So the ride home starts and another Euroland chapter is complete. This one is the start of a new major section: a transition from facility management to energy management and more specifically community microgrids.
Check out my eco-blog for a 'cultural crossroads' perspective.
I look forward to seeing the 'no smoking' sign at 30k feet upon entering California. As an ex-smoker, I abhor 2nd hand smoke. One of the most unappetizing aspects of Europe is the incessant smoking everywhere - except inside offices. Problem is everyone smokes just outside every building... there's no way to enter any building without smoking at least 1/2 a cigarette! Inside restaurants and bars they're not supposed to smoke. The saddest thing is to see the number of young kids smoking and trying to look cool. Thank you Hollywood. So my de-tox begins in a few hours. My rare, subtle headaches will be gone. And then again, maybe my brain has been on overload for a few weeks - continually balancing two languages and cultures.
I look forward to hi-altitude quality air and serenity of WinSol3.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Winding down
As another European sojourn comes to a close, I'd like to summarize a few things with my 'german brain'. As with every trip, this one was like none before.
The European Energy award was an insight worth the trip alone. The town of Virgen in Austria won it (see earlier blog) It looks for communal thinking on energy supply + distribution with a focus on sustainable renewables. Then there was Bad Aiblingen - i wish i had the wherewithal to have scheduled a meeting with contracting firm B+O and with the town's chamber of commerce... maybe next year.
But the overall success of this european trip for me was to experience the warmth of the community here, the unversity staff and faculty and most importantly the students. I did get some feedback that both of my presentations went over very well and caused some students to come up to me with comments.
One of the comments I really enjoyed was the student who indicated that his father is a farmer up the hill from here, and that my comment about 'Austrian farmers in the mountains would barely notice when the trucks stop (post peak oil)'... was not true. That the Austrian farms are now so dependent on the trucks and cars for supplies that they too would suffer. I did get the student to agree that it wouldn't take much for his father's farm to operate without external supplies.
I wonder how far European family farms have gone toward the fossil fuel driven economy without realizing it? From my first hand observations, I think not very far. At least the ones away from the large urban centers. Most small towns still have family butchers and bakers that have been in their families for hundreds of years.
Whenever I look at Europe, I have to realize that this culture is over 2500 years old. Our American culture is barely 400 years old.
There's something familiarly comfortable (gemuetlich) with an old culture that's integrated into modern technology. It works at tying communities together, yet on the other hand also creates age-old nationalistic tendencies.
We decimated our own very old culture - the native americans - and i know that i will be spending much more time in the next few years, trying to learn some of their knowledge of the land.
Two years ago, I came here with a unique concept called 'energy commons' and got absolutely no traction. This year, a matured concept of community microgrid got a bit more traction, but again many townships are already doing this. What's unique is the concept of not tying to the grid - what i've termed 'lazy renewable systems' which include solar PV and a grid tie-in.
Differences?
There are so many subtle differences between the European and American cultures, it is difficult to compare. There are probably way more similarities.
The one that always strikes me though is the subtle difference in Customer Service. Business here is different than in the USA daaaaa..... I had my baptism by fire with the regular business world almost a decade ago with a GMBH, and gave up trying to understand all the unique aspects after a couple years. Let's just say that the cat + mouse game between business + government is a bit more pronounced here and totally different than in the USA. Case law vs. Common Law: I was told by a high priced US lawyer that the Treaty of Geneva has several unique aspects. Government is not embedded here with business - there's no overwhelming lobbying like in the US. Labor is THE big difference here - as they actually have a saying and some control over business decisions.
It will be interesting next year, when the Winter student project deals with hotel (a service industry) and I'll be curious to see how much priority the customer gets behind the scenes in strategic planning from tomorrow's business leaders.
On the retail side of things: stores have their own little quirks - the one that always pisses me off is that any advertising (including posted prices) can be trumped by a computer and the computer is always right... no make that the customer is always wrong if they complain.
Trains are getting later than usual. German trains use to be a favorite punching bag for foreigners in that you could set your watch by their punctuality (as if that was a bad thing). Well, guess what? More and more trains have delays. I experienced on 94 minutes and one 25 minute late train this year... twice the normal! Last year I experienced my first german railway strike - set me back 9 hours.
Sports are so cool over here. I love watching world class soccer anytime... I'm watching Arsenal vs. Ashton V right now... and with the ski World Cup last weekend at 'Kitz' there were over 56,000 people there. TV sports usually has skiing, x-country skiing, ski jumping, soccer, handball or something like that on all the time. There are minimal commercials (they still tend to pack them together once an hour or so).
A personal note:
After a while, Europe always closes in on me. There is something tightening (engt) about the congestion, busyness, closeness, and general pace of life. Whenever i experience of long ques or traffic gridlock in the US - I just think about how much MORE there is of that here... imagine common freeway gridlock lasting over 10 miles: commonplace here. I saw it yesterday on the way back from Kitzbuhl. While I can find many, many wonderful walkways and peaceful hide-outs, mass humanity is never far away.
I yearn for the peace and quiet of Beserkeley... and of course my sanctuary in the mountains. And I also look forward to coming back. Is that contradictory? no - it just is.
The European Energy award was an insight worth the trip alone. The town of Virgen in Austria won it (see earlier blog) It looks for communal thinking on energy supply + distribution with a focus on sustainable renewables. Then there was Bad Aiblingen - i wish i had the wherewithal to have scheduled a meeting with contracting firm B+O and with the town's chamber of commerce... maybe next year.
But the overall success of this european trip for me was to experience the warmth of the community here, the unversity staff and faculty and most importantly the students. I did get some feedback that both of my presentations went over very well and caused some students to come up to me with comments.
One of the comments I really enjoyed was the student who indicated that his father is a farmer up the hill from here, and that my comment about 'Austrian farmers in the mountains would barely notice when the trucks stop (post peak oil)'... was not true. That the Austrian farms are now so dependent on the trucks and cars for supplies that they too would suffer. I did get the student to agree that it wouldn't take much for his father's farm to operate without external supplies.
I wonder how far European family farms have gone toward the fossil fuel driven economy without realizing it? From my first hand observations, I think not very far. At least the ones away from the large urban centers. Most small towns still have family butchers and bakers that have been in their families for hundreds of years.
Whenever I look at Europe, I have to realize that this culture is over 2500 years old. Our American culture is barely 400 years old.
There's something familiarly comfortable (gemuetlich) with an old culture that's integrated into modern technology. It works at tying communities together, yet on the other hand also creates age-old nationalistic tendencies.
We decimated our own very old culture - the native americans - and i know that i will be spending much more time in the next few years, trying to learn some of their knowledge of the land.
Two years ago, I came here with a unique concept called 'energy commons' and got absolutely no traction. This year, a matured concept of community microgrid got a bit more traction, but again many townships are already doing this. What's unique is the concept of not tying to the grid - what i've termed 'lazy renewable systems' which include solar PV and a grid tie-in.
Differences?
There are so many subtle differences between the European and American cultures, it is difficult to compare. There are probably way more similarities.
The one that always strikes me though is the subtle difference in Customer Service. Business here is different than in the USA daaaaa..... I had my baptism by fire with the regular business world almost a decade ago with a GMBH, and gave up trying to understand all the unique aspects after a couple years. Let's just say that the cat + mouse game between business + government is a bit more pronounced here and totally different than in the USA. Case law vs. Common Law: I was told by a high priced US lawyer that the Treaty of Geneva has several unique aspects. Government is not embedded here with business - there's no overwhelming lobbying like in the US. Labor is THE big difference here - as they actually have a saying and some control over business decisions.
It will be interesting next year, when the Winter student project deals with hotel (a service industry) and I'll be curious to see how much priority the customer gets behind the scenes in strategic planning from tomorrow's business leaders.
On the retail side of things: stores have their own little quirks - the one that always pisses me off is that any advertising (including posted prices) can be trumped by a computer and the computer is always right... no make that the customer is always wrong if they complain.
Trains are getting later than usual. German trains use to be a favorite punching bag for foreigners in that you could set your watch by their punctuality (as if that was a bad thing). Well, guess what? More and more trains have delays. I experienced on 94 minutes and one 25 minute late train this year... twice the normal! Last year I experienced my first german railway strike - set me back 9 hours.
Sports are so cool over here. I love watching world class soccer anytime... I'm watching Arsenal vs. Ashton V right now... and with the ski World Cup last weekend at 'Kitz' there were over 56,000 people there. TV sports usually has skiing, x-country skiing, ski jumping, soccer, handball or something like that on all the time. There are minimal commercials (they still tend to pack them together once an hour or so).
A personal note:
After a while, Europe always closes in on me. There is something tightening (engt) about the congestion, busyness, closeness, and general pace of life. Whenever i experience of long ques or traffic gridlock in the US - I just think about how much MORE there is of that here... imagine common freeway gridlock lasting over 10 miles: commonplace here. I saw it yesterday on the way back from Kitzbuhl. While I can find many, many wonderful walkways and peaceful hide-outs, mass humanity is never far away.
I yearn for the peace and quiet of Beserkeley... and of course my sanctuary in the mountains. And I also look forward to coming back. Is that contradictory? no - it just is.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
in the land of...
Europe is just loaded with public transportation, 90%+ plastic recycling, small cars going too fast, busy/busy/busy, congested, micromanaged sustainable parks everywhere, pedestrian priorities, mega walkways and bikeways everywhere, clean diesel (at the same price as regular gas!), on and on....
Over 70% of Europeans want the government to TOTALLY eliminate plastic bags and containers. In the store the other day I saw an entire display shelf of bio-kitchen utensils. This kind of 'bio' is different than ours. Bio here used to be synonymous with 'Demeter' or bio-dynamics... ala Rudolph Steiner/Waldorf type philosophy which is highly respected here and not some fringe group as viewed by some in the USA. These bio utensils were made from recycled other biodegradable things - a sort of second generation. They were primarily made of corn and root-beet products and designed to be reused and re-manufactured as such if the consumer wanted to discard it. WOW - that's a whole new generation of products. Cradle-to-Cradle is alive and well!
Over 70% of Europeans want the government to TOTALLY eliminate plastic bags and containers. In the store the other day I saw an entire display shelf of bio-kitchen utensils. This kind of 'bio' is different than ours. Bio here used to be synonymous with 'Demeter' or bio-dynamics... ala Rudolph Steiner/Waldorf type philosophy which is highly respected here and not some fringe group as viewed by some in the USA. These bio utensils were made from recycled other biodegradable things - a sort of second generation. They were primarily made of corn and root-beet products and designed to be reused and re-manufactured as such if the consumer wanted to discard it. WOW - that's a whole new generation of products. Cradle-to-Cradle is alive and well!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Catch-up Time: Tour Pictures
I have now recovered a bit from the 10 continuous work/activity days of the most dynamic learning experience I have ever been involved with - what a treat! I must say that this ole brain with its 600+TB hard drive has been a bit reformated, defragged and gotten a little higher access speed.
Here are a few pictures from the past week's Tuesday tours with explanations:
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The first few pictures are from Bad Aiblingen (see my Blog http://eurolearn12.blogspot.com/2012/01/vision-realized-cmg-community-microgrid.html)
This wooden house is an example of a European sustainable all-wood construction technique. To the far right there are 100% round logs attached to the siding, then 1/2 round logs, then 1/4 round logs as one moves toward the left, and then square boards.
Here's the official german write-up (google translated):
At the World Ski Championships in Winter 2011 the wooden pavilion standing in the pedestrian zone in Garmisch is reminiscent of a ''pile of wood" in its design and shape. That was the challenge for the students of the Institute for Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Biberach: the classic wood house should be re-interpreted. Under the direction of Prof. Matthias Loebermann, the students were show the various forms of wooden building material: from the tree trunk to the planed wooden section. The pavilion was built within the main topic "Experimental Build" and was of the Bavarian Forest Minister Helmut Brunner with the "Timber Price Bavaria 2010". The research project is thus one of the outstanding timber buildings in Bavaria. this house was once the wooden station for ticket sales in the Garmisch Winter 2011 Games and served as a focal point for information about the World Cup.
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This is FHS Rosenheim's entry into the USA Solar Decathlon competition. You can read and see more inside details of it here (click on this). Very cool sliding steel louvers which where computer controlled to let in maximum daylight and heating/cooling. The top of the house is covered with solar (both thermal + PV) collectors.
yours truly...
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Here's the entire group (Masters Students, Teachers, Coaches, tour guides, etc) at LilienHof in downtown Munich. The apartments behind us are the 'LilienHof' zero-energy buildings (ZEB) as described on the link here. These apartments' energy retrofits are heavily subsidized by the german government, and have plenty of support in R+D projects from the Fraunhofer Institute (yeah - the same guys that invented the mp3 format). My own thoughts were that the mechanical rooms had a bit too much hi-technology in them, and there would be a lot of maintenance and upkeep on such sophisticated technology. It contained one of the world's first large geothermal heat pumps driven directly by warm ground water.
Our last stop after LiLienHof was at Ernst+Young with an urban rail-yard redevelopment process where I was reacquainted with how the lucky 1% get to leverage 4% of their money into a 17% return.
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And here's a couple pictures of our international coaching and coordination team (along with some Norwegian students) and the last one: yours truly in the middle of a student advisement session (gee, am I really losing that much hair :-)??
Here are a few pictures from the past week's Tuesday tours with explanations:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first few pictures are from Bad Aiblingen (see my Blog http://eurolearn12.blogspot.com/2012/01/vision-realized-cmg-community-microgrid.html)
This wooden house is an example of a European sustainable all-wood construction technique. To the far right there are 100% round logs attached to the siding, then 1/2 round logs, then 1/4 round logs as one moves toward the left, and then square boards.
Here's the official german write-up (google translated):
At the World Ski Championships in Winter 2011 the wooden pavilion standing in the pedestrian zone in Garmisch is reminiscent of a ''pile of wood" in its design and shape. That was the challenge for the students of the Institute for Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Biberach: the classic wood house should be re-interpreted. Under the direction of Prof. Matthias Loebermann, the students were show the various forms of wooden building material: from the tree trunk to the planed wooden section. The pavilion was built within the main topic "Experimental Build" and was of the Bavarian Forest Minister Helmut Brunner with the "Timber Price Bavaria 2010". The research project is thus one of the outstanding timber buildings in Bavaria. this house was once the wooden station for ticket sales in the Garmisch Winter 2011 Games and served as a focal point for information about the World Cup.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is FHS Rosenheim's entry into the USA Solar Decathlon competition. You can read and see more inside details of it here (click on this). Very cool sliding steel louvers which where computer controlled to let in maximum daylight and heating/cooling. The top of the house is covered with solar (both thermal + PV) collectors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our last stop after LiLienHof was at Ernst+Young with an urban rail-yard redevelopment process where I was reacquainted with how the lucky 1% get to leverage 4% of their money into a 17% return.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
And here's a couple pictures of our international coaching and coordination team (along with some Norwegian students) and the last one: yours truly in the middle of a student advisement session (gee, am I really losing that much hair :-)??
Friday, January 20, 2012
a better CMG OMG ... like a virgen
A short blog update: Just got through attending an all 'German'... no make that all 'Austrian' language Energy discussion where the best cities were profiled regarding renewable energy... and the winner is 'Virgen'... Ok, I can see the next comment (thanks Trevor for the OMG connection :-)... being 'like a Virgen'... renewed for the very first time?? (yikes! a bit over/under the top? my adolescent apologies)
This City does it all... microhydro power from 3 rivers, big biomass CHP (Combined Heat + Power), zero energy and PassivHaus standard homes, geothermal heat pumps (GSHP)... along with a transportation infrastructure plan to reduce their overall CO2 footprint.
The city won a Gold Award in the Europe Energy City program for 2010... I'll blog more about it and other cities later. Most importantly, I am learning the analysis, GIS overlays, and infrastructure development process that engineering consulting firms and city planners go through in conceptualizing a 100% renewable energy city.
This gentleman did the presentation in a VERY HEAVY austrian accent and i got only about 20-30% of his speech but have access to all his powerpoints... truly AMAZING...
These cities (1-2000+ inhabitants) here are so, so far ahead of us on switching away from centralized grids and fossil based energy sources.
This City does it all... microhydro power from 3 rivers, big biomass CHP (Combined Heat + Power), zero energy and PassivHaus standard homes, geothermal heat pumps (GSHP)... along with a transportation infrastructure plan to reduce their overall CO2 footprint.
The city won a Gold Award in the Europe Energy City program for 2010... I'll blog more about it and other cities later. Most importantly, I am learning the analysis, GIS overlays, and infrastructure development process that engineering consulting firms and city planners go through in conceptualizing a 100% renewable energy city.
This gentleman did the presentation in a VERY HEAVY austrian accent and i got only about 20-30% of his speech but have access to all his powerpoints... truly AMAZING...
These cities (1-2000+ inhabitants) here are so, so far ahead of us on switching away from centralized grids and fossil based energy sources.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
the vision realized ... CMG.. community microgrid
WOW - what a field trip yesterday. A 12 hour day on a bus tour of zero-emission developments... and ONE site did the REAL THING... Bad Aiblingen. I mean they rock and rolled on everything regarding effective development, renewable energies, system integrations, business and construction management... and they are looking to hire 500 people in Germany because of increasing demand for the product. there's only one little problem with this re-developer: the company name is B+O... now who was their PR and marketing advisor - didn't anyone tell them what the Brits would consider BO to stand for?
My apologies for not being able to write further on this right now.. I'm in the middle of intense 6, 12 hour days and a bit tired... and conserving my own energies as much as possible to be available for student consultations all day today. So I will just share a web site and picture.
couple web links: B+O redevelopment company... has english version.
.... and German utube video showing the village
The short summary is that they use a 1000 hectare forest for biomass CHP, a 20 hectare corn field for biogas, large solar PV arrays and even larger solar hot water arrays... geothermal pre-heating, GSPH: ground source heat pumps... and a storage system that integrates all these renewable energies into one central control system with smart controls for distribution. like I said... WOW. It is possible to do community microgrids in a re-development AND for a commercial/industrial/residential 'eco-village'.... no that's a model for a truly sustainable future. There is hope!
I have not been on a facilities tour that got me this excited since 1988 when I first embarked on a career in facility management. Bad Aublingen eco-industrial park was TRULY inspiring. I hope to go back next week and spend an entire day looking around.
My apologies for not being able to write further on this right now.. I'm in the middle of intense 6, 12 hour days and a bit tired... and conserving my own energies as much as possible to be available for student consultations all day today. So I will just share a web site and picture.
couple web links: B+O redevelopment company... has english version.
.... and German utube video showing the village
The short summary is that they use a 1000 hectare forest for biomass CHP, a 20 hectare corn field for biogas, large solar PV arrays and even larger solar hot water arrays... geothermal pre-heating, GSPH: ground source heat pumps... and a storage system that integrates all these renewable energies into one central control system with smart controls for distribution. like I said... WOW. It is possible to do community microgrids in a re-development AND for a commercial/industrial/residential 'eco-village'.... no that's a model for a truly sustainable future. There is hope!
I have not been on a facilities tour that got me this excited since 1988 when I first embarked on a career in facility management. Bad Aublingen eco-industrial park was TRULY inspiring. I hope to go back next week and spend an entire day looking around.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
renewable energy ski lifts
In perusing around Austrian sustainability news (I'm preparing for a presentation at the Austrian university here tomorrow)... i ran across this little item: A ski lift powered by solar and wind. WOW! Take that Kirkwood and Sierra club.*... both fast asleep in approving this crazy power grab... no make that SNORINGly asleep. And it turns out that a couple resorts in North America are also doing this.
* This is in reference to the proposed (already received prelim approval from NSF) 20+ mile power line installation along the hwy88 corridor - because poor and ignorant and mis-managed Kirkwood can't seem to get its head out of its collective diesel generators.
What an ingenious concept: String the PV panels between the guy wires supporting the chairlift. Hey - the chair lift seats are even heated! The also seem to have another, larger ground mounted solar array for summertime activities.
It can even power the snowmaking equipment
----------------------------------------------------
So here's the translation of the article (which appeared in 'Der Spiegel' magazine about a month ago):
The first ski lift in the world in solar Tenna opened in the Grisons. At the facility, which replaced the small mountain village in Safiental a 40-year-old ski lift, allowing one run on the lift mast cable design, the solar panels are mounted directly on the ski lift. They will track the sun during the day and placed upright in snow.
The 460 meter long lift needed in a winter season 22,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and will, whenever possible, by operated by specially-produced solar power. Overall, it expects a profit of 90,000 kilowatt hours per year. The sale of surplus power is used to finance the new lifts, including the 420,000 francs solar system.
The Swiss ski resort is so popular. Energy is an increasingly important factor of production alpine skiing: more powerful and more comfortable lifts, some of which have heated seats, and the expansion of the snowmaking equipment drives power consumption ever higher. Rising prices means the operator is now increasingly looking for alternatives to electricity from the main grid. Thus they avoid rising costs and still achieve a good image.
Giant wind turbine instead of chairlift
For years, the weather station provided in the ski resort of Styria in Salzstiegl data on temperature, humidity and wind speed. They were used for the snow and weather report. Until part-time owner Friedl Kaltenegger noted that many of the best wind conditions would provide for the installation of a wind turbine.
Instead of a new chair lift, he has invested around € 2.1 million in a 105 meter high wind turbine. The energy supplied by the wind generator powered, five lifts, and the hotel Moasterhaus. Excess wind power is fed at night and during the summer in the local network.
Since the mountains blow much wind, they are ideal for this type of power generation. A plant with 1.5 MW capacity, as it stands at the Salzstiegl and also in Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts can provide a year around 4.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
Jiminy Peak has 20 km of slopes, 350 snow guns completely and a large part of it lit every night during the winter season to 10pm, the wind turbine covers a third of the annual energy use. It also increases revenue, because half of the electricity generated is fed into the net. An additional benefit is the saving of 3300 tonnes of CO2 per year.
A rotor as a viewing platform
A completely different additional benefits does the Grouse Mountain ski area above the Canadian metropolis of Vancouver from his windmill: The hub of the rotor was extended to viewing platform for visitors. The technology comes from South Tyrol, where there are also already some plants.
Problems in Europe are more an aesthetic issue than energy production issues. An alternative is to use small wind systems with so-called H-rotor, as the Swiss ski resort Sattel installed in 2010. Instead of sweeping propellers, which rotate around the horizontal axis, move the wing of an H-rotor about the vertical axis. The low and sleek plants produce less power, but are better aesthetically.
The wind is not the only resource that exists in the mountains. Even the sun shines longer on the peaks: the Zugspitze as 1850 hours per year, while there are only 1390 Bayrischzell hours. The Schmittenhöhebahn in Zell am See is currently investing 3.5 million euros in the construction of 6000 square meters of photovoltaic systems on mountain restaurants and other commercial buildings. Expected annually 900,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity, no less than ten percent of the demand of the company. In Winterberg in the Sauerland they feed a 5,000-square-meter photovoltaic system per year of "green" electricity into the grid, as much as the local snow machines need during the season for snow production.
Hydroelectric power for the fog horn
Wind and solar energy are weather dependent. During calm or overcast sky, it looks dim for the production of electricity. Here comes the water power into play. The infrastructure of the most energy-intensive snowmaking equipment can be used for hydropower production. The fog horn at Oberstdorf runs from February to November from the water stream through the main pipe lines of the snowmaking system.
After 200 meters to reach a maximum of 100 liters of water per second, a small, hidden turbine house is used. There, 16 blades are driven to produce 700,000 kWh of electricity per year. "That's enough to operate the main line of Oberstdorf in the fog horn peak," says Alfred Spötzl, technical manager of the railway. In the future, one looks forward to the fog horn because there are fewer guests, but you earn more money with the generation of electricity.
A special role in the transition to renewable energy could even use the numerous large ponds which were built to supply water to the snowmaking systems in the Alps. A study in the province of Salzburg came to the conclusion that the use would be economically feasible as a pumped-storage plants in about half of these ponds. A total of approximately 1070 megawatts of power could thus be installed, each with a standard capacity of 1.4 TWh year!
Such pumped storage plants are even more important with the increased usage of wind energy, biomass and photovoltaics.
* This is in reference to the proposed (already received prelim approval from NSF) 20+ mile power line installation along the hwy88 corridor - because poor and ignorant and mis-managed Kirkwood can't seem to get its head out of its collective diesel generators.
It can even power the snowmaking equipment
So here's the translation of the article (which appeared in 'Der Spiegel' magazine about a month ago):
The first ski lift in the world in solar Tenna opened in the Grisons. At the facility, which replaced the small mountain village in Safiental a 40-year-old ski lift, allowing one run on the lift mast cable design, the solar panels are mounted directly on the ski lift. They will track the sun during the day and placed upright in snow.
The 460 meter long lift needed in a winter season 22,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and will, whenever possible, by operated by specially-produced solar power. Overall, it expects a profit of 90,000 kilowatt hours per year. The sale of surplus power is used to finance the new lifts, including the 420,000 francs solar system.
The Swiss ski resort is so popular. Energy is an increasingly important factor of production alpine skiing: more powerful and more comfortable lifts, some of which have heated seats, and the expansion of the snowmaking equipment drives power consumption ever higher. Rising prices means the operator is now increasingly looking for alternatives to electricity from the main grid. Thus they avoid rising costs and still achieve a good image.
Giant wind turbine instead of chairlift
For years, the weather station provided in the ski resort of Styria in Salzstiegl data on temperature, humidity and wind speed. They were used for the snow and weather report. Until part-time owner Friedl Kaltenegger noted that many of the best wind conditions would provide for the installation of a wind turbine.
Instead of a new chair lift, he has invested around € 2.1 million in a 105 meter high wind turbine. The energy supplied by the wind generator powered, five lifts, and the hotel Moasterhaus. Excess wind power is fed at night and during the summer in the local network.
Since the mountains blow much wind, they are ideal for this type of power generation. A plant with 1.5 MW capacity, as it stands at the Salzstiegl and also in Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts can provide a year around 4.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
Jiminy Peak has 20 km of slopes, 350 snow guns completely and a large part of it lit every night during the winter season to 10pm, the wind turbine covers a third of the annual energy use. It also increases revenue, because half of the electricity generated is fed into the net. An additional benefit is the saving of 3300 tonnes of CO2 per year.
A rotor as a viewing platform
A completely different additional benefits does the Grouse Mountain ski area above the Canadian metropolis of Vancouver from his windmill: The hub of the rotor was extended to viewing platform for visitors. The technology comes from South Tyrol, where there are also already some plants.
Problems in Europe are more an aesthetic issue than energy production issues. An alternative is to use small wind systems with so-called H-rotor, as the Swiss ski resort Sattel installed in 2010. Instead of sweeping propellers, which rotate around the horizontal axis, move the wing of an H-rotor about the vertical axis. The low and sleek plants produce less power, but are better aesthetically.
The wind is not the only resource that exists in the mountains. Even the sun shines longer on the peaks: the Zugspitze as 1850 hours per year, while there are only 1390 Bayrischzell hours. The Schmittenhöhebahn in Zell am See is currently investing 3.5 million euros in the construction of 6000 square meters of photovoltaic systems on mountain restaurants and other commercial buildings. Expected annually 900,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity, no less than ten percent of the demand of the company. In Winterberg in the Sauerland they feed a 5,000-square-meter photovoltaic system per year of "green" electricity into the grid, as much as the local snow machines need during the season for snow production.
Hydroelectric power for the fog horn
Wind and solar energy are weather dependent. During calm or overcast sky, it looks dim for the production of electricity. Here comes the water power into play. The infrastructure of the most energy-intensive snowmaking equipment can be used for hydropower production. The fog horn at Oberstdorf runs from February to November from the water stream through the main pipe lines of the snowmaking system.
After 200 meters to reach a maximum of 100 liters of water per second, a small, hidden turbine house is used. There, 16 blades are driven to produce 700,000 kWh of electricity per year. "That's enough to operate the main line of Oberstdorf in the fog horn peak," says Alfred Spötzl, technical manager of the railway. In the future, one looks forward to the fog horn because there are fewer guests, but you earn more money with the generation of electricity.
A special role in the transition to renewable energy could even use the numerous large ponds which were built to supply water to the snowmaking systems in the Alps. A study in the province of Salzburg came to the conclusion that the use would be economically feasible as a pumped-storage plants in about half of these ponds. A total of approximately 1070 megawatts of power could thus be installed, each with a standard capacity of 1.4 TWh year!
Such pumped storage plants are even more important with the increased usage of wind energy, biomass and photovoltaics.
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