat pumps we're able to turn down that airconditioning when we don't need it... we're able to simultaneously heat and cool , which is important, to provide good comfort for the building occupants ... um... and ... it... um... is more efficient use of energy ... so ... the.. we gain by moving those BTUs if you will around to where they are needed instead of just wasting them because we don't need them.


Take 3:


So there are several advantages to using a geothermal heat pump system. First of all it is a sustainable technology... we're ... using heat from the earth and we're rejecting heat to the earth so over the course of a year it's kind of a net zero on the earth... we're using that heat... you know... where we need it, when we need it. It's an all electric system ... so... we don't need any natural gas or any other petroleum based products on the site ... um... in the particular case of this building we already have solar panels on the roof so we take advantage of using that electric source for the building. All electric system. We have... um... individual heat pump control. Each of the heat pumps throughout the building have been located in the cieling space rather than up on the roof where the current equipment is... it... it... allows that equipment to be accessed, it allows us to provide the local people within those spaces with the temperature that they require... and because we're able to do that we're... (cut)


Take 4:


So one of the advantages of a geothermal heat pump system is that it is a sustainable technology. In the case of this project at 404 Aviation boulevard... um... we're going to this system that is all electric which is an added benefit to us because we have solar panels already existing on the roof! And that is a renewable technology, something that we can use right now... we also have the advantage of not requiring any petroleum based products now on the site so we're ... ah... our carbon footprint has therefore been reduced. And then another benefit that I particularly like is that the controls for these systems can be very simple ... you just need a thermostat on the wall to control the therm... the heat pump when it should come on or off, and that's all there is to it; you don't have to measure pressure differences and temperature differences and flow rates ... it's on or it's off! And that is not just easy for the users but easy for the people have to maintain those systems.



B: Dale

Take 1:

"We're taking the renewable energy concept of heating and cooling buildings that we are doing at this building here ... and... broadening it to the entire business park.

Take 2:


"We're taking the renewable energy concept of heating and cooling buildings that we're doing at this particular building and we're broadening it to the entire business park "


Take 3:


At the Airport-Larkfield-Wickiup Santitations own wastewater treatment plant we process 100... 1 million gallons per day ... let me start that over...


Take 4:

We're taking the renewable energy technique for heating and cooling this building at 404 Aviation and broadening that technology to the entire business park . At our Airport-Larkfield-Wickiup Santitation Zone Wastewater treatment plant we process 1 million gallons a day of tertiary treated micro-filtered water. That water is stored in two one hundred million gallon storage ponds. We're going to take that water, pump it throughout the business park, the people in the business park will use that water to pass through heating and cooling equipment at their buildings, typically water cooled heat pumps to provide both heating and cooling... they can also use that recycled water for irrigation ... as a non-potable source on their... on their landscapes... and also for... non-potable uses within their building such as for toilet water..

Take 5:

The pipes in the ground, unlike other District energy systems, they don't need to be insulated... its much cheaper to put pipes in the ground that are uninsulated... that adds to the heat exchange between the water system and the earth itself...

Take 6:

The renewable energy concept of heating and cooling buildings....

Take 7:

The renewable energy concept that we are using here at this building at 404 Aviation where we heat and cool our building with ... geothermal energy to the whole business park... what we're gonna do .. is take recycled water from our waste treatment plant... our Airport-Larkfield-Wickiup Santitation Zone Wastewater Treatment Plant processes 1 million gallons per day of tertiary treated micro-filtered water. That water... ah... which we would pump from the treatment plant would go in a loop throughout the business park... the buildings within the business park could tie into that loop and use that water to heat and cool their buildings they could also use that recycled water to irrigate their landscapes and to be used in non-potable sources such as toilets within their buildings.

Take 8:

Typical district energy systems have heating and cooling machines back at the central energy plant; we'll use our wastewater treatment plant as the energy plant. The typical system has four insulated pipes, two for chilled water, two for hot water. We'll only need two pipes and those pipes will not need to be insulated. The content of those pipes in OUR system will be recycled water. That recycled wat --- one of the pipes will distribute recycled water into the business park the other pipe will return the recycled water back to the treatment plant. At the treatment plant where it is stored in the two one-hundred million gallon storage ponds, that energy can then be dissipated into the earth on the banks and on the floor of the storage pond, and the mass of water within the storage pond provides additional attenuation of that heating and cooling from the business park.

Take 9:

It should save a lot of materials and construction costs, should be much less capital cost to construct, uh... the water cooled distributing the water cooled technology to the buildings what... rather than centralizing it and allowing different uh, uh, machinery out at the uh business park buildings to... to perform that function should save a lot of energy

Take 10:

Within the business park with everybody using a similar technology the local mechanics will become well versed... they'll be stocked in the appropriate parts, turn around time should be very quick in whether its parts or the capability of a mechanic to be in the area... keeps the economy local, keeps the jobs local... that's what we want that's what we're trying to do partly with this program. Uh... the building owners within the business park can use the Sonoma county energy independence program to fund their retrofits of their buildings; the recycled water loop... we're looking at California Energy Commission, Department of Energy, and Clean Water Act, State Revolving Fund Monies to fund that... which we can get at a much cheaper rate than any private utility, private entity would be able to... to get.

Take 11:

The more people we have participate, in the regional energy exchange program...

Take 12:

As more and more business owners and tenants within the business park participate in the program ... more and more participants in the program ... uh... will help us realize the economies of scale and...

Take 13:

Typically recycled water can be used in business parks; it's been done before, uh... the doubling up of using recycled water for landscaping irrigation and for heating and cooling and non-potable uses and buildings hasn't been done yet. We're embarking on this new idea of sharing these resources and by sharing the ... the physical properties of water, both its ability to irrigate and its abilities to transfer heating and cooling...heat sink to a centralized location ... that concept hasn't been done before. Doubling up those systems allows us to not have a recycled water pipeline, chilled water pipelines and and heating water pair of pipelines. We can do all of that with just two pipelines, one supply of recycled water, one return, and all that's returning is either the hot or the cold water, dissipated from the... from the energy systems on the buildings. The other water can be used, it's useful water. And that water that we're providing that's recycled is offsetting the, the potable water used which typically has to be pumped three, four times farther than the recycled water. The recycled water treatment plant is within a mile or two of most of these buildings. Getting that water for a... a beneficial use within the business parks allows the business park owners to save money both on their potable water costs which comes from the local municipalities which draw it from the Russian River which is three or four times the distance therefore three or four times the cost... allows them to realize that savings. So not only in potable water use and water use but also in energy savings by using water cooled equipment in the business park they should be expected to save... up to 50% of their heating and cooling costs for their buildings and eliminate their natural gas costs, thereby eliminating greenhouse gases and lower greenhouse gases for our use as well.

Take 14:

The people that participate... sooner... the more it allows us to realize the economies of scale... uh... and help us to pay back the infrastructure that's put in place... by having a larger resource base, it's just like in water and wastewater systems... the larger the resource base is that's using that, the lower the per unit cost is for all those users. The cost to put the pipe in the ground is the same, regardless of who's participating. The more people we get to participate in the program the more we can make the unit rate that everyone is paying to use that water be lowered such that everyone in the business park benefits.

Take 15:

Most pipelines in the ground have a life of 50 years; most HVAC systems have a 10 to 20 year life ; this pipeline will be in the ground 50 years, we expect to even more than that so people do not need to jump on board right away; we would like them to... it would help us move forward and get the availability for people to save energy sooner, uh... however the pipe's gonna be there for a long time; that pipeline in the ground will still be able to de... to deliver water so this this won't just be part of a given building's energy saving retrofits today... it will be there for their energy saving retrofits 15, 20 years from now and 15, 20 years after that as well they'll realize future savings, not just savings now but long term savings down the road.

Take 16:

In the recycled water distribution loops we would have stub-outs to every single building so every building would have the opportunity to hook up; every building would need some sort of water meter to document how much water they're taking and temperature in and out so we can document how much energy they are using; we would probably have a co-op or an assessment district where they would be charged not only on how much recycled water they're consuming but on how much energy they're consuming as determined by temperature in temperature out, and flow rate through the system. Ah... they would prob... we don't have this figured out just yet but they would be charged based on those two uses: consumption and energy use.

Take 17:

In this particular building we'll have, uh, as a demonstration project we'll show the ... how our recycled water pumps , or, our water pumps that pump water through the HVAC systems within the cieling space ... and go through the ... uh... ground source loop in the parking lot... the building owners in the business park can come here, see that... they would realize they don't have to do what we have in the business park... they can hook up to the recycled water line, they would just need pumps and piping in their cieling space of whatever; it will be different for every building... but generally that's what it would take. So they would just draw water off of our two pipes in the ground...one to supply water to their building, one to return the water that's passed through; we'll take that water back tot he treatment plant, we'll dissipate the heat or the coldness that they've, that we've drawn from their building; they'll realize the energy savings on site, they don't have to dig up their parking lot, they don't have to put a pond in to dissipate that heat, they don't have to disrupt their parking lots such that... and park somewhere else and they can stay in business and just hook up, save months of time and months of capital costs. They'll buy into the communal heat sink which is at the treatment plant.

Take 18:

The bigger picture is we're looking to have this whole business park be net-zero energy. As other people have said, maybe Amy or Paul Kelley said, we're trying to... we're trying to make this business park go net zero energy wherein we lower our energy demand with ground source heat pumps primarily which is typically 50% of a buildings energy use; we can reduce that significantly and do other energy star lighting systems and other energy efficiency measures within the building to lower the overall energy use within the building. Within the business park. Then, the rest of the energy demand which will always be there, we want to meet that with renewables. If we can meet that with renewables then in the business park we hope to be the first business park in the U.S., certainly in Sonoma County, to be net zero energy.
Now whether we use the grid as sort of a storage buffer and sometimes we're producing more energy than we are drawing in, and whether we actually store it on site... store that renewable energy generated on site, that's less likely to happen, that gets pretty expensive but... it will probably be just net zero, not cut us off from the grid... approach.

Take 19:

We envision using solar, photovoltaic solar cells on top of most of the buildings, we have a lot of roof area... a lot of flat buildings in this area... perfect for solar, they get a lot of sunlight, they're not sloped in the wrong direction, they can all get plenty of sunlight on them, um, that's a wasted resource; if we can form sort of a co-op, we all buy into that renewable energy, and a smaller building happens to use more energy because they are a data center or what have you, a bigger building that is a warehouse is going to have more roof space on it; if we can buy in as a co-op to that renewable energy consumer choice aggregation collective... co-op, whatever you want to call it, that's one way, that's one concept we're pushing to.. to make this a zero net energy business park. But the first step is to form the assessment district and charge people for recycled water such that they are, that that recycled water cost that they are paying is less than their current energy cost. So by forming that assessment district that's the first step in providing the energy assessment district or co-op whatever you want... whatever it's going to be when it's developed. Then add renewables to that... uh... mechanism, such that, uh, everyone can share not only in the recycled water use and lower energies but in the renewable energy production and use... and do it on... if you supply more to the system you get credits, if you deduct more you pay a little more. Something like that.

Take 20:

Transportation factors into this as well. Uh... we have... uh, electric plug-in stations, 10 of them here at... I think it's ten... ten or more here at the water agency, we envision having more at our wastewater treatment plant; we'd like to use renewables to charge those cars and even use those electric vehicles as storage for some of that energy as well. So we've got the renewable energy component, we can store some of that energy when the cars are not being used, perhaps at night, and have the re.... solar power or wind power, whatever it may be, as they become developed and flourish a little more, not fluorish... as they... mature in this area and become better accepted.

Take 21:

We've been talking with a few small wind energy producers in... or, manufacturers in the area; we believe and we are looking towards, with some of the RESCO California Energy Commission Money, of putting in a... approximately a 10 Kilowatt turbine, either at the treatment plant or at this facility. More likely at the treatment plant because we know we could use the energy there, and although some of the studies by... uh.. by USGS or whoever, the, uh, National Wind Energy Association, shows the wind in this area to be moderate, not, not fair or good, more on the low end, we see the wind blowing all the time in here, every afternoon I ride my bike into the wind, just about every day, and I know its there, I think we can... high up, you know, 40 meters or whatever, we feel we can extract it without being an imposition on the airport, just nearbye, and you know that in, uh, Sonoma County there's more stringent regulations for larger wind turbines because a long time ago a couple of business owners said, uh... large property owners, I don't know if it was vineyards or what they said, uh, "I don't want you putting that in, it obstructs my view.. there's an aesthetics issue". So uh... yeah, we have the airport there, so there's a 10 Kilowatt max.

Take 22:

As a business owner in the area, and your business has been 10 or 15 years and you're HVAC equipment is ready to be retrofitted, its... you've got your money's worth out of it, you're a good candidate, one of the better candidates to hook up to our recycled water system and our geoexchange system; there will be... it'll be... you would need an engineering firm to evaluate what would need to be done to do that... you would, its probably easier just to swap out what you have in place, however, I can't guarantee, but I think I can save you a lot of money if you just use a water cooled system with the recycled water system. Uh... that's what we're banking on, that's what we're... if I had Johnson Control's feasibility study I would have an explicit answer for you... so I'm a little uncomfortable promising anything on that but...

Take 23:

There's usually going to be more disruption to put in ground source heat pumps because you're going to, you may have some existing duct work in your building and it could be that you can't just swap out what's in place; most heat pumps are made to be stored inside, not outside, because they can be, you know, whereas other equipment, because it's air cooled and just uses a fan to blow across condenser coils... they're usually loud, because fans are loud, and, um...

Take 24:

When we analyzed whether to go with Ground Source Heat Pumps in this building, we looked at it... how to go with ground source heat pumps at this building, we had a couple of choices. We could swap the one's on the roof out with three large units -- the 50 ton units on the roof could be replaced with three 20 ton units... tons being tons of cooling... tons of... you know, amount of energy required to melt a ton of ice basically, or cool, freeze a ton of water into ice. Um... we looked at that and that would have had less disruptions to the building and would have, uh, had less disruption to the tenants, however we would have still had the boiler which re-heats all the water, um... so it gave us less control... by going with the distributed heat pump system we saw an energy savings... I can't remember the payback but the payback was quicker on the approach we are using which is 46 ground source heat pumps surrounded throughout the building... uh... versus... uh, what would it be... six heat pumps up on the roof... uh... just didn't pay for itself. (end tape Dale 2)

Take 25: (Tape Engineers)

We're taking the concept that we are demonstrating here at 404 Aviation, the concept of geothermal renewable energy to heat and cool buildings, and scaling it up to the whole business park.

Take 26:
We're taking the concept that we are demonstrating here of providing heating and cooling with geothermal power using solar power for the balance of electricity and broadening that to the entire business park.

Take 27:

We're taking our demonstration project here at 404 Aviation which is to use solar power, a renewable energy, to run another renewable energy which is geothermal heat pumps and we are scaling that up to the entire business park.

Take 28:

We're taking the concept we are using here at 404 Aviation which is to use an all electric heating and cooling system powered by solar to run the equipment and powered also powered by geothermal energy; we're scaling that up to the entire business park.

Take 29:

We're taking the concept that we are using here at 404 Aviation which is to use solar powered HVAC equipment...

Take 30:

What's going on is we're taking the building specific concept that we're using here which is to use solar power to power equipment, we're using geothermal power, to run the HVAC system, we're scaling that up to the entire business park. (It's renewable power either way; even if we used biofuel it would be renewable power.)

Take 31:
We're taking the building specific concept that we're using here at 404 ... We're taking the building specific concept that we're using here at 404 to use an all electric, solar powered and geothermal powered HVAC heating and cooling system, broadening that, scaling it up to the entire business park by using recycled water.

Take 32: (VO only)
At the Airport Lakefield Wickiup Sanitation Zone Wastewater treatment plant we produce approximately 1 million gallons per day of micro-filtered tertiary treated water. That clean, recycled water is stored in two one hundred million gallon storage ponds; the solar arrays mounted on the banks of these storage ponds provide energy to run the treatment plant. For the regional geo-exchange project we'll pump the recycled water out into the business park where it will be used to provide a heating and cooling sink for water source heat pumps. The water will also be used for landscape irrigation and for non potable uses such as toilet water.