Sewers to Help Heat Olympic Village

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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Clif Heeney_6

Sewer to Help Heat Olympic Village

Here is an interesting article about a heat recovery system currently being constructed in Vancouver, BC.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6568517,00.html

I thought of my friend Mark Eatherton as soon as I read it.

Any thoughts on its effectiveness anyone?

ALH_4

Heat recovery

It depends on how they do it. Different bacteria exist at different temperatures, affecting the wastewater treatment process. However, once the wastewater is treated, temperature of the wastewater treatment plant effluent is no longer important, and the effluent is very clean. If they extract heat at that point, it could make sense. If they currently discharge to surface waters, cooling the effluent prior to discharge could be a desirable side-effect, particularly relating to nearby aquatic life. It sounds like the economics might be questionable with that kind of initial investment, but the "green" image could be very valuable.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

It's a Canadian thing

My grandfather and grandmother are Canadian, maybe that is where I got the inspiration for my grey water heat recovery. It is working pretty good- about 25% to 30% of the heat from the shower water back. It's been in for only 2 or 3 weeks, I'll post pictures and more on it in a couple of months when I'll know how stinky the grey water in the tank will get. Bob Gagnon

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GMcD

I'm watching this locally

That Olympic Village development is highly political as well. The City of Vancouver decided a long time ago that they wanted to use a central plant and district energy system for that project. Unfortunately, as I pointed out to the parties involved two years ago - the economic and load justification for the district energy plant was based on flawed assumptions of the new buildings using energy at conventional consumption averages. It was pointed out that if the buildings were designed so that they didn't need much energy in the first place, the district energy economics don't fly. Not what they wanted to hear.

Normally residential district energy systems use waste energy from a pre-existing process that has the energy to spare and that makes the economics work fine. Building a new energy plant with all the distribution infrastructure is very costly, and needs constant "big enough" loads from the buildings to pay for it all. Highly efficient buildings that don't use a lot of energy don't pay off very well for all that infrastructure.

The recent plan that was thrown out recently was a "bio-fuel heating plant" - it was to burn beetle killed pine wood pellets - we gots lots of beetle killed timber in BC now - need any "denim pine" anyone? The locals crapped all over that - "what?? - a smokestack in a residential high end neighborhood??"

So now they are back to one of the original schemes for the sewer heat exchange, based on a proprietary system from Switzerland, that has PE tubing cast into the concrete sewer pipes. Again- the economics don't add up. Why not recover the sewer heat at the source using things like the GFX drain recovery coils?

I know the design firms designing the buildings, and they are going to be pretty efficient buildings that won't require much heating or cooling inputs in the first place, so they won't be needing to draw much of the low grade heat energy off the sewer heat recovery plant. It's going to be interesting.

Clif Heeney_6

More Information?

Geoff,

Are you able to tell us any more details of the Swiss system?

GMcD

It's Rabtherm

Here's a link to some propaganda:

http://www.geoexchangebc.ca/pdf/friday/3B1_Urs_Studer.pdf

The intent is to use the low grade heat exchange of the sewer heat through a water to water heat pump plant to produce the district energy (low temperature heating circuit) to the buildings.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

sounds like a GSHP

poop-cicle!

Lyle C

Alt heat source

Bob , you should hurry up and patent that grey water heat recovery tank.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Waste Heat Recovery

Here is how I would recover some heat for the Olympic village. They haven't called yet, but I'll let you all know if they do. I don't think I could patent this Lyle. I don't see how I could stop people from doing this in their basement, and I wouldn't want to stop them. Bob Gagnon


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Weezbo

My buddy Richard and i thought through some way to use...

that material in another way...

Richard made a nozzle; to burn the sludge in an incinerator...to me, it is the integration of ideas and technologies that increases our control strategies...

[Deleted User]

Clif...

Thanks for thinking of me. I thought about you this weekend as well... Summer approaches. Humming birds have already arrived (about 3weeks early)

See you this summer my friend.

Here's a view from the roof of XanaX Ranch :-)

ME

Clif Heeney_6

XanaX Ranch

Mark,

That is some stock pond that you have just outside your back door ;-) Thanks for the panorama, it certainly brings back memories for me. Hope to see you this summer, probably early September if that works for you.

[Deleted User]

Works for me....

ME