All Topics  
Sustainable community energy system

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Sustainable community energy system
 
 
  Topics Sustainable community energy system Topic Home

A sustainable community energy system is an integrated approach to supplying a local community with its energy requirements from renewable energy
Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tidal energy and geothermal energy—which are Renewable resource ....
 or high-efficiency co-generation energy sources. The approach can be seen as a development of the distributed generation
Distributed generation

Distributed generation, also called on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources....
 concept.

Such systems are based on a combination of district heating
District heating

District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating....
, district cooling, plus 'electricity generation islands' that are interlinked via a private wire electricity system (largely bypassing the normal power grid to cut transmission losses and charges, as well as increasing the robustness of the system).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Sustainable community energy system'
Start a new discussion about 'Sustainable community energy system'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A sustainable community energy system is an integrated approach to supplying a local community with its energy requirements from renewable energy
Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tidal energy and geothermal energy—which are Renewable resource ....
 or high-efficiency co-generation energy sources. The approach can be seen as a development of the distributed generation
Distributed generation

Distributed generation, also called on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources....
 concept.

Such systems are based on a combination of district heating
District heating

District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating....
, district cooling, plus 'electricity generation islands' that are interlinked via a private wire electricity system (largely bypassing the normal power grid to cut transmission losses and charges, as well as increasing the robustness of the system). The surplus from one generating island can therefore be used to make up the deficit at another.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 the first sustainable community energy system was pioneered by Woking
Woking

Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding Non-metropolitan district, located in the west of Surrey, England....
 Borough
Borough

A borough is an administrative division of various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
 Council
Municipality

A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them....
, starting in 1991. The system uses traditional and a phosphoric acid fuel cell
Phosphoric-acid fuel cell

Phosphoric acid fuel cells are a type of fuel cell that uses liquid phosphoric acid as an electrolyte. The electrodes are made of carbon paper coated with a finely-dispersed platinum catalyst, which make them expensive to manufacture....
  co-generation plants, thermal storage, heat fired absorption cooling and photovoltaics
Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the application of solar cells for energy by converting sunlight directly into electricity....
 (over 9% of the UK's small capacity), to supply both residential and non-residential customers, as well as the Council's own facilities. By end of 2005 there were over 60 generating islands in the Borough.

Despite the investment in the plant, the system delivers cheaper energy than can be supplied from the traditional 'brown energy' suppliers, helping to tackle fuel poverty
Fuel poverty

A fuel poor household is one which cannot afford to keep adequately warm at reasonable cost. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although the concept also applies in much of Eastern Europe and the USA....
. It is part of a plan to cut local carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 emissions by 60% by 2050 and by 80% by 2100. Their initiatives won the Council the Queen's Award for Enterprise
Queen's Award for Enterprise

The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for United Kingdom businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development....
 in 2002 .

The London Climate Change Agency
London Climate Change Agency

The London Climate Change Agency Limited , a municipal company owned by the London Development Agency that works in partnership with private sector companies to design, finance, construct, own and operate Distributed generation low energy and zero-carbon projects for London, as well as providing services to others....
 is starting to construct a similar system in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.

See also

Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom

Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom have been receiving increased attention over recent years. Key factors behind this are the UK Government's commitment to reducing carbon dioxide, the projected 'energy gap' in electricity generation, and the increasing reliance on imports to meet national energy needs....


External links