Little renewables everywhere
What's the value of small and sometimes wacky energy projects?
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(Dr. Charles G. Abbot (right), Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, with
his solar heat engine that was shown at the Third World Power Conference on September 8, 1936 from the Flickr Commons/Library of Congress)
A few weeks ago, I read an article that seemed designed in a lab for me specifically: A test project in Paris’ metro used kinetic energy from people traveling through the public transit system’s turnstiles to create electric energy.
It’s a neat, hiding-energy-in-plain sight idea, and a perfect example of what I’ve started calling “little renewables”: zero emissions energy deployed at small scales, sometimes using uncommon sources of energy.
But what exactly comes of this turnstile idea?
During the two-day pilot project, 27,000 people crossed six turnstiles — a tiny fraction of the more than 1.5 billion passengers who use the French capital’s metro system annually. The energy produced was minuscule, but if installed across the city’s metro network, these turbines could produce 136 megawatts a year, saving 30,000 tons of CO2, according to Iberdrola SA, the Spanish energy company in charge of the project. An upgrade across the metro system won’t happen anytime soon since it’s deemed too expensive, but the trial is an indication of emerging climate ideas.
Local engineering students got involved and the energy went to electronic signs in the station, but ultimately this was driven by Iberdrola, a sprawling renewable energy and utility company with holdings in Europe and the US (if Avangrid is your utility company, that’s Iberdrola). In France, they own an offshore wind farm that started delivering power just last year — one I’ll note was not particularly popular with French commercial fishermen.
Ultimately this project was about more about Iberdrola than the Paris metro’s energy needs, as is made clear by the project’s case study on the website for PR agency Weber Shandwick:
Iberdrola, a European leader in wind energy, expanded to France in 2019 – facing the challenge of low market awareness. Iberdrola wanted to emphasize they are not solely an energy provider, but also a cutting-edge energy producer in wind energy technology.
The case study identifies how successful the project was in capturing both local imagination (a French senator talked about it!) and interest internationally (Al Roker!). It’s unlikely Iberdrola figured out this was going to be too expensive (for them? For the Paris metro?) after they tested the the turnstiles, nor were they ever planning to implement it widely.
But should it? A quick search indicates this isn't the first time researchers have thought about using kinetic energy — or public transit turnstiles — to produce small but localized amounts of power. I’ve been collecting these tiny renewable ideas for a while: flywheel storage, DIY bike generators, energy regenerating pavement.
They don't have a track record of overwhelming success. Even small vertical rooftop wind turbines have largely failed to take off because they are less efficient than their full-size, horizontal cousins, and it's just cheaper to get electricity made by a big turbine and sent through the grid.
Perhaps the most successful little renewable is rooftop solar, driven by cheaper panel costs, net metering payments and lots of flexibility on installation size. They are especially popular with say, public transit agencies with parking lot footprints.
It’s impossible to cover the Paris metro’s energy needs with turnstiles. But for me, little renewables are more about providing redundancy and mobility: A single battery providing backup power when power lines are down or a single solar panel powering the portable electronic sign telling you to slow down for road construction ahead. In Paris, spending the money to capture energy already being generated at turnstiles would reduce the system’s request for power from the grid - that sounds more like energy conservation.
Which, as the turnstile article eventually gets to, that’s what will have a much larger impact in Paris, a city of beautiful, if leaky buildings.
As the city works toward its climate targets, some key themes have emerged. Like elsewhere in France, saving energy, particularly through insulating buildings, has become critical. Buildings are the biggest source of CO2 emissions in the French capital, accounting for a whopping 72%. Most of these emissions are from the “energy combustion” used to heat buildings.
Installing little renewables is not efficient in terms of energy gained for money invested, but it is useful in diversifying how and from where we get energy. Why leave any zero-emission energy on the table? It’s unlikely the companies building large-scale projects will find any more value in them than a PR stunt, but they might be better placed for local governments or businesses.
More local climate action stories:
- Another reason for Statehood Now: House Republicans have a new target in their pursuit to dismantle the District of Columbia’s local rules: the electric vehicle mandate. (E&E News)
- And she did it in a historic district too: She built one of the most energy-efficient homes in D.C. Here’s how. ( Washington Post)
- Explaining the elected officials most directly in charge of green energy, Georgia edition (Grist/WABE). Related: Utility fraud and corruption are threatening the energy transition (Floodlight/Mother Jones)
- This L.A. neighborhood's 'cool pavements' help it beat the intense heat (NBC)
- “Looks like a great day for wind. We’ll be making some power. Plug your car in from 10 to 2 today and get a big discount.” (Colorado Sun)
- Greenhouse gas emissions from Rhode Island’s five natural gas-fired power plants are on the rise, largely due to heightened activity in the regional electric grid. (ecoRi)