Hawaii in search of resilience

Resilience. It looks like the title of a science-fiction movie! It could be one day. For sure it is today a term which is used more and more when talking about the city of the future. What does resilience mean? In biology, the resilience is the capability of an ecosystem or specie to confront a shock and to return to normal after it. As for cities, the definition is quite the same; the shocks being social, economic or… climatic. 

“KNOW WHAT CAN BE EXPECTED, BETTER PREPARE, BETTER RESPONSE”

“Beaches are a great public resource here,” Samuel says. Samuel Lemmo is the Administrator of the Hawaiian Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands. “One of my key missions deals with coastal ecosystems, communities, and all issues related to our coastlines. Lots of people live in coastal areas in Hawaii. Erosion is already a massive problem. We also experience large-scale flooding in the low‐lying areas of the State. Climate changes and sea level rise are one of our main concerns.”

Samuel’s Office is part of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“In 2014, when by law a Hawaii Climate Adaptation Initiative was launched, it was decided that the lead agency would be my office,” Samuel explains. “Quickly I suggested starting a major job: prepare and release a report about sea level rise and Hawaii. We must make our home more resilient! Hawaii is the only island State of the US. Since the beginning of 20th century, the sea level has risen by more than 17cm. The report is a vulnerability and adaptation report. It aims at preparing us for future sea level rise and presenting recommendations to reduce our exposure to the hazards like erosion and flooding.

The Report will include the economic impact on structures, properties or natural resources. Displacing of the communities or relocation of roads will also be assessed. We want to use case studies to better explain the scenarios; we want the recommendations to be presented creatively and tactfully so that people do read them and understand them.”

A MORE COMPLETE MODELING

“Around ten people work on the preparation of the special report, not only from Conservation and Coastal Lands Office but also from the University of Hawaii School of Ocean Earth and Technology,” Samuel says. “Our local research aims to enhancing our assessments of how Hawaii will be impacted in regards to sea level rise. Our models should be a nice scientific contribution! Indeed they go further than what is usually performed. Traditionally modeling sea level rise has consisted only in projecting to the land the elevation of the sea. We go further. We add three additional parameters: erosion of the coast, passive inundation and annual high wave flooding. In regards to erosion, for instance, we input soil maps and geological data to model erosion effects.” Water spreads differently in contact with sand, volcanic porous rock or hard rock.

On the right, an illustration of passive inundation. Water can come from the ground! Especially if the ground is porous. Florida experiences the phenomenon, they call it sunny day flooding. ©Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands

“We have coral reefs here. They serve as a physical barrier. Well, if the level goes up, energy of the waves will not be stopped anymore, which means we will receive more powerful waves. They will go further landward.” Globally speaking, concerning changes in water-masses and air-masses, it is very complex for scientists to imagine all the induced consequences. Samuel concludes: “With the information, decision makers will be able to better prepare and better response. The report should be available end of this year.”

RESILIENCE

When we were in Sydney, Australia, we had the chance to meet with Kristin Gabriel who is the Manager of the Resilient Sydney project, for the City of Sydney. She could explain us that “Sydney joined the 100 Resilient Cities initiative in 2015.” The initiative, started by the Rockefeller Foundation, helps cities around the world becoming more resilient. “We identify two categories of disruption. First, chronic stresses refer to constant issues. It can be social cohesion or housing prices for instance. In Sydney, public transportation is an example of permanent concern. Some people are geographically disconnected from the city center because public transportation is not satisfactory there. This deficiency also affects the social cohesion and equality.

Kristin and Carolina.

Secondly we distinguish the acute shocks which refer to sudden events that threaten a city such as fires, floods or disease outbreaks. In the case of Sydney, extreme heat waves are the number one cause of deaths. Also we consider other climate extremes like storms and floods.” Sydney and Honolulu, Hawaii, are member cities in the 100 Resilient Cities network. We visited or will visit several others during our 2016/2017 trip: Singapore, Melbourne, Wellington, Christchurch and New York City.

A pumping station of Miami Beach. ©City of Miami Beach, Greg Allen/NP

©lafargeholcim-foundation

During the last decade, Florida had to deal with more and more floods and storms. Miami has started to adapt: the city builds higher streets, advanced drainage systems and water pumping stations. The city solutions inspire others, not only in order to face sea level rise, but also to face heavy rainfalls which will be more frequent in lots of regions around the world. In New York City, the Dryline, or BIG U, project consists in constructing a high-water barrier, protecting Manhattan from the rising waters. Year after year, the Big Apple experiences both stronger hurricanes and stronger snow storms. As we said in our previous article, in few decades the climate will have changed. In lots of cities around the world, the adaptation transformation has begun.

An elevated house, in Houston, Texas.

~~~

A nice chart presenting adaptation technologies for coastal areas, according to the Asian Development Bank. ©Asian Development Bank, 2014

~~~

Getting prepared for our meeting with Kristin, at City of Sydney Town Hall!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mauna Loa Observatory draws the rise

Mauna Loa active volcano, at the back,
is one of the largest volcanoes on Earth.

The third consecutive record-breaking year. For the first time in 2016, the hottest year on record occurred three times in a row. Our home Earth is warming. The rising temperatures are following rising concentrations of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. How are these concentrations measured? Being in Hawaii, we had the opportunity to learn more about it. Indeed, Hawaii Big Island is the home of Mauna Loa Observatory, a premier atmospheric research station which has been monitoring the atmospheric changes since 1958!

AN EXCLUSIVE PLACE ON THE GLOBE

“Back in the 1950's, the observatory was a flagship!” Aidan says. We had the chance to meet Aidan Colton who works at the Mauna Loa Observatory. Aidan is the Atmospheric Scientist of the station. Together with 7 colleagues, Aidan “makes sure that the advanced instruments keep running.” He explains: “The station measures the concentration of gases in the atmosphere. The concentrations we measure are considered as a baseline. There are no disturbances here. First, we are on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Secondly, the observatory stands at 3396 meters, on Mauna Loa volcano: we are far from sources which pollute the air, like big cities or industries.

We met Aidan at the Mauna Loa Observatory offices located in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The observatory is part of the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.

We follow simple but thorough methods to accurately measure not only carbon dioxide concentration but also several other gases. Most gases are measured on a weekly or daily basis. Three of them are measured continuously: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO). The collected data is processed in Boulder, Colorado. It is then released to the public so that scientists can use it for their research.”

A FIRST WHICH BECAME A FAMOUS CURVE

The Mauna Loa Observatory is a special place when it comes to atmospheric science and climate change. It was here that in the 1950’s Charles Keeling defined an “innovative method which provides accurate and consistent measurements”, Aidan says. “He started with CO2 concentrations. And since then, the observatory draws a curve which has become famous in the scientific world. This Keeling curve allows demonstrating that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased ever since.”

The Keeling curve constitutes the longest record of direct and continuous measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere. Besides the increase, the curve also shows that the concentrations vary throughout seasons. In summer, growing vegetation absorbs the carbon dioxide which is released by decaying vegetation during winter. The black curve represents the seasonally corrected data. ©NOAA

The latest data are available on the observatory website. The day we met with Aidan, the concentration of CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory was around 406 ppm (parts per million). The highest concentration ever was measured last May 2016: 408ppm. This record will be broken again this year, in May probably. Aidan adds: “The rate of increase per year has been… increasing. In the 1960’s, the concentration was rising around 0,7 ppm per year. These last years, it has risen around 2 ppm per year.”

Mauna Loa Observatory is one of the 6 atmospheric baseline observatories operated by the Global Monitoring Division. The other locations are: Barrow, Alaska; Trinidad Head, California; Summit, Greenland; American Samoa; and South Pole, Antarctica. Boats and planes also take part in measurements over the Pacific Ocean. ©NOAA

MORE IN THE NORTH THAN IN THE SOUTH

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and the other greenhouse gases are warming the planet. The more greenhouse gases are released to the atmosphere, the warmer our planet gets. Aidan explains: “We are all connected; the climate is a worldwide system. Maybe in some places around the world, during some periods, we do not observe an increase in local temperatures, but there is a global warming. The mechanisms are very complex,” like we mentioned in a 2012 article.

Aidan adds: “The atmosphere is reacting to gases we release, to deforestation, to farming practices, to population activities. Note that the concentrations of CO2 are higher in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. This is due to the fact that human activity, land masses and vegetation are mainly in the northern hemisphere of the planet.”

Total annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (gigatonne of CO2-equivalent per year, GtCO2-eq/yr) for the period 1970 to 2010 by gases: CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes; CO2 from Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU); methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O); fluorinated gases covered under the Kyoto Protocol (F-gases). ©IPCC

WHEN CAN THE EMISSIONS DECREASE?

When can we imagine our greenhouse gases emissions will decrease? It depends on the transition to a low-carbon society and how quick it can be. European Union emissions have been going down for 10 years. United States CO2 emissions have started to go down, with natural gas and renewables replacing coal in electricity generation. As a consequence of recent actions from the Chinese government, China emissions could decrease from 2025. They have stabilized already; in 2016 they were lower than in 2015. In India and Indonesia, probably the emissions will not start to decrease before 2025.

©NOAA

Overall, we can foresee that global emissions will go down somewhere between 2025 and 2035. Later, during the second half of the century, human-caused emissions will go down to zero. The concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere should stabilize, like the global surface temperatures. However, by that time, the climate will have changed a lot.

The data show the Earth average temperature has now risen about 1.1°C above the levels seen before the industrial revolution. The target aimed in the 2015 Paris Agreement is 1,5°C: the global emissions should actually be decreasing already... The transition has started but it must accelerate.

~~~

The case of China 
In 2016, China’s solar capacity grew an encouraging 81% to 77GW. This is twice the total installed today in the US. Wind power grew 13% to 149GW: more or less a third of wind energy capacity on Earth is located in China. Coal consumption is going to plateau during the next years; when it starts to decrease, then the country's emissions will start to go down.

Longyangxia Dam Solar Park is the world's biggest solar farm, with a 850 MW capacity. ©NASA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fiji on the frontline

Fiji has always been a leading country in the Pacific, due to its size probably. The country has more inhabitants and land than most of its oceanic neighbors. This year we will hear a little bit more about the small island country: Fiji organizes the next United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP)! It is the first time a small Pacific island country coordinates the conference. 

FIJI ORGANIZES COP23

We had the chance to meet two members of the Climate Change Unit from the Ministry of Economy of Fiji, responsible in particular for preparing the major Conference. The Climate Change team was recently transferred under the authority of the Ministry of Economy, after being once under the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It gives the Unit better visibility and bigger influence.

COP23 will take place between
the 6th and the 17th of
November.

COP23 (it’s the 23rd Conference of this kind) will be about moving a step forward in defining how the Paris Agreement will be implemented in 2020. The Fijian team will be assisted by external support; the first preparation meetings took place beginning of February. In particular they will set the agenda for the next 9 months and define the objectives of the Conference. Given the uncertainty about the role of the new U.S. administration, it is expected that the other leading countries go on with their actions and policy implementation. They shall not deviate from the Paris Agreement commitments.

Fijian Ministry
of Economy.

Fortunately, Fijian Prime Minister is very active on the climate change topic. In any of his speeches, he would mention the climate crisis. And when he speaks for Fiji, he does it for the rest of the Pacific Islands as well. Beginning of 2016, only few weeks after the end of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, Fiji was the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement.

WINSTON HAS ACCELERATED THINGS

The organization of the COP will take the team plenty of time; however they have to go on with their local missions. For instance the Unit works on a National Relocation Guideline. The document will provide action plans for the relocation of communities after an extreme event, for the short and long term. The cyclone Winston of last year forced the Unit to finalize this big task as soon as possible. Generally speaking the documents which are produced by the Climate Change Unit also influence the development plans and strategic planning of the cities and villages. In February 2016, the Category 5 cyclone inflicted extensive damage and killed 44 people. The cyclone was both strong and uncommon. The cyclones usually follow a different path in Fiji territory; Winston took a singular and surprising one.

NO TAX ON HYBRID CARS

When we arrived in the Capital Suva, we noticed that there are hybrid cars everywhere. We wondered if there was any was any incentive behind this. The answer is positive! Since 2015, Fiji has implemented a climate-friendly policy: there are no taxes on hybrid cars! Hybrid vehicles enjoy zero percent import duty rates, making them much more affordable. The effects of it can be seen in the streets. For a long time, Norway has acted in a similar direction. Electric vehicles sell very well in the Scandinavian country thanks to tax breaks, as well as the development of a network of charging stations. In addition the electric cars enjoy free parking and no charges on toll roads. The country has the world's highest number of electric cars per capita.

The streets of the Capital Suva are full of Prius, the Toyota bestseller hybrid car.

For logistical and environmental reasons, COP23 will take place in Bonn, Germany, not in Fiji. One Climate One Challenge team will be there!

The Nissan Leaf is the most popular electric car in Europe.

~~~

 

An article about the meeting, in "The Fiji Times", here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Few degrees make a big difference

The Sydney Opera House is one of the symbols of Australia. If the iconic edifice is a masterpiece of architecture, it is also thanks to engineering choices. Concerning ventilation, such a large building should have ventilation openings, or chimneys, or cooling towers. The Australian opera house does not. How is that? Thanks to a particular ventilation system which uses the cold or hot waters from the harbor nearby!

NATURAL DIFFERENCES OF TEMPERATURE

In a previous article we talked about geothermal energy: deep underground hot water is used to generate electricity or heat buildings. Well, regarding heating and cooling a building, a more simple technology also exists, called ground source heat pump (GSHP) system or geothermal heat pump system. Such system consists of pipes buried under the building and tied to its ventilation system (the pipes can also go through large liquid reservoirs). Water circulates into these pipes. During winter, the ground temperature is higher than outside. It means that hot water goes up to the building, and heats it. During summer, the system can be inverted. The ground is colder; cold water goes up and cools down the construction! The few degrees of difference between the ground and the outside do the job.

Huw and Carolina in front of a geological
map of New Zealand.

“Heat pump systems exploit natural differences of temperature!” says Huw. Huw Williams is a Senior Hydrogeologist and GeoExchange Designer working at Engeo. In the past he worked for the United Kingdom Environmental Agency. Engeo is based in New Zealand and California and specializes in geothermal heat pump systems in particular. We had the chance to meet Huw in Engeo offices in Auckland, New Zealand. 

“Advantages of the technology are numerous,” Huw says. “The consumption of electricity is much lower compared to a standard ventilation system. It avoids combustion and greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil-fueled electricity.” According to New Zealand Wairakei Research Center, energy consumption can be reduced by up to 70%. Huw adds: “Maintenance costs are lower. The system also requires less equipment than traditional ventilation: in large buildings it leaves lots of free space on the ground floor and on the last floors where equipment are usually installed. Finally the system is silent, whereas traditional ventilation material can be noisy.”

Since the pipes are buried underground, we asked Huw about their resistance against earthquakes. New Zealand is a seismic place. We could experience it when a strong earthquake struck New Zealand South Island in mid-November. “The pipes are made of an advanced plastic, high-density polyethylene (HDPE),” Huw says. “They are both resistant and flexible. After the major earthquake of 2011 around Christchurch in New Zealand, we found that nearly all the pipes were undamaged. Basically the pipes move with the ground!” The ground pipes actually have a life expectancy of 50 years.

PAYBACK IS BETWEEN 3 AND 7 YEARS

With all these advantages, why isn’t the technology more common? “The answer is that the initial expenses are higher than traditional ventilation systems,” Huw replies. “Installation costs are high because of the drilling and the ground works. Also the upstream design activities are more complex. However in Europe, North America, China and Korea the adoption is high. Indeed the payback is not long: between 3 and 7 years. So lots of owners make the calculation and choose the geothermal heat pump system. After it is paid back, it offers many years of savings in energy costs!

©Ikea

Financial incentives and regulation shall help. In the United Kingdom, the Merton rule is a recent law which obliges all new large buildings to consume at least 10% of self-generated renewable energy. Thanks to it, more and more new constructions integrate a geothermal pump system.” Huw concludes: “This underground energy is free. Globally speaking, each time nature offers energy for free, we should use it! In a sustainable way of course.”

APPLICATIONS ARE MULTIPLE. SAVINGS ARE NOT LACKING.

In California, the biggest project in the world is ongoing: a large heat pump system will heat and chill 11000 homes, schools and malls. Also in the USA, the IKEA shop of Denver, Colorado, goes even further: the system creates ice during the night, at a low energy cost, in order to cool the building the following day! The overall electrical demand is much lower.

In Franz Josef, New Zealand South Island, a heat pump system will be used soon to heat pools! We went there and met Ana Vivas who is the Manager of the pool center. “Soon we will stop burning natural gas to heat our pools,” Ana says. ”It means less greenhouse gas emissions. Also the hazards related to our large boilers will disappear. The upstream system, including boilers and tanks, will be dismantled and replaced. The new upstream heat pump solution will simply be connected to the existing downstream distribution system. That will be soon, in March!”

 

 During our visit, Ana showed us the large volume of equipment (boilers, tanks, etc.) which will be dismantled after the heat pump system is on.

Like various other technologies, heat pump systems have been available for a long time but are not yet common enough. Innovation will be mandatory to build sustainable cities but promoting existing efficient technologies will also be necessary. Regulation must help.

We visited the site few days after the drilling works ended. Impressive drilling!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RRR (Reuse, Repair, Recycle)

More and more we hear about circular economy. Not only from environmentalists, but also from economists and politics. What is it? Circular economy aims to stop the linearity of our goods' lifecycle. Products, or at least their constituents, should have multiple lives, not only one. A first major principle is to reduce mining and extractions of resources from the Earth. A second major principle is to reuse more, repair more, remanufacture more and recycle more. From the start, smart design should help repairing and recycling. An ongoing project in Wellington, Capital of New Zealand, is a fantastic example of industrial reuse!

This chart from Ellen MacArthur foundation illustrates the principles of circular economy. You will notice it describes “technical” blue cycles but also “biological” green cycles.©Ellen MacArthur foundation

CHANGE THE ENGINE, REUSE THE REST OF THE BUS. UNIQUE IN THE WORLD.

Scott Thorne is General Manager, Strategy at NZ Bus. NZ Bus is New Zealand's largest urban bus service operator. We had the chance to meet him and he could tell us the great story of their future electric buses.

“The city trolley buses were supposed to end life in the middle of 2017. The local Council will take down the electrical network wires you can see above your heads in the city. Wellington is well known as a green city and the Council has a preference for low emission vehicles, but technology options for electric buses are limited. NZ Bus wants to be at the forefront of sustainable energy options and sees diesel and hybrid buses as dead end technologies. Furthermore, we really did not like the idea of sending our 60 trolley buses to the garbage dump. To combat that, we came with an idea: transform the old trolley buses into independent electric buses!

Scott and Carolina, in NZ Bus offices.

We went to California and met Ian Wright. He is a co-founder of Tesla. Ian lives in San Francisco, but he is a Kiwi (a New Zealander)! And we discussed about retrofitting the buses. He and his company Wrightspeed drive projects like transforming Mack trucks to electric. We agreed on the technical solutions and this is how our project started!

The first stage of the project is the retrofitting of the trolley bus. We remove the old electric engine, trolley poles and related equipment, and we install a new power train and batteries. This retrofitting starts now in December 2016! Our 60 trolley buses should be renovated by mid of 2017.” The second stage is even more exciting. “We will retrofit diesel buses! Among our 700 buses, we have a first target of 30% of them renovated to electric, within the next 2 years.”

This beautiful project is quite unique; it gives a glimpse of what industrial reuse will be in the future.

MODULARITY WILL BE COMMON

©Ian Motion

In France, the start-up Ian Motion turns existing vehicles into restored electric ones. The first model they will restore is the Austin Mini! Also in France, last October, the automobile manufacturer Renault presented a new version of their electric car Zoé. A major evolution is the new battery (yes, we talked about batteries in a previous article!), which doubles the autonomy of the car. The company explained that this improved battery can also be installed on the previous version of the car. A nice upgrade! Generally speaking, the automobile industry is one of the industries which have already started to integrate circular economy concepts, recyclability in particular.

Within the electronic industry, a unique product starts to become popular: the Fairphone. In addition to its inspiring ethical ingredients (it is the only Fairtrade phone for instance), the smartphone has a robust design and it is the first modular phone. Its modularity allows a much higher repairability and easy upgrades. Recently the Dutch start-up commissioned an independent assessment of the phone, examining its environmental impact across its entire life cycle. The modularity of the phone “enables 30% reduction of CO2 emissions across lifecycle.” This is a very good figure!

[Left] The modular architecture of the Fairphone. If a component fails, buy only one of the modules, not a complete new phone.
[Right] Fairphone 2 was the first smartphone to receive Blue Angel certification. You can find on the german certification website other brands – like Philips - which are doing well. ©Fairphone

HIGH REPAIRIBILITY WILL BE THE NORM

© Seb

Today the design of the manufactured products does not always allow a good repairability. This will change in the future. Already several brands make efforts in this area, such as Canon, Miele, Seb or Rowenta. The brands Seb and Rowenta produce household appliances. They committed to designing repairable products. They guarantee the availability of their spare parts up to 10 years and “a proximity network of more than 6500 certified professional repair centres worldwide.”

Another good example of change comes from Sweden. Since last 1st of January repairing costs are lower there. The Swedish government wants to tackle the “throwaway culture” and the tax on repairing services was divided by two. It applies to clothes, refrigerators and washing machines for instance. There is also employment behind a strong repair industry, like the recycling industry. Governments may also see this interest.

In the future our goods and products will be designed differently; they will be more beautiful in the sense they will be more durable…

Picture snapped with our Fairphone 2!

The sound of electric!

The electrical wires will be taken down mid-2017 by the City Council.

~~~

NZ Bus project has won several awards already:
1. Winner – Outstanding Contribution to Innovation in the New Zealand Road Transport Industry Awards
2. Winner – Renewables Innovation Award in the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards
3. Winner – EECA Business Energy Management Award in the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards
4. Finalist – Innovation Excellence in the New Zealand Innovation Awards
5. Finalist – Innovation in Technology Solutions in the New Zealand Innovation Awards

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~