In 2020, the energy grid will include a new source of energy: biogas, generated from domestic organic waste, using micro anaerobic digesters (AD). This will enable us to recapture the fuel value of waste to power our homes and offices.
Heat and energy microgrids already exist, including one in Brooklyn, which makes it possible to exchange locally generated renewable electricity. This energy is currently mostly from solar, but it can easily be extended to include other renewable energy sources. Indeed, London’s energy network already integrates centralised anaerobic digesters.
This type of distributed infrastructure will initially arrive in cities such as New York, Paris, Lisbon and Barcelona, which already have local initiatives in place, and they will be designed into the fabric of new-build developments in rapidly urbanising areas. And, as waste-management units can be incorporated in buildings, cities will not have to overhaul their ageing infrastructure to accommodate growing populations.
ADs also produce water, and this could be used in urban farming, air conditioning, cleaning and general irrigation as well as helping cities that are facing water shortages and groundwater depletion. Chennai, Cape Town, Cairo and Mexico City are already struggling with these problems and in 2020 the numbers will increase. That will also benefit a city’s energy usage. Transporting water is energy-costly – in southern California, water is transported 600km to where it is needed, on a route that includes a 600-metre-high pass over the Tehachapi mountains.
To enable more AD units in cities, we will need to address the current gap between building design, legislation and city infrastructure requirements. But there will be plenty of non-energy-related reasons to do so too. On-site waste-to-energy solutions will reduce the number refuse lorries on the road, combating congestion and the seven million deaths that, according to the World Health Organisation, occur each year due to air pollution.
Biogas from waste is currently a hugely under-tapped resource. In 2020, ADs will enable buildings to incorporate waste recycling, gas generation and water-recapture capacities in their core design, taking us further along the road to smart, energy-efficient cities.
Sandra Sassow is the CEO and co-founder of SEaB ENERGY
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
