Building Up

The High Line (New York City)
Source: NYC Dep. of Park & Recreation

Soaring real estate prices in the San Francisco Bay Area have got me thinking about density and urban planning. In particular, I have been wondering whether there is a better way to use all the space currently dedicated to roads and highways.

San Francisco Presidio Parkway (Under construction)
Source: SFCTA

The San Francisco Presidio Parkway is being redesigned as a park over an existing roadway that is being placed within new tunnels. San Francisco selected James Corner as the lead designer for the Presidio Parkway. Corner is an architect known for his work on The High Line, an elevated public park in New York. I love the idea of creating public parks above existing road infrastructure. Both drivers and pedestrians benefit from such separation, and new space is created in constrained area.

San Antonio River Walk - Below Grade
Source: Wikimedia Commons

While public parks above roads are a new creation, there are numerous examples where communities have separated automobile traffic and pedestrians through multi-level design. It sure is nice walking below grade around downtown San Antonio's River Walk and not encountering vehicles. Las Vegas has taken an alternate approach and sent their pedestrian traffic on walkways over the Strip.

Las Vegas Pedestrian Bridge - Above Grade
Source: Louis Berger

In addition to pedestrians, animals benefit from being separated from traffic. Banff National Park in Alberta is famous for its multiple wildlife crossings, which connect bifurcated ecological regions and reduce roadkill. More pictures of wildlife crossings are available at theworldgeography. An organization called Animal Road Crossings (ARC) is working to create new wildlife crossing structures. ARC hosted a design competition for wildlife crossing infrastructure in 2011, and hopes to spread new ideas on this topic.

Wildlife Crossing in Banff, Alberta
Source: Parks Canada

In some cases, building structures have been built above roadways as well. This wikipedia list catalogs dozens of structures built over roadways. One such structure that always struck me as odd is the Crowne Plaza in Newton, MA just outside of Boston. The Crowne Plaza sits directly above the Massachusetts Turnpike, and its reviews include numerous complaints from guests about highway noise that keeps them up at night. A hotel is probably not a good choice directly above an open highway, but the Crowne Plaza provides an example of the range of possibilities for building above roads.  If the turnpike had first been placed in a tunnel, then covered with a park, the Crowne Plaza location might be quiet and pleasant for guests.

I can imagine a future of covered roads, creating spaces for new parks, walking trails, wildlife crossings, and buildings depending on the pre-existing surrounding environment. Such structures would increase urban density, and hopefully avoid sprawl. I look forward to following the advances of ARC and others working to create low cost, multi-use, above road crossing structures so that we can build up our roads to support more than just cars.

Crowne Plaza Newton, MA
Source: Google Street View

Evaluating New Water Projects In California

The Sacramento Bee ran an infographic I liked showing the cost and benefits of proposed water infrastructure projects in California. I reposted it below. These estimates appear to be quite rough, but they give a useful indication of the value of different projects. I did some simple division to make the bar chart below comparing the costs of the various projects. The bar chart is made by dividing the cost estimate ($) by the increased water supply in dry years (acre-ft/year). It appears clear that if our goal is increased water supply in drought years, Shasta Dam raise and Sites Reservoir are the most cost-effective options. The other projects appear to be much more expensive drought mitigation projects. For water supply in average rain years, the San Luis Dam raise looks much more attractive. Having said that, San Luis Dam raise should not be sold as a drought supply measure. Los Vaqueros dam raise and Temperance Flat Dam aren't worth doing at all.

That's a Thirsty Walnut

I loved this Mother Jones article by Alex Park and Julia Lurie. They include a terrific graphic which I re-posted below.

Water Should Have a Price

The California drought has been taking over the news recently, and it seems to be a topic of conversation everywhere I go.  People already love to talk about the weather.  Now they get to include novel terms like mega-drought, water seizure, and ridiculously resilient ridge. (The water seizure appears to be a false alarm).  It is clear that collectively we want more water than we have, and that many trade-offs will have to be made.

In my view, it would be easier to evaluate the various trade-offs being discussed in water policy if water was priced more transparently.  For example, this article mentions that Westlands Water District recently offered to buy water from Oakdale Irrigation District for $400/acre-ft of water.  Last spring, Westlands offered $100/acre-ft.  For comparison, water from ocean desalination plants currently costs roughly $2,000/acre-ft.  Westlands is the largest agricultural water district in the US, and produces iconic California produce like almonds and pistachios.  The price numbers help illustrate the challenges Westlands faces.  Apparently farmers in Westlands can afford to buy water at a price four times what they paid a year ago.  Would they still be able to produce if prices quadruple again?  I'm not sure, but I personally would be willing to pay a bit more for tasty almonds if the price of water increases.  Under that logic, the drought seems to be painful but not catastrophic for the long-term future of California agriculture.

The need for water prices is also apparent when looking at water conservation and recycling.  While some consumers are facing increasing costs for water, others don't even know their own usage.  In Sacramento, only about 25% of homes have a water meter.  Residents without meters pay a flat rate, and increased water consumption is essentially free.  The reason for the limited metering?  The city doesn't want to pay for meters.  As a result, governments have ask people to conserve based on the honor system.

Prices are not a panacea.  Prices miss all kinds of market externalities.  They also can fluctuate widely in markets, like water, which are relatively illiquid.  Still, when attempting to make trade-offs and conserve water, prices are a good place to start.

Hiatus

I am writing to announce my indefinite hiatus from blogging about topics related to the electricity industry.  In the introduction of this blog, I described that blog will include topics related to energy and the environment, specifically due to their relevance in the context of climate change.  While I have focused most posts on the electricity industry thus far, there have been a couple exceptions, such as a post on biofuels and one on ocean acidification.  Going forward, I will explore new topics related to climate change.  I have been wanting to write about issues surrounding water, agriculture, land use, weather insurance, and biochar.  I will miss commenting on developments in renewable power, but I am excited about this new chapter in the development of Green Jouleus.

Utility Investments in Solar

I saw this slide, available here, from the 2013 U.S. Solar Market Insight Conference produced by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association.  The slide categorizes various utility investments in solar projects.  Previously, I have recommended approaches utilities should take to succeed in an era of distributed solar power, and these utilities are likely to be those at the forefront of new solar business models.

I apologize for the poor image resolution of some of the logos.

Microgrids Have Arrived

First, a definition of microgrids from Wikipedia:

A microgrid is a localized grouping of electricity generation, energy storage, and loads that normally operates connected to a traditional centralized grid. This single point of common coupling with the macrogrid can be disconnected. The microgrid can then function autonomously. Generation and loads in a microgrid are usually interconnected at low voltage. From the point of view of the grid operator, a connected microgrid can be controlled as if it were one entity.

Microgrids are often considered the grid of the future for a number of reasons.  The first is that cost of microgrids are decreasing.  Currently, a university campus or an industrial facility may want to reduce energy costs by using demand side resources such as microturbines, fuel cells, solar panels, batteries or demand response.  In particular, as solar panels decrease in cost, they provide many customers with a source of local power that is less than the cost of grid power, as I have described before.  Solar panels, however, do not match the load profile of a customer, so  microturbines and/or batteries are needed in addition to the panels to create a self-sufficient microgrid.

Power lines damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012
Source: Wikimedia Commons

While microgrids still are typically more expensive than traditional grid service, they offer the additional benefit of added reliability compared to grid power.  The big news in this area is that this past September, a microgrid in Borrego Springs, California enabled a community to quickly restore power after a thunderstorm-induced transmission outage in the area.  The quote from UT San Diego:

1,060 customers had their power restored automatically within hours by the Microgrid, using the on-site power. This included the essential downtown business area that contains several gas stations, stores and the local library, which is the designated “cool zone” for the community. The Microgrid continued to use on-site generation to power these customers while repairs were made to the damaged poles, allowing them to keep air conditioners and other vital appliances running during the intense heat. This is one of the first times in the nation that a Microgrid has been used to power a large portion of a community during an emergency situation.

My hat goes off to all the people behind the Borrego Springs microgrid.  Microgrids are starting to live up to their potential, and hopefully we look back on September, 2013 as a major landmark in their development.