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Keeping you up to speed
Every day, energy is headline news. Sustainability being an indispensable aspect. And presumably very relevant to your busy daily life. Quite a challenge to keep up with!
Ecofys is on top of this, as we've been for decades. We'd like to update you regularly on our progress. Without spending your valuable time. It should be useful to you.
Therefore, this newsletter. Quick to read, with easy access to more info or direct contact. We trust it is valuable to you. Feel free to give your feedback or unsubscribe at any time.
Yours, sincerely
Freerk Bisschop
Director
For more information or your reaction, you may contact Freerk Bisschop via email.
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In this newsletter:
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Illustration of the Decision Support System (DSS), showing CO2 sources and storage locations |
Carbon Capture and Storage moves centre stage
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a hot topic in the search for solutions to global warming. Ecofys is participating in CATO – the most important CCS programme in the Netherlands with a budget of €25 million.
Energy mix
Together with Utrecht University, we are responsible for exploring the potential role of CCS in the future energy mix in the Netherlands. We are also involved in organizing public consultations on CCS. This project, which started at the beginning of 2004, will run for five years.
Energy infrastructure
We have also been commissioned to work on a CSS project for EnergieNed/VROM/EZ. Here we will focus on infrastructure (mainly on transport, but also on stakeholder consultation and implementation). We are responsible for overall project coordination, which includes work by KEMA on CO2 capture and TNO studies on CO2 storage. In November 2006 the outcome of this project will be presented at the 2nd Dutch Conference on Clean Fossil Fuels.
Decision support
At European level there is also interest. We signed a contract for the European GeoCapacity project – a follow-up to the GESTCO project, which will provide more in-depth analysis of the potential for underground CO2 storage in Europe. We are involved in developing a sophisticated Decision Support System (see illustration). This project will run for three years.
Electric power and hydrogen – the way ahead?
We are participating in another European project which includes a pre-feasibility study, identifying suitable technologies, conditions and locations for a large-scale plant designed to generate electric power and hydrogen, while capturing and storing CO2. This future-oriented project will also run for three years.
For more information, please contact Chris Hendriks.
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Heat pumps boost energy efficiency
Numerous jobs are being created by installing heat pumps in the following Dutch urban areas: Waddinxveen - Centrumplan, Groot Zonnehoeve - Apeldoorn, Mannee - Goes, Westerkwartier - Zuidhorn, Blaricummermeent - Blaricum, Utrecht - Transwijk.
Together with property developer William Properties, Waddinxveen municipality is installing a new central source of sustainable energy based on heat pumps. We are managing the tendering and we hope to finalise contracts by the end of the year.
Apeldoorn municipality is developing a 650-unit housing estate at Groot Zonnehoeve. We managed the tendering process, as well as contract negotiations for supplying heat pumps for these houses.
Goes municipality is developing a new area called Mannee with 360-380 houses and 6,000m2 of service facilities including educational, child care and service centres. We will handle the tender procedure for building and managing the energy infrastructure, which will use heat pumps. This is a follow-up to a similar project called Ouverture, where we helped ensure a reliable supply of sustainable heat and cold.
We supported Wiertsema & Partners in a technical and economical feasibility study for a heat pump concept at their new Westerkwartier service centre in Zuidhorn, where the housing corporation is building 309 units. Our study shows that heat pumps are feasible for this project.
Blaricum municipality is planning a new housing estate (850 units) combined with a 12-hectare Business Park called Blaricummermeent. We were asked to set up a tender procedure for providing an energy infrastructure based on heat pumps.
The Bo-Ex Housing Corporation in Utrecht has commissioned Ecofys to write a business plan for a sustainable heat pump project for an apartment complex that will be combined with commercial buildings and care facilities. The innovative aspect of the project is that the housing corporation intends to set up its own utility company for the realisation and exploitation of the project.
For more information, please contact Arjen van der Meer.
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Is palm oil production sustainable?
Biofuels can significantly reduce carbon emissions. We carried out a risk analysis for a number of multinational companies on the use of palm oil as a cost-effective feedstock for biodiesel production. We looked at the sustainability of palm oil production, the expansion of plantations, and the indirect connection with deforestation.
We also assessed the suitability of the palm oil sustainability standard (RSPO) for guaranteeing sustainability in the future. We advised on how companies can best achieve a sustainable palm oil supply and evaluated a broad range of biofuels, including the environmental performance of the total supply chain.
Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance were quantified using an ISO calculation method (% improvement in comparison with fossil fuels). Land use was described and quantified. For example, the use of nitrogen fertiliser is very energy-intensive.
The effects on issues such as biodiversity, competition for land (e.g. for food production), the local environment (the impact on water supplies, nutrients and soil erosion), as well as local, regional and national social and economic effects are all taken into account.
For more information, please contact Erik van den Heuvel.
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Energy efficiency assignment for Japan
We have been asked by CRIEPI (a Japanese research institute that works for electricity generators) to update an earlier comparative analysis of the energy efficiency of fossil-fuel fired power stations in Scandinavia, Japan, US, China, India, Australia, Germany, France, South Korea, United Kingdom and Ireland. A new element in this study will be to assess the impact of flue gas cleaning on power efficiency.
For more details of this study, contact Ernst Worrell.
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Energy in the Built Environment – a global concern
On 8 June 2006, cartoon character Bob the Builder met with European Energy Ministers and the EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs to launch a report we produced for EURIMA. The report, entitled Cost-effective climate protection in Europe's building stock, assesses the economic impact of various energy price scenarios.
Further European projects
We are providing tendering, front-end engineering, project management and quality control for an energetic retrofit of a large housing estate in Siegen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany for which we produced a retrofurbishment plan earlier this year. This included insulation, photovoltaics, solar domestic hot water and ventilation/heat recovery. The project, which is supported by the Ministry of Housing, is part of a programme called "50 solar housing estates in NRW".
Climate software in Poland
In Poland we won a contract from the Association of the Polish Energy Cities to assist a small Polish community in preparing its climate policy. We will use the European Climate Menu for this project, which will also give us an opportunity to present our CarMon software to Polish local authorities.
Low-energy buildings in the UK
We are providing consultancy support on the design of an innovative low-energy office building and developing a framework for a further two office developments for the Welsh Assembly government.
Managing energy systems in Canada
Golder Ecofys Solutions – with the support of Ecofys UK – is providing energy management services to Alberta Municipal Services Corporation in Canada. Around 100 cities with a total of 25,000 sites are participating in the programme.
A sound approach in China
We are setting up a joint venture Himin Ecofys Renewable Energy Solutions (HERES) between Ecofys and Himin Real Estate. In Mandarin this is called Hao Rui Su which, freely translated, means “Good thinking.”
For more details, please contact Kees Stap.
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How hard will the wind blow?
The rapid growth of wind power has boosted renewable electricity production, while significantly cutting CO2 emissions. However, as the proportion of wind power capacity in the grid increases, short-term imbalances can arise and back-up power is expensive.
Grid imbalance can now be prevented, thanks to short and medium-term wind power predictions for wind farm owners and grid operators. Weather forecasts are combined with site and wind farm-specific data to provide wind power predictions for individual or groups of wind turbines. Realisation data are used to constantly optimise settings, thus maximising predictability and minimising cost.
Ecofys currently supplies wind power forecasting services to clients in five European countries. Ecofys is cooperating with Meteo Consult, a leading weather forecasting consultant and supplier of commercial weather services.
For more information about WPS, please contact Geert Timmers.
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