Harvesting waste heat
has grown in popularity in various parts of the world, but most of that
comes from air heating, or heat released from machinery of various
kinds. International Wastewater Systems of British Columbia has figured out another good source of heat that can be captured: sewer water. We published one of their videos a few days ago at sustainablog; take a look at that post below, and then let us know what you think.
Waste Heat Recovery from The Sewer? Canadian Firm Harvests Wasted Hot Water [Video]
We’ve discussed all sort of energy harvesting possibilities from
sewage, but nearly all of those were tied to the waste material floating
in that water. It turns out the water itself is also a carrier of
energy, in the form of heat. British Columbia-based International
Wastewater Systems has figured out a technology for waste heat recovery
from sewers that can save municipalities and other setting with lots of
people quite a bit of money on their energy spending… and make a nice
dent in greenhouse gas emissions.
The general premise is pretty simple: we all send hot water – from
our showers, dishwashers, sinks, etc – down the drain. That’s energy,
and by using a heat exchange-based system they call The Sewage SHARC,
IWS provides a means to recover that energy.
The video above goes into much more detail on how this works,
including the kinds of cost savings it can produce. Yes, this is a promo
video, with lots of promo-speak, but the underlying concept and the
technology the company’s built are just fascinating. I know a number of
European countries have done great work with waste heat recovery at a
municipal scale, but, even in those cases, I’m not sure that heat from
the sewers is part of the equation. This video’s a little longer than what we normally post, but well
worth your time. Once you finish it, please share your thoughts with us
in the comments.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/28/sewers-hold-waste-heat-ready-recovery/
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