by Julia Riemer | Sep 14, 2022 | Interviews, Know-How and inspiration, Market development & Trends, New Mobility, Smart City, Technologies for new markets
With technological progress, the demand for electrical energy is increasing immensely, making not only generation but also distribution a challenge. This growing demand increases the complexity of power grids as requirements for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy compatibility increase. These circumstances require an intelligent grid, now known as the “smart grid.” This is a technology in which intelligent functions are implemented to make the power distribution system more efficient, reliable, and sustainable. This article provides an overview of “smart grids” with its features and application scenarios. Read in the following why smart grids are becoming increasingly important and what solutions are already on the market.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), headquartered in Paris, cites grid integration as one of the four biggest challenges in expanding renewable energy capacity, along with the non-technical challenges of financing, permitting and social acceptance.
By 2026, renewables could grow 60% faster than in the past five years, as the technology to harness wind and solar power has matured and 137 countries have pledged to reduce their fossil fuel power generation to zero. But for the promises to become reality, we need smart grids so that this energy generation and, above all, energy distribution can function properly.
Smart grids perform four important tasks for the energy transition: They increase the resilience of the grid, increase the integration of renewable energies, reduce costs and enable universal access to clean electricity.
What makes smart grids so special?
The constantly increasing demand for energy should no longer be met, or only in exceptional political situations, by building more power plants that use fossil fuels, as these pollute the environment and contribute to global warming. Therefore, renewable energy is preferred instead – but these are distributed, volatile resources that must be managed within a smart grid infrastructure to ensure a steady supply of energy at all times.
Smart grids allow real-time data from line sensors, loads and generators to be collected and transmitted to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables power load balancing, outage restoration and distribution management.
Limitations of the traditional network
Unlike renewable energy generators, whose output depends largely on prevailing weather conditions, conventional fossil fuel power plants provide predictably steady energy. However, they come up against the barrier of environmental sustainability and should accordingly be taken off the grid wherever and whenever possible.
In the meantime, demand for electricity is steadily increasing as, for example, we increasingly take our personal and work lives online and use more and more electric vehicles. So without technological advances, we would be faced with a shrinking stock of fossil fuel power plants that would have to serve an incessant increase in demand for electricity.
This strain would have led to an increasing frequency of power anomalies and blackouts on aging grids that have limited ability to detect and respond to faults in real time.
Fortunately, there are now new technologies being deployed to address these issues. These technologies, and in particular the way they work together, can be grouped under the umbrella term “smart grid”.
[infobox headline=”The morst important facts in brief”]
- Power grids are becoming more complex as demands for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy sustainability continue to rise
- The technology behind smart grids makes the power distribution system more efficient, reliable and sustainable
- Smart grids enable power load balancing, outage restoration, and optimize distribution management
- With smart grids and renewable energy sources, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism”
- Smart meters: By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway
- Semiconductors: The use of modern power electronics could save more than a quarter of electrical energy
- Smart grids could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles in the future
- Once the technology is fully installed, including in the field, the potential for energy costs to drop significantly and for real-time data control and large-scale charging to become easier increases
- Hive Power offers innovative solutions for smart grids
[/infobox]
Smart grid technologies and interactions
Renewable energies have the advantage that they are clean and cost less and less. However, in addition to the aforementioned disadvantage of volatility, there is also the challenge that plants such as wind farms tend to be widely dispersed rather than centralized.
For this newer grid model, with its multiple distributed energy sources, to function reliably and efficiently, it must be monitored and controlled. It can be thought of as a typical IoT application. Data can be collected in real time from line sensors, loads and generators and relayed to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables balancing of power loads, troubleshooting of outages, and management of distribution.
It also facilitates peak shaving, where grid operators can draw on energy supplies from users’ on-site renewable energy systems or even batteries to supplement their own capacity during periods of high demand.
The grid is developing self-healing properties as control systems can detect simple problems and make repairs without intervention. More serious damage to the infrastructure can be reported to technicians in the control center so that timely repairs can be made. To further improve reliability and uptime, the grid can become adaptive, meaning that power is rerouted to bypass problem areas. In this way, the area affected by power outages is limited.
Germany’s progress in renewable energies
In 2020, Germany exceeded all forecasts and achieved 45% renewable energy based on total gross energy consumption. 33% of this came from solar and wind power, the most volatile energy sources. Globally, a 30% share of renewables has been achieved, and grids today, thanks to a combination of robust infrastructure and smart grid technology, are not only cleaner, but also more reliable and resilient.
Digitization allows us to transform the complexity of the modern grid from a weakness to a strength.
This is necessary for the operation of the modern grid, where distributed energy resources (DERs) are on the rise – from small solar and wind farms to electric vehicles (EVs), homes with solar panels, and commercial microgrids. Literally hundreds of millions of new supply points are added to the grid every year. The number of electric vehicles is also growing exponentially, with 26 million vehicles expected to be sold in the U.S. alone by 2030, up from 5.6 million this year.
Possible savings through smart grids
Digitization – sensors, artificial intelligence, and automation – harnesses the combined power of all these DERs and shifts electricity demand in buildings and e-vehicles to times when solar and wind power are available. In this way, cities can use more renewable energy and less fossil fuel backup power. This demand flexibility also helps to mitigate peak demand. In the EU alone, the flexibility of smart grids could save billions annually from now until 2030, as infrastructure expansion can be adjusted to the necessary level.
And the cost savings go even further, extending to ordinary electricity consumers. With smart grids and renewables, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism,” meaning they can generate and consume electricity themselves and even sell the rest back to the grid.
Imagine 26 million electric car drivers who can charge their vehicles on the grid. At 40 kWh per e-vehicle, they could sell enough clean electricity back to the grid to power 100,000 U.S. homes for an entire year. Prosumerism could make clean electricity affordable for many more people.
The International Renewable Energy Agency also recommends smart grids for developing countries to meet rising renewable electricity demand while creating new opportunities for economic growth.
Universal access to clean electricity is central to a successful energy transition. Specific care must be taken to ensure that people can use safe, smart, sustainable electricity wherever they cook, heat, cool, drive, etc.
All the answers to the question of how we can achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050 may not yet be answered. The potential of green hydrogen and other innovations is still being explored to curb the emissions in aviation, shipping and heavy industry.
But the technology we need to meet the U.N. Environment Program’s goal of halving global emissions by 2030 already exists. In fact, clean electrification of buildings, industry and transport could eliminate three-quarters of global emissions.
Application scenarios for smart grids
While the conventional power grid distributes the electricity generated centrally by large power plants to consumers, smart grids also bring together all the data streams of the energy supply. For example, the highly fluctuating feed-ins from solar and wind power plants can be efficiently balanced and specifically controlled in the existing power grids. The amounts of energy generated and consumed must be continuously measured and analyzed by IoT-enabled sensors and devices.
Smart meters
On the consumer side, this is addressed with smart meters. They also control the feed-in of solar power when consumers with a solar system on the roof also become electricity producers (prosumers). Installation of the necessary smart metering systems (iMSys) is not mandatory until annual electricity consumption exceeds 6,000 kWh – or when consumers feed electricity into the grid themselves. In this case, a smart meter gateway (SMGW) with an integrated security module receives the metering data and processes it for external market participants, internal controllable energy consumers and energy generators (smart household appliances, photovoltaic systems). By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway.
Semiconductors for the energy transition
Measuring, controlling, transforming and communicating – power electronics are of particular importance in the energy transition. While photovoltaic systems or batteries, for example, supply direct current, wind turbines deliver alternating current at a frequency that cannot be used directly. At the same time, electricity consumers have individual needs in terms of current and voltage. The energy-saving potential is immense, because statistically speaking, electricity already passes through at least one converter on its way from the generator to the consumer. According to a study by the European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE), more than a quarter of electrical energy could be saved by using modern power electronics.
And in some areas, silicon is no longer the first choice. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as the increasingly used silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), benefit from higher switching power while maintaining low losses. However, according to analysts at Yole Développement, the technology is still at an early stage of development. They expect SiC devices to generate $6.3 billion in sales in 2027. In the meantime, silicon devices continue to surprise with significant performance gains and will continue to be a source of revenue for the industry in the coming decades. In general, thermal management, robustness, reliability and ultimately packaging continue to be key issues in semiconductors.
Embedded systems
Semiconductors are also the building blocks of embedded systems in a digital, networked and automated energy world. For example, they provide data on the state of the grid, the temperature, the current flow and the angle of the cables. The data is processed in the cloud or directly on site (edge) with AI algorithms. Embedded systems are also transforming traditional building automation into a form of prediction-based management that offers significant potential for energy savings. And in the future, buildings with smart meters (iMSys) connected to a smart grid will not only be able to optimize their own consumption, but also take on the role of electricity producer themselves by feeding surplus energy into the grid.
Interview with Hive Power –Innovative solutions for smart grids
Founded in Switzerland in 2017, Hive Power is a leading provider of innovative smart grid solutions. Hive Power offers a SaaS platform that optimizes existing electrical distribution networks, both from a technical and economic point of view.
Hive Power’s team consists of researchers and scientists with deep knowledge in smart grids, data science and optimization with many years of experience in research and pilot projects on distributed energy management. We spoke with Mr. Gianluca Corbellini, CEO of Hive Power and appreciate the informative answers.
5 Questions for Mr. Ginaluca Corbellini from Hive Power
Q: What has your experience been like tackling the traditional grid with new ideas?
A: It’s been an impactful journey. When we set out in 2017, we had a clear objective to optimize flexibility management for distribution grids and energy suppliers. And we have proven our viability and market fit with our applications for Flexibility Orchestration used in operation by our customers who are innovating from the traditional grid into the smart grid.
Through the help of key mobility industry players, we have tested smart-grid applicable solutions like Vehicle-to-Grid and EV smart charging and produced the FLEXO Smart EV Charging solution that serves automotive companies and EV fleet managers.
Q: What’s your most interesting smart grid application project so far?
A: It’s hard to choose because we worked on amazing smart grids, mobility research, and pilot projects around Europe. One that stands out is called DrainSpotter. It’s unique because we’re developing a solution that faces the consumers and the Distribution System Operator – in this case, AEM.
DrainSpotter is an intuitive mobile application that consumers can use to monitor their electricity usage over time, receive informative summaries of their consumer behaviour, and be automatically notified about anomalies detected by machine learning algorithms.
Through this app, AEM’s residential users eliminate excessive standby power – over 200 W. If they do this consecutively for two weeks, AEM will deliver 10% less energy in total, and 5% of customers would reduce their total energy consumption by at least 20%, and 4.2% of customers would save at least €513 off their total energy bill over 1.5 years.
Q: Looking at the entire smart grid market in Europe, how is Germany performing relatively?
A: As you’ve pointed out earlier, Germany excels in their renewable energy journey. In the first half of this year, 49% of the power used in Germany was generated from renewable sources – that translates into a growth in smart grid adoption. Judging from the SINTEG project, the German government seems committed to increasing smart grid technology. There’s a reliable forecast that Germany’s smart grid investment will increase to $23.6 billion between 2016 and 2026.
There’s a lot of potential in this market, especially in the applications of Electric vehicles, as the boom of EVs is coming alongside smart grids. EV charging in Germany will need to be smarter and more cost-effective as they can interact with the grid and provide Vehicle-to-Grid services using enabling platforms like our FLEXO Smart EV Charging.
Q: How important are smart meters in this innovative smart grid journey?
A: Smart meters make smart grids possible! A smart grid uses advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) (which consists of smart meters, sensors, communications protocols and data management systems) to monitor and control energy demand, distribution, and generation in near real-time.
We need more smart meters to enable our innovative grid systems to make accurate decisions and predictions from the data generated at these smart meter points. For example, the AI algorithms we create in Hive Power are made possible by the enormous amount of data collected from smart meters.
Q: Lastly, What would you say are the most important benefits of smart grids?
A: Sustainability, cost-saving, and energy decentralization!
Having sustainable earth is the grand reason why we are promoting renewable energy sources; we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Smart grids make it possible to effectively manage and optimize the mix of these variable sources of energy without interrupting the energy supply. Consequently, smart grids save energy consumers and producers a lot of costs through proper grid balancing, voltage and frequency anomaly detection, and demand response.
Lastly, smart grids make it possible for us to have integrated microgrids. So homes or communities can produce renewable energy, manage their energy, and sell and buy from the main grid as needed. Sounds impressive, right? We are active in this field and making outstanding contributions to projects around Europe with our FLEXO Community Manager.
Thank you Mr. Corbellini for the exciting interview – we at magility look forward to following the developments of Hive Power further.
Magility’s vision of the future
Smart grid technology is booming, and the federal government is offering incentives for implementation. In addition, smart meter installations are expected to increase. As the cumulative market capitalization will increase exponentially in the coming years, this could be the beginning of a new era.
The smart grids of the future could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles. But they are not only valuable for closing the gap between supply and demand for intermittent renewable energy sources.
With sufficiently intelligent power grids, power spikes and the frequency of power outages can be prevented. Once this technology is fully installed, including in the field, it will also be able to significantly reduce energy costs and facilitate real-time data control and large-scale charging.
At Magility, we are watching these exciting developments and will keep you updated.
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by Nada Welker | Dec 1, 2021 | Market development & Trends
Electric cars are the future, and they will dominate the car market in a few years. Every year, automakers expand their product lineup, setting the stage for new generations of e-cars. Today, every vehicle manufacturer is working on e-vehicles, from established players to new names like Byton, Lordstown and Rivian. The big players are focusing primarily on newly developed platforms. These are expected to contribute to significantly more variability, performance and range compared to previous generations of e-cars. However, the newly developed electric car platforms score points primarily for their increasing flexibility and savings potential, as they can serve as a basis for different types of e-cars. This variable basis will be able to be used for vehicles from the VW Group’s own brand world as well as for vehicles from competitors – similar to the Modular Electric Building Kit (MEB) first introduced in 2016.
Global industry leaders
While COVID-19 has negatively impacted markets for combustion engine vehicles worldwide, sales of electric vehicles (xEVs) have surged, particularly in Europe.
According to Roland Berger’s E-Mobility Index 2021, China is currently the industry leader in the sector, producing the largest number of xEVs and battery cells. It is expected that the total production of BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid vehicles) will increase by 13 percent from 2018 to 2023 compared to the previous period of 2017 to 2022. Cumulative domestic battery cell production capacity calculated for the 2018-23 period is expected to account for more than 70 percent of global installed capacity:
China continues to strengthen its leadership role by expanding local production capacity. German OEMs are also achieving strong growth in vehicle production, but have little battery cell production capacity, ranking only third behind the United States.
Europe saw strong market growth in the 2021 E-Mobility Index, led by Germany and Italy. Both markets achieved sales growth of over 200 percent. In Germany, sales of xEVs increased from 112,000 to more than 400,000 vehicles, meaning that Germany now accounts for the second-largest market for xEVs. In terms of BEV/PHEV market share of the overall market, Germany now even takes first place.
Development of new e-vehicles on the rise – and helping the climate
The range of vehicles with electrified powertrains has increased massively in recent years. There is now a choice of xEVs in every segment. Many new or updated BEV and PHEV models were launched in 2020. In addition, OEMs had already increased their xEV production capacity in 2019 in preparation for the introduction of the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) – a uniform standard for calculating pollutant levels, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption and range – and continued to do so during the reporting period. This means they will likely be able to meet the 95g CO2/km target for average fleet emissions in 2021:
Electric base of Renault and Nissan
Renault and Nissan unveiled a new electric base last year: the CMF-EV platform. This is to be used not only across brands but also across manufacturers by alliance partner Mitsubishi. The CMF-EV platform is variable enough to serve as the basis for city vehicles, sedans, or even large SUV models that can travel long distances without stopping to charge. The Renault Mégane eVision is intended to build on the success of the Renault Zoé. With an output of 160 kW/217 hp, a battery capacity of 60 kW, and fast-charging capability, the vehicle guarantees long ranges and a versatile range of uses.
BMW’s “New Class” platforms
Inspired by the successful 1500 and 1800 models of the 1960s, BMW’s new “New Class” architecture brings forth platforms exclusively for e-cars. Scheduled to launch in 2025, the first model will be a sedan in the 3 Series format, dubbed NK1. The new architecture features redefined IT and software amenities, a newly developed electric drive and battery generation, and a whole system of lifecycle sustainability. It is said to be optimized exclusively for electric powertrains.
General Motors: New e-platform called “Ultium Drive”.
General Motors’ “Ultium Drive” multi-purpose electric underpinnings include a skateboard-like base structure with a battery made of pouch cells that sits flat and low to the ground, and drive units on the front and rear axles. Also planned are 400- and 800-volt architectures. Drivetrains consisting of five genset units will be available to represent front-, rear- and all-wheel-drive systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in many power levels. Because of the versatility of the new platforms, scaling effects are achievable, bringing the cost of Ultium batteries below $100 per kilowatt-hour, according to a GM forecast.
Those who prefer high performance will be well served by the roughly 1,000-horsepower new edition of the GMC Hummer EV: This one is powerful enough to reach 100 km/h from a standstill within three seconds while offering 560 kilometers of range. Thanks to 800-volt technology, recharging power for 160 kilometers is possible within ten minutes.
This most powerful version of the Hummer is already available on the market. Those who can be patient can look forward to innovations from the future Cadillac electric brand from 2022, along with other GM models: the Lyriq SUV and the Celestiq luxury sedan.
GM plans to launch more than 30 electrically powered models by 2025. So we can be curious.
Mercedes-Benz: Electric Versatility Platform
New e-platforms are also planned for the commercial vehicle sector. The Electric Versatility Platform differs significantly from the eSprinter model already available: instead of relying on front-wheel drive, the original engine compartment accommodates most of the control and charging electronics in a compact package. Instead, the drive is provided by an integrated e-axle with a central electric engine directly in the axle beam.
Would you like to learn more about topics such as e-mobility, smart grids or the Internet of Things? Get to know our colleague Jürgen Schenk – He is our top expert in the fields of electric vehicle and drive development, evaluation and design of complex systems.
We’ll keep you up to date here at magility when exciting new e-platforms appear. Follow us on LinkedIn to never miss any news.
by Nada Welker | Nov 3, 2021 | Market development & Trends
E-bikes, e-scooters, and so on – micromobility includes all means of transport that offer space for a maximum of two people and are suitable for shorter distances. To be more precise, in most cases these are electrically powered vehicles. These are grouped together under the term “miniature electric vehicles“. The focus of micromobility is on resource-saving and flexible locomotion as well as relieving the burden on road traffic. These micro-vehicles mainly offer a solution in overcrowded big cities and are gaining more and more importance nowadays. Micromobility is revolutionizing the way we get around.
What makes micromobiles so special?
One important aspect of micromobility is flexibility in getting around. Nowadays, the focus is primarily on what is known as “shared mobility” or “mobility as a service (MaaS)“. This means booking mobility online when you need it. Various vehicles and different types of vehicle use are offered via a central platform. Interested parties can therefore choose the right vehicle for the route they want to take. In most cases, the principle of “free-floating” applies. This allows the driver to park the micromobile anywhere, so there is no fixed return location. In addition, the provider is responsible for charging and maintaining the vehicle. Other advantages are that the user can avoid traffic jams within the city and the problem of the annoying search for a parking space is eliminated.
Great potential is seen above all in the so-called first and last mile. Here, micromobility is linked with public transport: for example, the e-scooter can be used instead of the car for the journey to the S-Bahn or the journey from the S-Bahn to the workplace. As a result, resources are conserved and emissions are reduced. Micromobility benefits the environment and the general public by improving the air in cities while providing flexible transportation for urban society.
Regulations and restrictions within micromobility
Due to the ever-increasing importance of micro electric vehicles in recent years, an ordinance with current regulations was put into effect in June 2019. Basically, people 14 years and older are allowed to use electric vehicles. Possession of a driver’s license is not necessary for this purpose. The use of e-vehicles is permitted in public areas, provided they are limited to the maximum speed of 20 km/h and have a steering or stop bar. Operation is only permitted on inner-city roads and cycle paths and therefore not on sidewalks or motorways. In addition, traffic safety requirements, for example in the area of braking and lighting systems and electrical safety, must be ensured.
So far, some questions remain unanswered
Despite some advantages and opportunities in the field of micromobility, some serious problems still remain to be solved today. For one thing, there is the question of how environmentally friendly electric vehicles really are when the factors of production, battery and the expense of maintenance are taken into account. A large proportion of e-scooters are produced in China, largely using energy from coal-fired power plants. In addition, there is a high environmental impact in the production of the batteries due to the use of rare raw materials.
In the statistics shown, initial research on the environmental footprint of e-scooters in 2019 is presented. It is clear that the electric scooters, with approximately 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer, performed significantly better than a mid-range passenger car. Compared to a diesel-powered vehicle, however, the smallest vehicles are not in a good light: they emit twice as much CO2 as a diesel-powered bus.
Basically, e-vehicles only make environmental sense if they replace car or motorcycle trips. The more people use micromobility as a new means of transportation, the less people will then potentially resort to cars in the inner city area. Furthermore, wildly parked e-scooters and scooters create a social nuisance. Although the providers’ apps mark the areas where the scooters may be parked, it is not uncommon to find the e-scooters in rivers, in the middle of the sidewalk or even on trees. Locating the offender is almost impossible in most cases, which is why the providers have to bear the costs of disposal. So far, it is still questionable which further measures will be considered here. In addition, the aspect of road safety has not yet been sufficiently examined: Currently, there is no helmet obligation.
The illustrated statistics show that in the months from January to March 2021, a total of 356 accidents with personal injury were recorded when using very small electric vehicles, and in 49 cases there were serious injuries. One of the reasons cited for the high number of accidents is that it is not possible to tell exactly when the e-scooter driver is accelerating or braking.
Micromobility meets IAA
Under the motto “How do we want to move in the city of the future?”, mobility was examined from other angles for the first time at the IAA 2021 in Munich. These included sustainable and urban mobility, innovative public transport and intelligent infrastructure. A total of 109 exhibitors presented their visions of sustainable mobility in these thematic areas. Classic car manufacturers such as Porsche, VW or BMW followed the latest trend of the bicycle and presented their innovations. Young companies and start-ups also had a strong hand in the micromobility sector at this year’s IAA Mobility. Visitors were able to experience inner-city mobility first-hand, for example, from BMW X2City and other vehicles on a parcour or during guided tours.
Although opinions differ on the presentation of micromobility at a previously car-only trade show, the new mobility seems to be a complete success: The transformation of mobility is moving in the direction of digitalization and sustainability – and this has been implemented through the new concept of IAA Mobility. It is also clear that there has long been more than just the car or the e-bike, but that mobility options are being combined to create solutions for both rural and metropolitan regions.
Meanwhile, the IAA is considered the largest mobility event in the world.
Where is the micromobility journey headed?
The global forecast for micro electric vehicles over the next few years is promising, according to the statistics below. According to the report, the demand for inner-city mobility continues to rise. While in 2010 the global demand of micromobility was 25.8 trillion passenger kilometers, it is expected to increase to 48.4 trillion passenger kilometers by 2050.
According to a study by the world’s leading management consultancy McKinsey & Company, micromobility will generate up to $150 billion in Europe by 2030, and as much as $500 billion worldwide. The market for micro electric vehicles is growing two to three times faster than car sharing or e-hailing services. These include apps for mobility.
It therefore remains exciting to what extent electromobility will continue to develop and whether the majority will soon be turning to e-scooters instead of their own cars. We at magility will keep an eye on further developments for you.
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by Nada Welker | Jul 19, 2021 | Future Trends, Smart City
Sustainability in building materials gets more and more important, since rar materials are becoming scarcer. On the one hand, this is due to a worldwide construction boom: The supply of building materials is currently not keeping pace with the permanently increasing demand. According to the law of supply and demand, building materials are therefore becoming massively more expensive. But there is another, far more worrying reason for the shortage of building materials: resources are running out. The global economy must therefore radically rethink its approach – and focus on sustainability. Sustainability is the only way to ensure that raw materials will continue to be available in sufficient quantities in the future.
Sand as a building material does not exist “like sand on the seashore”
Take sand, for example: As an aggregate for concrete, sand is in such high demand that the phrase “like sand on the seashore” as a synonym for abundance has long since become obsolete. Every year, 40 to 50 billion tons of sand are consumed. Sand mining has massive consequences for the environment along rivers and coasts. In the large sand deserts, where according to conventional opinion there should be enough sand, this building material resource cannot be extracted: The desert sand has no edges because the wind grinds the sand grains around. As a result, the individual grain of desert sand lacks the ability to bond with other grains. This, in turn, is the essential property that makes sand so valuable – and so indispensable – for concrete production.
Construction waste can be broken down into individual parts
Once sand has been “poured into concrete”, it would thus be “used up” for good: this is also a common opinion. But far from it: building material recycling is the keyword here for sustainability. Building rubble has long since ceased to be a waste material for landfills. It can be crushed and broken down into many individual components. Demolition companies can recover new sand from old concrete. The Heinrich Feeß company from Kirchheim/Teck – already awarded the German Environmental Prize in 2016 – is one of the pioneers when it comes to producing new, high-quality building materials from demolition material: by screening, sorting and washing.
Recycle and reuse concrete as locally as possible
Recycled materials – which help to reduce the consumption of primary raw materials by sustainable circular economy – cannot prevent the worldwide continued exploitative mining of resources, such as sand. But it is an important step in the right direction to increasingly rely on recycling for building materials as well. This avoids – ton by ton – negative environmental impacts at the extraction sites worldwide. And it also saves the CO2 emissions caused by the long transport routes. Sustainability at its best in this case would be to demolish concrete and recycle it as locally as possible – in order to reuse the recycled materials for new buildings as locally as possible. This would be an important “building block” for achieving climate targets and preserving the earth for future generations.
High-quality secondary raw materials
It is not only resourceful entrepreneurs and scientists who are needed to further expand the recycling of construction waste. Politicians are also called upon to set the course for prescribing this type of sustainability in legislation. It is also a matter of re-evaluating the quality of recycled concrete. Up to now, recycled concrete has still been regarded as inferior by many architects and builders. However, this fear can be brought under control through quality assurance regulations: If demolition and recycling companies are steered by appropriate legal requirements to produce and sell only demonstrably high-quality recycled products, these secondary raw materials will often be in no way inferior to primary raw materials.
A lobby against the recycling of building materials
The manufacturers of primary raw materials, however, still seem to be causing difficulties: They fear the increasing competition from recycling. They are therefore trying to increase or at least maintain their own profits at the expense of a sustainable recycling economy that makes sparing use of the world’s finite resources. With their attitude, they also exert influence on politicians to prevent laws that would strengthen sustainability.
[infobox headline=”The most important facts in brief”]
- The global shortage of resources is a major problem. In the long term, only sustainable thinking can help. Construction waste, for example, can be separated and recycled.
- Recyclable building materials are coming into focus: Those who reuse demolition materials slow down the increase in the extraction of new raw materials. Policymakers must therefore define quality requirements for recycled concrete. In addition, the local reuse of recycled material can save large amounts of CO2 because long transport routes are eliminated.
- CO2 emissions are also a major problem in the production of cement. Here, the industry must optimize its processes in order to release less CO2 in the future for the same quantity of cement.
- Ecological building materials made from renewable raw materials promote sustainability. Sustainability is also a task of architects when thinking about the future demolition of a building in the planning process – in order to be able to recover the most valuable secondary raw materials possible from the future rubble.
[/infobox]
The cement industry produces extremely high levels of CO2
CO2 emissions are not only a disadvantage when transporting sand over long distances – often halfway around the world – but also in the production of cement, another important component of concrete. Although cement plants have become much more environmentally friendly in recent years, the cement industry worldwide is still four times as high in CO2 emissions as air travel – also worldwide. This does not mean that the “ecological footprint” of the individual “frequent flyer” does not play a major role in view of these dimensions. Rather, the point is that cement manufacturers worldwide must also work to optimize their processes in order to further reduce their CO2 emissions. These emissions will remain high because the production of cement basically releases carbon dioxide that would otherwise remain bound in lime.
More ecological building materials
Accordingly, ecological building materials such as wood, cork, clay, bricks or even insulating materials such as hemp, jute, wood wool, wood fiber and coconut fiber are preferable to concrete containing cement. Wood and cork in particular have the advantage that they are renewable, i.e. sustainable in every respect. However, care must be taken to ensure that the wood, as already shown in the example of recycled construction waste, also grows as close as possible to the area in which it is consumed. The disadvantage of long transport routes – in terms of CO2 emissions – remains the same whether sand or wood is transported. However, the decisive factor for sustainable building materials is always whether they can be reused.
When building, the later demolition must already be carefully planned
If possible, reuse must already be taken into account during construction: Apart from the pyramids in Egypt or medieval cathedrals in Europe, rarely anything is built “for eternity”. In many construction projects today, builders and architects assume a “life expectancy” of their buildings of between 50 and 100 years. Many houses fall victim to the wrecking ball after just 20 to 30 years. So anyone who ensures from the outset that the materials and their connections can be easily disassembled, separated and recycled in the event of subsequent demolition is acting in a similarly sustainable manner to someone who replaces concrete walls with wooden walls. This, too, is becoming part of the “smart city”.
To meet climate targets, CO2 reduction must become a focus across industries. Since the construction industry is responsible for a significant share of CO2 emissions compared to other industries – the sector now accounts for 38 percent (9.95 Gt CO2) of global CO2 emissions according to the 2020 GLOBAL STATUS REPORT FOR BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION – we at magility are keeping a wary eye on developments in this sector. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the latest developments and trends in this area. We help companies in the construction industry to adapt their business models so that they can operate in a way that is both economical and climate-friendly.
Q: What has your experience been like tackling the traditional grid with new ideas?
