Who would've thought that sewage could produce electricity? The University of Toronto's David Bagley did. (photo by Davide Gugliemo)
A Toronto researcher says most communities are underestimating a potential source of cheap electricity – raw sewage. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:
Transcript
A Toronto researcher says most communities are underestimating a potential source
of cheap electricity – raw sewage. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:
University of Toronto professor David Bagley collected waste water at a North
Toronto water treatment plant. He took the sewage into his lab, dried it and
then burned the solids to see how much energy they produced. He estimates the
energy produced from sewage at three treatment plants could produce more than
100 megawatts of electricity. That could be enough to keep a small town going
for a year. But Bagley says few take advantage of this resource.
“Our measurements show that there’s enough energy that we should be able to
completely offset the electricity needed to run the plant, and have extra
left over the send back to to the grid.”
Bagley finds communities are reluctant to invest in the equipment they’d
need to convert sewage into power. But he’s hoping to to design a cheaper
and more efficient system so more people can get the most out of their sewage.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.
The art deco style Mott Building is the tallest building in Flint, Michigan. Local chapters of the American Institute of Architects are trying to raise awareness about buildings like these in order to preserve them. (Photo by Ronald Campbell)
As people move to homes and businesses in the suburbs they often abandon beautiful buildings. Some inner cities are now filled with boarded up store fronts and dilapidated high-rises. A group of architects hopes that people will be less likely to do this if they value good architecture and design. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney has this story:
Transcript
As people move to homes and businesses in the suburbs they often abandon beautiful buildings. Some inner cities are now filled with boarded up store fronts and dilapidated high-rises. A group of architects hopes that people will be less likely to do this if they value good architecture and design. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Flint, Michigan could be the poster child for a city left behind. Parts of the city have crumbled since Flint’s
auto industry moved away. But like
many older cities, there are dozens
of architectural gems here… (sound up)
like the Mott Building. It’s the city’s
tallest building and the exterior, the
interior, and every detail right down
to the doors on the elevators (sound
of elevator) are designed and
decorated in the Art Deco style.
Albert Ashley is a security contractor
at the Mott Building. He says a week
doesn’t go by without someone
asking about it.
(elevator bings and boings)
“It’s quite regular, quite regular we
get comments about it and the
architectural design and so forth…
well they can tell that it was pretty
old building and well kept, you know,
and the design is pretty much the
same throughout the building, so they
notice that and they like it.”
(Sounds of traffic)
One person who has always liked this
building is Ron Campbell. As a child,
he’d stand here on the corner of
Saginaw Street waiting for the bus.
“I can remember asking my mother,
‘how many stories is that?’ And I
probably pestered her with questions
to the point where she was ‘just be
quiet and wait for the bus.’ But…
‘How high is that compared with the
Empire State Building? How many
buildings do we have like that?'”
With that kind of early interest in
buildings, it’s no surprise Ron
Campbell grew up to become an
architect. And he’s now written a
guide to the architecture in Flint.
It’s a pamphlet with pictures and
blurbs about 34 places in the city.
It’s available at highway rest stops
and at businesses and museums.
Campbell says he’s trying to
teach people about the various styles
of architecture found in the city, but
he’s also hoping the guide can in
some small way combat urban sprawl
by celebrating places that are
beautiful, well thought out, and
designed to last. He thinks that if
more people paid attention to good
architecture in many older cities
they’d be less likely to abandoned
them in favor of new buildings and
developments.
“The Guide is to show, you know,
‘here’s what
can come from good design. It
doesn’t matter if it was built in
1800’s or today. If it’s good design
and it interfaces well, it functions well,
it’s going to be with us, and therefore
we should use it and not think of it
as disposable.”
The Guide to Flint Architecture is one
of many projects local chapters of the
American Institute of Architects are
doing to raise awareness about
architecture and the environments
that we build. Similar guides have
been created for cities ranging from
Duluth, Minnesota to Manhattan.
Celeste Novak is the president of
AIA Michigan. She says the buildings
in a city can tell stories about the
community’s past.
“They are a museum that we are all
participants in, and so it’s important
that people understand that
about the buildings and the communities,
and so that they begin to treasure their
communities and that’s one way we
can all have more livable
communities and really prevent things
like sprawl and the unpleasant places
we all find ourselves at when we’re grocery shopping.”
Those strip malls and big box stores
near the highway look very different
from the places shown in Ron
Campbell’s guide.
(sound of footsteps on bridge)
Campbell and I walk across a small
wooden footbridge in the heart of
downtown Flint. We’ve just left a
peaceful riverfront park designed by
a well known architect. On the other
side of the river where we’re going
sits Carriagetown. It’s where the
vehicle industry began in Flint.
“Oh, Carriage Town is rich in history –
this is the birthplace of General Motors
Company with the Durant Dort
Carriage factory.”
After years of neglect, this factory
from the late 1800’s has been
restored as have many homes in this
historic district. Ron Campbell says
he’s glad Carriage Town was never
torn down. It’s part of the city’s
industrial history. And Carriage Town,
like the Art Deco Mott Building and
many other places in the Guide to
Flint Architecture are nostalgic places
for Ron Campbell. They’re reminders
of his past and things he’s done over
the years.
“Those buildings, it re-kindles
childhood memories for me, but then
I look at the future, and what are we
leaving for our children and our
children’s children and hopefully it’s
something just as memorable.”
He says design decisions can
change a community for better or for
worse. He and other architects like
him want to encourage people to
think about the buildings they have
and to pay more attention to
aesthetics. The hope is society can
do a better job protecting historical
structures, preserving natural
resources, and by doing so
controlling sprawl.
For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.
Two years ago, Oberlin College opened a new building that’s a radical departure from typical classroom architecture. Designed as a living laboratory of energy-efficiency and sustainable building techniques, the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies has been turning heads ever since. The building has won two national awards for its innovative design, which features a rooftop solar array and a biological wastewater treatment system. But one man – himself an Oberlin College professor – says the Lewis Center’s design is seriously flawed. He says the building can’t deliver on its promise of high performance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Schaefer reports:
Transcript
Two years ago, Oberlin College opened a new building that’s a radical departure from typical classroom architecture. Designed as a living laboratory of energy-efficiency and sustainable building techniques, the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies has been turning heads ever since. The building has won two national awards for its innovative design, which features a rooftop solar array and a biological wastewater
treatment system. But one man – himself an Oberlin College professor – says
the Lewis Center’s design is seriously flawed. He says the building can’t deliver on its promise of high performance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Schaefer reports:
The Lewis Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College is not your average college building. The curved roof of the building – designed by architect William McDonough – holds a massive array of solar panels that soak up the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity for heat and light. Instead of sending wastewater to the local sewage plant, the building has its own on-site treatment facility that uses biological components – called
a “living machine” – for final cleansing. Outside, a small wetland recreates the natural ecosystem on which Oberlin was built. Even the building’s materials were made from sustainable resources designed to have little or no impact on the environment or human health. None of it is cutting-edge technology. But the Lewis Center does integrate multiple ecological-design concepts that work together to make it environmentally-friendly. It’s one of just a handful of so-called high-performance buildings now beginning to dot the American landscape. In addition, it’s a building that was designed to evolve as new technologies came along. It’s no wonder Professor David Orr, the building’s originator, claimed bragging rights even before the Center opened.
“This is a building that purifies its own wastewater, powers itself by
sunlight, has eliminated toxic chemicals and compounds.”
But one man takes issue with the high-performance claims the building’s
creators have made. John Scofield is also an Oberlin professor. He teaches
in the physics department and focuses his research on solar energy.
Scofield says even before the Center was built, it was clear the building’s
basic design was flawed.
“The architect has said on several occasions that the building is designed to generate more energy than it uses and I don’t believe that’s correct.”
Scofield’s primary critique is of the building’s energy systems, particularly those devoted to heating and cooling. He says there’s a real disconnect between what the designers claim the building can accomplish and the way it’s actually performing.
“Well, I think first of all, that the building springs out of some wonderful ideas and I very much support the design intent for the building. No, my concern has been, I think, false hopes. The promises for the building and the way that it was sold were I think not really in line with the reality of the building for a long time.”
(Peterson) “I think one thing you have to consider is the difference between a long-term goal and short-term performance.”
John Peterson is a professor in the environmental studies program. He
oversees the Center’s day-to-day functions.
“I mean, I think where we are right now is in a good spot right now. I think we can take a lot of pride in how the building is performing right now. This last year, for instance, we exported a fair amount of energy onto the grid. We also imported a lot of energy onto the grid, but on balance, we produced 53-percent of the energy that was consumed in the
building.”
Peterson admits there were some design flaws in the Lewis Center’s heating system when it was first put on line. The college has just replaced a high-energy consumption electric boiler with a more energy-efficient heat pump, which is the building’s primary source of heat. Last year, slightly more than half the building’s energy consumption went to heating during what proved to be a relatively mild winter. Even though the net energy use was 37-percent better than other Oberlin campus buildings, the college has
called on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for help in improving the
system. Paul Torsellini is a senior engineer with the Lab’s High-Performance Building Group in Golden, Colorado. He says, considering it’s a building designed to push the outside of the envelope, the Lewis Center is performing well.
“There are certainly issues with that building, as well as any other building that we build today. You know, one of the things with building engineering, which is, you know, a little different than, say, building a car. You build a car and you build lots of them. As opposed to buildings where, every time you build a building, it’s basically a custom
application.”
And so each building comes with unique problems. The High-Performance Group team is expert in innovative building design. Torsellini says over the next few months, he’ll be evaluating exactly how well the energy components of the Lewis Center perform, monitoring both the energy that’s being created and the energy that’s being used by the building’s different systems. Along with Torsellini, critic John Scofield believes the building can eventually make good on its promise to produce more energy than it uses.
“There’s a great case now for net energy exporters called the space station. So if cost is no object, it’s not a problem making a net energy exporter.”
Torsellini says it all comes down to how you measure success.
“You know, somewhere on the order of 40, 50-percent of the energy comes off the roof of that building. What other building in Oberlin or in the state of Ohio even comes close to thinking about that?”
More hard data will be needed to calculate the Lewis Center’s overall performance. Everyone is looking forward to a scientific peer review process that should help clarify the building’s performance achievements. But even if it’s not exactly perfect, both supporters and critics of the Lewis Environmental Studies Center hope the building will prove to be a good investment in scientific and educational research.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Schaefer in Oberlin.
As a child you probably had a hiding place – a nook under the eaves of
your house or a hideout in the backyard. But today’s kids have fewer
chances to play in these places than earlier generations did. As the
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports there are some
designers at the University of Michigan who are starting to pay
attention to what children want when they play:
Homeowners are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of building
energy-efficient homes. But there’s a more recent movement to build
healthier houses as well. And it turns out – often these two features
can go hand-in-hand. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson
reports:
Wintertime in the Great Lakes offers exceptional recreational activities – everything
from ice fishing, to skiing, to snowshoeing. But if the dare-devil sport of luge
captured your imagination during the recent Winter Olympics, you’ll be glad to
know that you, yourself, can take a run. While there are only four luge facilities in
the entire country, the Great Lakes region is home to three of them. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson visited one, and has this report:
Who would've thought that sewage could produce electricity? The University of Toronto's David Bagley did. (photo by Davide Gugliemo)