Richard shares his research at virtual EGU General Assembly 2021

Richard, a postdoctoral researcher in our Bangor team, has been attending the European Geosciences Union’s (EGU) 2021 General Assembly this week, as well as presenting and discussing his work. Usually held in Vienna, this year’s conference is being conducted online due to the ongoing global pandemic, providing a fantastic opportunity to disseminate Dŵr Uisce research to a wide global audience. Indeed, the event is one of the largest gatherings of geosciences related researchers in Europe, with the EGU having over 20,000 members.

Whilst participating in the conference, Richard has attended many sessions from various EGU divisions such as hydrological sciences, climate (past, present and future), and energy resources and the environment. The work presented here has been highly interesting, and has furthered Richard’s knowledge, research scope, and contacts, all of which will bring great benefit to his Dŵr Uisce research. In addition, new avenues of research have been explored, and ideas generated for future work and new methods.

Richard also presented his latest research which explores the impact of climate change on water abstraction for the purposes of public water supply and hydroelectric power in Wales. As with all contributions at this year’s assembly, Richard’s took the form of a vPICO (virtual Presentation of Interactive COntent), consisting a two-minute live presentation of a single slide, followed by a breakout room, allowing in-depth discussions of the work. This was a highly valuable experience, allowing for both the engagement of a broad audience and detailed discussions and conversations on the research, methods, and implications. In addition, a 15-minute pre-recorded presentation of the research has been available throughout the conference to EGU members, and will be accessible until the 30th May, allowing for even greater interaction with and comment on the research.

This has been a highly valuable opportunity for Richard and the Dŵr Uisce project, allowing access to some of the leading researchers in the field, enabling comment and opinions on the presented work and future plans. Thanks must go to the organisers of the General Assembly, as well as the funders of the Dŵr Uisce project, the European Regional Development Fund through Interreg Ireland-Wales Cooperation Programme.

Another great achievement from one of our Bangor Team Members

Richard passes his PhD defence

Richard, from our Bangor University Team, successfully defended his PhD thesis at his Viva on the 10th of December, passing with minor corrections.

His thesis, entitled ‘Climate change and Welsh catchments: Implications for hydrological regime, water quality and water abstraction’ , explores how historical and future climate change has impacted, and will continue to impact, on river systems in Wales, and their exploitation as a water resource.

Following his final submission, Richard said, “I have learnt a lot in the past four years, not only about water resources, climate change, hydrological modelling and data analysis, but also about being a successful researcher. This is thanks to my supervisors, the wider project team, and the opportunities I have been afforded thanks to the funders, to all of whom I’m very grateful.”

Looking to the future, he continued, “I have enjoyed working towards my PhD, and am now excited to move the research in a new direction, focussing on the implications of projected climate change on the technologies and other research being studied as part of the Dŵr Uisce project.”

Richard is now continuing his research with Dŵr Uisce as a postdoctoral researcher, his current focus is a national scale assessment of the impacts of climate change induced streamflow alterations on the abstraction of water for run-off-river hydropower operations in the UK and Ireland.

Front page of Richard’s PhD Thesis

Richard would like to thank his supervisors, Dr Sopan Patil and Dr Prysor Williams, his Viva committee, Professor Dave Chadwick (Chair), Dr Graham Bird (Internal Examiner), and Professor Neil Macdonald (External Examiner), as well as the Dŵr Uisce Project funders, the European Regional Development Fund through Interreg Ireland-Wales Cooperation Programme.

Launch of Dwr Uisce Heat Recovery Toolkit

By Isabel Schestak

The Heat Recovery Toolkit was launched on March 24 2021!

Designed to support commercial kitchens interested in recovering heat from their drain water, it was introduced to the participants of our sustainability webinar “RECOVERING HEAT FROM DRAIN WATER - MAKING IT HAPPEN”. Participants had the opportunity to test the tool using either their own kitchen data or a set of data provide by our team.

Recovering heat from drain water has been estimated to be financially viable for 90% of commercial kitchens in the UK. Apart from delivering savings in energy costs, it is also a great way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use and make kitchen operations greener, contributing to climate change mitigation targets..

The toolkit is specifically designed for commercial kitchens, including all types of food outlets, such as restaurants, pubs, cafés, or canteens, including catering in schools, universities, hospitals or care homes.

The users can learn about the potential heat recoverable from their kitchens, operational cost savings and installation costs, as well as the potential carbon emissions saved. Only little data required to get an individual estimate of how suitable a kitchen is for drain water heat recovery: data on water consumption or number of meals served and on the currently used energy for hot water.

The heat recovery system considered in the toolkit uses a simple double walled copper pipe as heat exchanger for direct heat recovery – no heat pump needed. The heat exchanger is easy to install wherever a part of the kitchen drainpipe can be replaced and has been widely used for shower heat recovery, for which it was originally designed.

Didn’t have the chance to attend our webinar? Don’t worry. The toolkit is now available in our Cluster Members Only Area together with the recording of the webinar. Not a member? More details on how to become a member here. To join, click here.

You can contact Isabel (Isabel.schestak@bangor.ac.uk) or Roberta (bellinir@tcd.ie) for any questions feedback or expressions of interest to collaborate. If you think you or your organisation would benefit from a live online demonstration session of the toolkit and more background on heat recovery from kitchens, we are available to discuss it further. As part of our Business Support service, we can carry out assessments for heat recovery for free. Contact us!

An advanced design of a grease trap system is on its pace

Our researcher in the Trinity Team, Dr Ajeet Pratap Singh, has been exploring various avenues by carrying out a series of assessment to come up with a hybrid grease trap (GT) integrated with a thermal recovery unit to harness the maximum potential amount of heat embedded in the wastewater. The hybridization will improve the grease removal efficiency of the GT and the new optimized design of the thermal recovery unit will harness a larger amount of energy from the wastewater inside the GT which has, so far, been flushed down the sewer.

He says: ’A high temperature gradient looks very fruitful for considerable thermal recapture. I am currently digging into every possible aspect to come up with innovative solutions and to seek the best opportunities to make a versatile device in a more economical way’.

The research approach involves experimental as well as computational methods in order to explore the concept in full. Based on the encouraging outcomes of the initial stages, it can be expected that the system’s ability to recover heat will result in lower energy demand for water heating by the primary heating unit (in most cases a boiler). This would also mean lower energy bills for domestic and industrial kitchens and commercial food services outlets, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, where the main energy source is fossil-based.

These objectives well fit in with the EU Green Deal policy in which the wastewater sector is recognized as a vast source of renewable energy and its recovery certainly minimizes the net primary heating demands of various sectors.

Glimpses of the ongoing research: lab testing of the hybrid grease trap designs

Join us on 23 February 2021 at 2pm for a panelist discussion on heat recovery potential of leisure centres

Join us on 23 February 2021 at 2pm for a panelist discussion on

Heat recovery potential of leisure centres: opportunities, challenges, and risks

Description

Climate change poses significant challenges and the global community is not on track to meet sustainable development targets or the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change. The Covid-19 pandemic and necessary government measures to curb the spread of the virus has put climate action on hold and shut down economies. The need for improved ventilation as an important mitigating factor against the risk of Covid-19 transmission has additional implications for costs and emissions for businesses.   

Leisure centres, as large users of water and energy, are faced with high operational costs and will also be generating significant emissions of greenhouse gases. However, heat recovery technology can yield very significant reductions in water and water-related energy demands and costs without impacting service quality and delivery. These reductions can be a promising response to the current challenges of climate change and post Covid-19 economic recovery.

To discuss energy demands in leisure centres and the important contributions to emissions and cost reductions that can be made through heat recovery, the Dŵr Uisce project (https://www.dwr-uisce.eu/) is hosting an expert panel discussion on heat recovery as one of the several ways these reductions can be made.

The panellists will be discussing a range of questions and some of the current opportunities, challenges, and risks associated with installing heat recovery in leisure centres in order to promote conversation and ideas on how leisure centres can take action that can save costs and improve their environmental footprint in the process.

Objectives

The objectives of the panel discussion are:

•   To introduce our research on heat recovery in leisure centres to key stakeholders

• To discuss possible options to these challenges of climate change and post Covid-19 economic recovery

• To develop partnerships and a network of people working on reducing the operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions associated with leisure centres

Themes: Climate change, climate action, heat recovery, post Covid-19 recovery, sustainability

REGISTER HERE.

Mae'r newid yn yr hinsawdd yn cyflwyno heriau sylweddol ac nid yw’r gymuned fyd-eang ar y trywydd iawn i gyrraedd targedau datblygu cynaliadwy na Chytundeb Paris i liniaru'r newid yn yr hinsawdd. Mae pandemig Covid-19 a mesurau angenrheidiol y llywodraeth i leihau lledaeniad y feirws wedi golygu bod camau i weithredu o blaid yr hinsawdd yn cael eu gohirio a’r economi wedi dioddef yn enbyd. Mae’r angen am well awyru fel ffactor lliniaru pwysig yn erbyn y risg o drosglwyddo Covid-19 yn arwain at oblygiadau ychwanegol o ran costau ac allyriadau ychwanegol i fusnesau.  

Mae canolfannau hamdden, sy’n defnyddio llawer o ddŵr ac ynni, yn gyson yn wynebu costau gweithredu uchel ac maent yn gyfrifol am allyriadau sylweddol o nwyon tŷ gwydr. Fodd bynnag, gall technoleg i adfer gwres arwain at ostyngiadau sylweddol iawn yn y galw am ddŵr ac ynni sy’n gysylltiedig â dŵr, yn ogystal a chostau cysylltiedig heb effeithio ar ansawdd a darpariaeth y gwasanaeth. Gall y gostyngiadau hyn fod yn ymateb addawol i heriau presennol y newid yn yr hinsawdd ac adferiad economaidd ar ôl Covid-19.

I drafod gofynion ynni mewn canolfannau hamdden a’r cyfraniadau pwysig i allyriadau a lleihau costau y gellir eu gwneud drwy adfer gwres, mae prosiect Dŵr Uisce (https://www.dwr-uisce.eu/) yn cynnal trafodaeth banel arbenigol ar adfer gwres fel un o’r ffyrdd niferus y gellir gwneud y gostyngiadau hyn.

Bydd y panelwyr yn trafod amrywiaeth o gwestiynau ac yn rhoi sylw i rai o’r cyfleoedd, yr heriau a’r risgiau presennol sy’n gysylltiedig ag adfer gwres mewn canolfannau hamdden er mwyn hybu sgyrsiau am adnoddau a syniadau ynghylch sut gall canolfannau hamdden arbed costau a gwella eu ôl troed amgylcheddol yn y broses.

Amcanion trafodaeth y panel yw:

• Cyflwyno ein ymchwil ar adfer gwres mewn canolfannau hamdden i randdeiliaid allweddol

• I drafod camau posib fel atebion i’r heriau presennol y newid yn yr hinsawdd ac adferiad economaidd ar ôl Covid-19

• Datblygu partneriaethau a rhwydwaith o randdeiliaid allweddol sy’n gweithio ar leihau allyriadau a chostau gweithredu sy’n gysylltiedig â chanolfannau hamdden

Themâu: Newid yn yr hinsawdd, gweithredu o blaid yr hinsawdd, adfer gwres, adfer ar ôl Covid-19, cynaliadwyedd

COFRESTRWCH YMA.

Heat recovery potential of leisure centres

Opportunities, challenges, and risks

Free Dwr Uisce Sustainability Webinar Series 2021- Programme is out NOW!

We are pleased to let you know that the programme for the Sustainability Webinar Series 2021 is now available.

Three themes - four webinars to introduce you to research based practical solutions to improve energy efficiency in the water sector.

Click here to download the full programme. For more details on each webinar, read here.

Attendance is free. Tickets can be reserved on line here:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/dwr-uisce-project-32064856741

Dwr Uisce Newsletter - Winter Edition

Our Winter Newsletter is out!

Read here all about the latest updates and great achievements during the last quarter of 2020!

You can sign up to receive our Newsletters here: https://www.dwr-uisce.eu/newsletters.

Enjoy!

Press Release

Funds saved by energy recovery technology donated to the charity Wells of Life Ireland

Tuesday December 8th 2020 was a cold but sunny day in Rathnure, Co. Wexford. It was also the day members of the Dwr Uisce Team, Blackstairs Group Water Scheme, National Federation of Group Water Schemes, and staff of EPS Water were waiting to mark a number of great achievements.

Photo: Pump as Turbine at the inlet of the raw water tank at Blackstairs WTP

The micro-hydropower energy recovery system at Blackstairs Group Water Scheme (GWS) Water Treatment Plant has been in operation for over a year. Installed to recover energy by means of a ‘pump as turbine’ (PAT), it was to produce electricity at significantly lower cost than conventional turbines. It was also to reduce the carbon footprint of the water supply scheme and generate monetary savings. That is what has happened! Over the past 12 months, the PAT has produced almost 15,600 kWh of electricity, corresponding to 3.6 tonnes CO2 equivalent and €2037 saved!

Thinking differently, the Blackstairs GWS Committee and EPS Group decided that the funds saved by the energy recovery installation would be donated to a charity. The charity of choice is called Wells of Life Ireland. Its mission is to provide financial and technical support for drilling and reconditioning community water wells in rural Uganda.

Ms Dympna Skelton, Blackstairs GWS General Manager, explained: ‘When the idea came to donate to a charity we chose another water focused organisation. It is great to extend the positive results achieved by the Dŵr Uisce project by helping people in another part of the globe. It enhances our own mission of providing clean safe water to the community’.

On the occasion, Jerome O’ Sullivan (Group Energy Manager of EPS) on behalf of Blackstairs GWS, handed over the cheque for the sum of €2037 to Mr. Aidan Jordan, Operations Manager of Wells of Life Ireland.

Photo: Official handover of the cheque. (Left to right, front row: Mr Jerome O’ Sullivan EPS, Mr Aidan Jordan, Wells of Life Ireland, and Ms Dympna Skelton Blackstairs GWS; back row: Prof Paul Coughlan, TCD, Mr. Padraic Dunne, EPS, Mr David Logue, EPS, Prof Aonghus McNabola TCD, Ms Roisin Dowd Smith, NFGWS, Mr Oliver Neville, Blackstairs GWS, Mr. Mike Reddy, Blackstairs GWS Committee, and Mr Benny McDonagh, LIT)

When asked about how the funds will be used, Mr Jordan said: ‘The amount we received today corresponds to two thirds of what is needed to recondition an old well in a rural community in Uganda that will provide 20 years of fresh water for 1000 people’.

Trinity Professor, Aonghus McNabola highlighted the important role played by the positive responses given by all stakeholders throughout the duration of the project from idea conception to implementation and ongoing management of the energy recovery system. He said: ‘A single ‘NO’ to the idea would have made all of this impossible; all parties have fully supported the Dŵr Uisce energy recovery project from the start. It is a great example of collaboration and partnership between industry, community and academia to achieve real sustainable technology innovation for the water sector’.

In expressing his appreciation for the achievement, Trinity Professor, Paul Coughlan said: “The initiative demonstrates mission extension in action. We see a non-profit community water organisation extending the geographical boundary of its mission to support a charity bringing safe drinking water to a community in another part of the globe”.

The Blackstairs Group Water Scheme Pump-As-Turbine Pilot plant and the development of the technology and design software on which it relies was funded by the Interreg Ireland Wales Programme 2014-2020 through the Dŵr Uisce Project.

Exploring the relationship between economic growth and the environment

The goal of all nations is to achieve sustainable economic development. With economic development comes increase in production which has an impact on energy use of the country. Higher economic output has resulted in higher energy consumption thus increasing emissions. Richer countries, however, have more resources available to invest in energy effect technologies to reduce their environmental imprint. We investigated the relationship between economic growth and the environment for 26 EU countries, using the hypothesis postulated for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), which assumes an inverted-U shape relationship between economic growth and environment.

The goal of all nations is to achieve sustainable economic development. Energy sources and their use in production processes have had a great impact on a country’s economic growth. The knowledge of a relation between economic growth and the environment is considered to be extremely important for effective strategy development with regards to environment and energy that support sustainable development. Thus, the relationship between energy use and economic growth has been examined in detail; however contradictory results appear in the literature (Doğan et al., 2020).

Kraft and Kraft (1978) were amongst the first researchers to explore the relationship between economic growth and energy use. The connection between economic growth and energy use presented with four hypothesis: first, the growth hypothesis assumed that increasing the use of energy would increase economic development. The hypothesis stated that economic growth increased with increased energy consumption as the energy consumption could be taken as an indicator of its usage in production process implying increase in production output (Kraft and Kraft, 1978, Bowden and Payne, 2010). The second hypothesis, conservation hypothesis, assumed that energy consumption was determined by economic growth (Abosedra and Baghestani, 1989). The third hypothesis is of feedback where a bidirectional relation exists between energy and economic growth (Shahbaz et al., 2020). The last hypothesis is of neutrality where no relationship between the two exists (Soytas et al., 2007).

The four different hypothesis that link energy use and economic growth indicate that the notion of ‘one size fits all’ does not apply. The relationship between the two has been described though Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The curve took the form of inverted U-shape between economic growth and environmental pressures. The EKC hypothesis stated that the emissions are expected to rise with economic growth until a certain point is reached after which the improvement in economic growth lead to an improvement in the environment.

Different indicators have been used to measure environmental pressure and economic growth. Taking the example of 26 EU countries, we measured energy consumption per capita as a proxy for environmental pressure as emissions are directly related to energy use. The variable of GDP per capita was taken as a proxy for economic growth.

Figure 1 plots the GDP per capita for 26 EU countries from 2010 to 2018 against energy use per capita. We used the EU 26 countries in aims to test the hypothesis of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) was tested for the 26 EU countries. The visual representation shows that there is as presence of inverted-U shaped curve though it is slightly left-skewed.

Figure 1: The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)

This suggested that as the countries experience economic growth, the deterioration of environment decreases and becomes less of an issue. The improvement in economic growth of a country is a generally a result of an increase in economic activity which leads to environmental degradation due to energy use. As the countries become richer, their environmental awareness increases and so does the demand for environmental regulations. Richer countries are also willing to invest more in R&D to develop energy efficient technologies that limit the use of dirty fuel and promote clean energy.

However, using GDP per capita as a single proxy of economic growth cannot accurately reflect the differences and disparity amongst the countries. Even countries on the same level of economic development can have different production processes through interaction of different inputs. Thus, a country’s overall economic growth is not only depended on its production output but also by other factors such as infrastructure, education, health, energy structure and urbanization. So, to further understand the relationship between economic growth and environmental pressures for the 26 sample EU countries, future research needs to be carried out to understand the diversity among countries.

References:

ABOSEDRA, S. & BAGHESTANI, H. 1989. NEW EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNITED STATES ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT. The Journal of Energy and Development, 14, 285-292.

BOWDEN, N. & PAYNE, J. E. 2010. Sectoral Analysis of the Causal Relationship Between Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Consumption and Real Output in the US. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, 5, 400-408.

DOĞAN, B., BALSALOBRE-LORENTE, D. & NASIR, M. A. 2020. European commitment to COP21 and the role of energy consumption, FDI, trade and economic complexity in sustaining economic growth. Journal of Environmental Management, 273, 111146.

KRAFT, J. & KRAFT, A. 1978. On the Relationship Between Energy and GNP. The Journal of Energy and Development, 3, 401-403.

SHAHBAZ, M., SHAFIULLAH, M., KHALID, U. & SONG, M. 2020. A nonparametric analysis of energy environmental Kuznets Curve in Chinese Provinces. Energy Economics, 89, 104814.

SOYTAS, U., SARI, R. & EWING, B. T. 2007. Energy consumption, income, and carbon emissions in the United States. Ecological Economics, 62, 482-489.

Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) – How the EU is harmonising LCA to help consumers decide

In October, Isabel participated in the online training on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF).

The PEF has been initiated by the European Commission to establish more detailed and harmonised guidelines for conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The objective is to make environmental footprints undertaken by different practitioners more comparable across products. The guidelines reduce the number of decisions that need to be taken by the LCA practitioner, reducing the scope for error and value judgement: which processes and steps of the life cycle of the product do I take into account? Where shall I source production data such as input material or energy from? How do I analyse the results in order to find all relevant environmental hotspots? The PEF gives answers.

In order to shed light on the jungle of PEF rules, PRé consultants - the developers of the modelling software SimaPro - organised a one week training course. Participants learned about the guidelines established so far and ongoing discussions, as PEF is still under development. Most likely PEF will become a compulsory methodology for companies who want to certify the environmental performance of their products to consumers in Europe. We will then be able to judge which beer or T-shirt is the more environmentally responsible choice.

Even if practitioners choose not to conduct an official, certified PEF, many of the specific PEF guidelines may be adhered to out of simple good LCA practice. Following this week long course, Isabel has developed new ideas on how to refine her current and future LCA studies. Last but not least, she learned new tricks in the use of SimaPro software.

Thanks to our funders for supporting Isabel’s participation in the training. Also thanks to the great instructors Laura Golsteijn and Marisa Vieira and all participants for a very interactive and fun workshop!