Solei Water is expanding.

We will be adding new members to our team. Stay tune for our updates as we moved closer to our very first project with All Saints Home.

A post i recently read entitled ’ Why Google’s So interested in Wind Energy ’  got me thinking about a need for “System-FOR-System”.

People who know me well know how much i have been talking about Google trying to take over the world. Starting from being a Search Engine Provider, to laying fiber optic cables and wanting to be a ISP. And now, Google is moving into renewables. Not exactly a new thing that the Year-Old Investing arm of Google - Google Ventures is investing into renewables. They, in fact have been doing that for quite some time. See $38.8 Million on Wind, Solar and Geothermal . That goes to show the potential of this industry.

Michael Quah, Principal Fellow at the ESI (Energy Studies Institute) had always been emphasizing on a need of “System OF System” approach in the current world. For those who are not familiar with this term. 

“System of systems is a collection of task-oriented or dedicated systems that pool their resources and capabilities together to obtain a new, more complex, ‘meta-system’ which offers more functionality and performance than simply the sum of the constituent systems.”

It does not simply refers to integrating systems together but also relates to the general study of designing, complexity and systems engineering. This brings to the forefront the additional challenge of design.

The term “System of Systems” coined so often by Mike inspired me into coming up with “System For System”

Onward to the discussion on a need for “System-FOR-System”, it was quoted in the 

Google-Wind Energy Article: 

But it’s not just about harnessing the wind in the most effective way possible. It’s also about getting that energy into homes, the crux of wind energy. In short, you can have the most efficient turbines and capture more wind power than anyone else, but that won’t matter if you can’t effectively direct that energy into the local grid to be used in homes.

I believe this is not just relevant in the field of wind energy but in the entire field of Energy & Renewables. The age of renewables is definitely dawning on us and there needs to be an efficient system of control for these forms of energy. There are so many companies globally focusing on the cheapest way to harness 1kWh of energy (wind, solar, geothermal) and let’s face the truth, how many companies are able to compete with these big boys in terms of cost-effectiveness? Put in the cost of labour and material cost in China and BOOM. there you get your cost of system components free-falling. But of course, it would be another story if you possess breakthrough technology that can take the world by storm.

While the whole world focuses on coming up with new ways to harness Renewables in the cheapest manner possible, has it come across that the management of that 1 kWh of energy is just as important as the means to capturing that amount of energy? In all honesty, i do feel there is still much wastage in the field of energy.

Take Solar Thermal for example, the amount of solar heat that you try so hard to capture in the day is simply dissipated back to the environment if unused. Let’s say you capture 10 kWh of energy and use that amount to heat up the 100 litre centralized water-heating drum BUT only use 60 litres of it (which is something very common). The remaining hot-water effectively goes to waste. So much for trying hard to harness that amount of solar energy.

This is where i see a need for “System-FOR-System”. There has to be a control for the management of energy, a System. Energy that you spent so much time and effort harnessing should not be wasted and CAN be planned for use efficiently. There are so many cleantech companies with innovative ways to generate and capture energy but there aren’t any prominent ones that made energy management their priority. In my opinion, they are just as important. What’s the point of harnessing large amounts of energy and only able to effectively utilize 60% of it? 

It is ultimately in my opinion that in the field of energy and renewables, the need for a S.O.S (System-for-System) is just as important as the technology that harnesses the relevant renewable source. Let’s see how we can go about doing that. :)

Came across this article, or rather, paper online that studies on hot water consumption in domestic households. A study was conducted over 14 days in 10 households.

The flow trace analysis method was employed in the study. In the flow trace analysis, there are 3 types of water use events: trickle event, primary event, super-event. A trickle event is a very small outflow of water, most often a leak. A primary event is the most common and important type of water use event.  super-event is one that begins and ends at a non-zero baseline while a primary event is occurring.  This is the case when a second water use begins while another is still in progress such as a toilet flush while someone is taking a shower.  The super-events are treated as separate water uses having their own flow characteristics. 

Using these analysis methods, flow rates (litres/second) were calculated from which, the amount of hot water usage was derived. These are findings from the paper.

Table 2 provides information on daily hot water use by end-use on a per capita and per household basis.  Faucet use is the largest hot water end use, followed by showers, baths and clothes washers.  While dishwashers are the only appliance to use 100% hot water for their operation, they consume a relatively small fraction of the total hot water use (3.6%).  

And yes, some results on the water consumption pattern retrieved from monitoring the main flowmeters as well as individual flow meters installed at the sites of interest.

Ping me at deschutz (at) gmail (dot) com if you want a copy of the paper. :))

Some fundamentals of water heating and of course, facts in water heating.

Do you know?

• 30%-40% of your electricity bills goes to water heating?
• A 200-bedded nursing home pays at least $3,000 a month just for water heating facilities?
• A 300-room hotel spends more than $150,000 a year just on water heating?
• And let’s not forget the carbon emission from the generation of electricity by burning fuel.

There are in fact many ways to provide water-heating facilities. Fuel Boiler systems for large establishments such as hotels and hospitals. Solar Flatplate/Evacuated Tube Panels for homes. Electrical Instant Heater for home use. Centralized tank-based water heater. Heat-pump Water Heaters.

Heat-Pump Water Heaters

Quantum’s one of the more established brand names in Singapore using heat-pump based water heaters. This is how it works:

• Ambient Heat is absorbed from the surrounding.
• Heat is transferred from surrounding into refrigerant, usually R-134A
• Refrigerant passes through compressor
• Compressor superheats refrigerant to higher temperature
• Heated refrigerant used to heat water within the tank, cooling the refrigerant in the mean time
• Additional air-condenser comes in place to allow complete condensation of refrigerant
• Cooled + Condensed refrigerant passes through Thermal Expansion Valves
• Closed loop circuit formed as cooled refrigerant can be used to collect energy from surroundings again.

Effectively, electrical energy is used to run the compressor and in comparison to conventional electrical instantaneous heaters, this technique is able to reduce electrical consumption by 30%.

However, such systems are costly and commands a higher payback period. Other players in the market currently includes GE, Calorex and a couple others.

 Electrical Instant Heater

 .

The most ineffective of the lot. Every 1kWh of electrical energy used to run the system only yield less than 1 kWh of heat energy. This is basically due to heat loss that occurred in the process. Other than that, to produce instantaneous hot water, a very high current is required and this results in the killer electrical bills every month. In comparison, a centralised tank-based water heater has higher efficiencies as only a low electrical current is required. But tank-based heaters often have to deal with the problem of heat loss to surroundings.   

I believe this is where Soleil Water started off. Quoting Mr Lim Teck Yong from EDB (whom we previously met for a presentation). Electricity shouldn’t be wasted on water heating facilities and should be used for more meaningful purposes such as powering the laptop or projectors. We should be focusing on how to harness recyclable and renewable sources of energy  for electricity-replaceable matters such as water heating.

I have been saying that to almost everyone we met up with during introductions and we still stand by that at Soleil Water. :)

While doing research on how to convert air-cooled condenser units to water-cooled condenser units (i.e. chiller units), i stumbled upon a couple of articles comparing the two. 

This is the standard air-cooled condenser unit. Probably the same ones you see at home. Yes, those you see spinning outside your window when you turn on the A/C. In a nutshell, this system absorbs heat from the room via refrigerant/freon as a medium and then dissipated the heat to the surroundings via condensing coils and an operating fan. This cools down the refrigerant, which can then be used to absorb heat from the room and ‘pump’ it out of the system (essentially why A/C systems are also known as heat-pump systems)

Water Cooled Condensers are different when it comes to the condensing portion of the entire A/C Systems. Instead of it being wind/air cooled, the superheated refrigerant is cooled by water. The key elements of the unit include multiple low-pressure water nozzles that spray a mist of water over the condenser coils to remove heat after the refrigerant is compressed. Water temperature can be maintained at about 10° F over wet bulb via heat absorbed through evaporation, which is then removed via a fan on top of the unit.

Chillers systems were previously used only for larger establishments such as hospitals and commercial buildings due to the higher initial capital investments required. 

However, efficiency of chiller systems beat air-cooled A/C systems hand down as water removes heat from the condenser coils far more efficiently than air. The heat transfer and evaporative process is increased via a fan on top of the condenser. A switch to chillers systems could easily reduce the cooling bill by 15-30%.

In recent years, water-cooled A/C units are becoming more popular and affordable in the residential market with companies such as Freus. Inc. who are offering such systems. Residential and small commercial models are available from 2 to 12 tons. The dimensions of the evaporator unit are comparable to a 3-5 ton conventional condenser unit.

How well a water cooled A/C condenser would work in your area depends on the relative humidity / dewpoint. If you live in Singapore where the humidity can run over 85%, you might only see a 5% savings. If you live in a dry area like Las Vegas, you might see over 40% savings. From that, i would see water cooled A/C systems gaining popularity in the countries such as China instead of the SEA region due to the high level of humidity in the region. 

Also, just thinking out loud, can the water that was heated in the process of refrigerant-cooling be used for other meaningful purposes?

Just as i was thinking how to store solar energy efficiently so that we can “retrieve” and “take them out” as and when required, i stumbled upon this concept of storing solar energy which has been implemented in the west of the city of Ecija, in Andalusia, Spain. It is also known as the Solar Tres Power Tower. Solar CPV (Concentrated Photo Volatic) techniques are used to reflect and focus solar radiation onto a single point. This method of Solar Harnessing is able to raise temperatures of molten salt to more than 550 Degree Celsius, which is then stored in thermal storage tanks. Molten Salts are then pumped out (as and when required) for the heating of water into steam. At more than 500 Degrees Celsius, the steam is then used to drive turbines which produces electrical energy. 

What can i say, wow. But i’m sure there are still many considerations of implementing this technology.

• Safety: Safety is one big issue when you are dealing with molten salts of intense temperature. 
• Water Scarcity: Another thing that comes off hand would be the cooling of molten salts. A Water-cooled concept would be much preferred but it seems like this technology may not really take-off that well in the middle-eastern countries where water is scarce even though there is plentiful solar radiation.
• Cost: 2493 glass-metal heliostatic mirrors were required for the Solar CPV concept. Thermal storage tanks for the Molten Salts. Hydraulic Pumps. Effective Control System. Steam generator Sub-system. Makes me wonder about the capital cost required and how much would every kWh of electricity generated from the Solar Power Plant cost.

The Solar Two tower implemented in California, Bigger and Meaner than the original Solar One in Spain.

Well, who knows. Soleil Water may be constructing the Solar Three/Four/Five in the southern islands of Singapore someday. Hah. Singapore has plenty of Solar Radiation + Sea Water to cool the molten salts. So, Why not? :)

i wonder if they do anything useful to the waste steam generated from driving the turbines.

link: www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/molten-salt-storage-solar.php