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Holcim Orders 1000 Volvo FH Electric Trucks

Posted on February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 by dishanth

ZURICH – In a monumental move towards sustainable logistics, Holcim Group, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, has placed a groundbreaking order for 1000 Volvo FH electric trucks. This landmark deal marks the largest sale of electric 18-wheelers to date, signaling a significant shift towards decarbonized mass haulage on European roadways. The move is a strategic step in Holcim’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions in cement logistics by 2050, according to Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch.

Driving Towards Net Zero in Cement Logistics

Holcim’s ambitious order of 1,000 Volvo FH electric trucks is a pivotal component of its broader strategy to slash Scope 3 transport carbon emissions and advance its 2050 net-zero roadmap. With the building materials industry grappling with substantial fleet pollution responsible for over a quarter of global value chain emissions, embracing e-mobility emerges as a viable solution to mitigate the outsized climate impact of freight transport.

The Volvo FH electric truck is a groundbreaking heavy-duty truck. Holcim’s colossal order now propels the commercialization of electric semi-trailers in Europe to new heights. As charging infrastructure continues to improve, major logistics players like Holcim are making strategic moves to convert their diesel fleets to electric, targeting reduced emissions and lower maintenance costs than traditional combustion vehicles.

Holcim’s substantial tender is expected to play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of electric freight in Europe, with the potential for a quicker return on investment being an attractive proposition for other manufacturers to expedite their exploration of electric fleets.

Vehicle Automation on the Horizon

Holcim not only envisions a shift towards electric vehicles but also expects vehicle automation to play a significant role in the transition. Research and development pilots for vehicle automation are already underway in Germany, leveraging the latest Volvo FH electric truck models as a foundational platform for autonomous hardware. Holcim aims to integrate automation into its vision for decarbonized haulage, creating a seamlessly optimized material delivery system down to the turning wheels at each plant.

Germany is also developing an innovative catenary power system for electric transport trucks that will reduce fossil fuel usage and carbon emissions from the freight industry. The concept involves building overhead power lines along motorways that will connect to compatible vehicles like the Volvo FH electric truck while driving. Sensors and software in the trucks detect the cables above and automatically raise current collectors, allowing the electric motor, battery pack, and braking system to be powered by the overhead electric catenary.

This allows the trucks’ battery capacity to be smaller and lighter since they don’t need to store energy for the entire route. Instead, the catenaries continuously charge the batteries like electric trains and public transit trams, granting the trucks unlimited driving range while under the cables. Germany’s priority freight corridors between industrial hubs will be electrified first. The country allocated $73 million towards installing overhead cables on the autobahn in 2023. If the network expands as envisioned, trucking companies can utilize cleaner electric hybrid trucks for most routes without stopping and charging for long periods.

The numbers associated with this order of Volvo FH electric trucks are substantial and represent a significant leap toward sustainable practices in the building materials industry. Holcim’s strategic investment in electric semi-trucks underscores its commitment to sustainable practices and sets a precedent for the broader industry to embrace innovative solutions for a greener future.

Source Happy Eco News

Tech and Ingenuity Supercharge a Sustainable Hotel

Posted on March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 by dishanth

Automation, emissions analysis, upgraded technology, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence – these are just a handful of ways that businesses are promoting sustainability and reducing greenhouse gasses.

Hotel Marcel, based in New Haven. Conn., wants to lead the way when it comes to sustainability in the hospitality sector. With this goal in mind, a team of eco-conscious design, architecture, and technology experts have built the first net-zero hotel in the United States. Hotel Marcel is also one of only 10 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum-certified hotels in the country. Since its opening in 2022, the hotel has won countless awards related to its sustainability.

Hotel Marcel had a long life before becoming what it is today. It started life as the Armstrong Rubber Company Building in 1968. After a period of vacancy started in the late 1990s, the building was listed on the Connecticut Register of Historical Places in 2020 and then the National Register of Historical Places in 2021. Those designations added challenges for converting the building into an eco-friendly hotel. But with a steadfast vision by lead architect, developer, and owner Bruce Becker, along with partner Sinclair Digital, the hotel is now a model for those that follow.

Renovated Hotel Relies on Renewable Energy and Microgrid Technology

The details are impressive. The hotel reused as much of the existing infrastructure as possible during a full renovation. To meet its goal of generating all its power, the hotel relies on renewable solar power onsite to produce electricity for the entire property. Engineers also installed triple-glazed windows for efficient insulation; a heat pump system for hot water, space heating, and cooling; and elevators that generate their own electricity. Even the hotel’s laundry room runs on renewable electricity instead of natural gas.

While some of these measures, like coated windows and renewable building materials, were right in Becker’s wheelhouse, other, more technology-driven features were less so. Early in the process, Becker’s team installed an energy-efficient, DC-powered microgrid for the hotel’s converters, microcontrollers, and batteries. The localized, solar-powered DC microgrid runs independently of the main power grid and is powered by an Ageto ARC controller, which enables grid services and resilience sequencing.

Becker knew from learning about other sustainable hotel endeavors like the Sinclair Hotel of Fort Worth, Texas, that low-voltage Power over Ethernet (Poe) would make a significant difference. Unlike high voltage power, low voltage uses less electrical current and sends power and controls on the same cable, reducing the amount of infrastructure required and resulting in greater energy efficiency. These systems also operate at levels of as low as 24 volts, making them safer and installable without an electrician.

“Our engineers visited the Sinclair Hotel to see how PoE would work in a hotel setting,” Becker said. “We were very keen on using it for lighting and intelligent occupancy sensors and integrating it with mechanical blackout and sheer shades to create quiet, dark, and efficient rooms.”

Installing Lantronix Switches

At the same time, the Sinclair organization, now called Sinclair Digital, was expanding from its role as a traditional hotel developer to a consultant that partners with hotel developers to choose and implement PoE and other energy-saving technologies.

To enable PoE throughout Hotel Marcel, Sinclair Digital advised implementing Lantronix’s Smart Managed Gigabit PoE++ switch, which would support direct, high-voltage DC power and the latest PoE standard.

“After we did the Hotel Sinclair, we learned about Lantronix,” explained Sinclair Digital COO Hannah Walker. “We knew that it was increasing the power of its technology to 90 watts as opposed to 60 watts, which meant that if you had a network switch with 24 ports, you can now pass 90 watts per port, which gives you a lot of capacity.”

In keeping with the low-voltage theme, Sinclair also installed VoltServer Digital Electricity to power the Lantronix switches. This enables the switches to safely transport DC power at high wattages over long distances on Class 2 wiring. Digital Electricity is a low-voltage technology but has the power and distance capabilities of AC by splitting energy into packets and transmitting them every second by the hundreds from a transmitter to a receiver unit.

Racks of switches now populate four original electrical closets throughout the property, connected via fiber run between the floors. The switches power lighting and motorized window treatments and are integrated with the HVAC system. Becker said that the hotel’s 55 PoE++ switches have reduced lighting energy use by more than 30%.

Emergency Battery Backup System

Next up was comprehensive emergency battery backup for the entire hotel, including emergency lighting, elevators, and stairway pressurization. While emergency battery backup was a fairly new concept, Walker recommended going the extra mile because of its significant energy savings.

“All of the systems we use today in buildings are DC inside, so all renewable energy generates in DC,” Walker explained. “But every time you transport it in AC, you lose 15% of efficiency, and it adds up.”

The team chose a battery developed by Sinclair and LG Electronics. The massive Lithium Ion battery, designed to replace energy-hogging diesel generators, can be recharged with solar panels via a microgrid.

Grand Opening

With everything in place, the hotel opened last spring. Five-star ratings populate virtually every hotel booking and review site.

Becker ensured all systems were metered to help the hotel stay on track with its sustainability goals and LEED Platinum requirements. Both the Lantronix and VoltServer equipment have in-line metering capabilities and associated software. Becker and Walker will consider adding an energy monitoring system to better determine energy usage at all points and so guests can see how much energy their rooms save.

With its focus on sustainability practices, it’s unsurprising that Hotel Marcel continues to break barriers. Today, it’s on the cusp of being certified as the only Passive House hotel in the United States. Passive House, which focuses on building energy and efficiency, is a well-established standard in Europe and is gaining popularity in the U.S.

Source ItProToday

Singapore is building a 42,000-home eco ‘smart’ city

Posted on February 8, 2021 by dishanth

In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it’s a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still.

Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah — the Malay word for “middle,” though it’s in the island’s western region — will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore’s government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, which conservationists hope offers a roadmap for slashing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.

The development is being dubbed a “forest town” by officials, due to its abundant greenery and public gardens. Once home to brickmaking factories, and later used for military training, the 700-hectare (2.7-square-mile) site has been reclaimed by an extensive secondary forest in recent years. A 328-foot-wide ecological “corridor” will be maintained through its center, providing safe passage to wildlife and connecting a water catchment area on one side to a nature reserve on the other.

Planners say the town has been designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board

The project has proven a tabula rasa for urban planners advocating green design principles and “smart” technology, according to Chong Fook Loong, group director for research and planning at Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB), the agency overseeing the country’s public housing.

“Tengah is a clean slate,” he said in a video interview, explaining that roads, parking and utilities are being pushed beneath the town center. “We’re going for the ideal concept of segregation of traffic, (with) everything underground and then the ground level totally freed up for pedestrians — for people. So, it’s a very safe environment for all.

“We want a town that allows walking and cycling in a very user-friendly manner,” he added, saying that cycling has “taken off” in Singapore in the “last three to five years especially.”

The master plan will see the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, while the streets are also being “futureproofed” to accommodate emerging technologies, Chong said.

“When we planned the road network, we envisaged a future where autonomous vehicles and self-driving vehicles will become a reality,” he said.

Cooler by design

Although comparatively small, with a population of under 6 million people, Singapore’s per-capita emissions are higher than those of the UK, China, and neighboring Malaysia, according to the country’s National Climate Change Secretariat.

That’s due, in part, to air conditioning, which accounts for more than a third of typical household energy consumption. Global warming will only exacerbate this dependence. The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) has predicted that, by the end of this century, average daily temperatures in the city-state may be at least 34.1 degrees Celsius (93.4 degrees Fahrenheit) “almost every day” during the eight warmest months of the year.

An artist’s impression of the 2.7-square-mile site. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board

As such, keeping cool will, increasingly, be a necessity for residents. Rather than demonizing air conditioning, Tengah’s planners have instead sought to reimagine it. Cold water, chilled using solar power, will be piped though the district’s homes, meaning residents don’t need to install inefficient outdoor AC condensers (though they can still control the temperature in their own apartments).

According to the town’s energy provider, SP Group, this will generate carbon dioxide savings equivalent to taking 4,500 cars off the roads each year. The state-owned energy company reports that, of the apartments already sold in advance, 9 out of 10 future residents have signed up for centralized cooling.

Planners used computer modeling to simulate wind flow and heat gain across the town, helping to reduce the so-called urban heat island effect (whereby human activities and structures make urban areas notably warmer than the surrounding nature). Elsewhere, “smart” lights will switch off when public spaces are unoccupied, and trash will be stored centrally, with monitors detecting when garbage needs collecting.

“Instead of using a truck to collect garbage from every block, we will suck all the garbage through the pneumatic system to a chamber that serves several blocks,” Chong said. “From time to time, the (garbage) truck just needs to collect from the chamber.”

One of the town’s five residential districts, known as the Plantation District, will offer community farming. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board

Of the 42,000 homes being built at Tengah, more than 70% will be made available through the HDB on long-term leases. Prices for two-bedroom apartments currently begin at just 108,000 Singapore dollars ($82,000), with the first apartments set to complete in 2023.

All residents will have access to an app allowing them to monitor their energy and water usage. (“You empower them to take control of where they can cut down their energy consumption,” Chong said.) Digital displays in each block will meanwhile inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which could even encourage competition between residential blocks, according to SP Group.

Regardless of whether the use of smart technology can significantly dent greenhouse gas emissions or not, engaging residents with their own consumption could instigate behavioral change, according to Perrine Hamel, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment. This, she added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.

“Thinking about food consumption and thinking about the way people use air conditioning is all part of (achieving climate targets),” she said. “Changing behavior is going to be an integral part of it and, of course, urban design is the first way to affect and change behavior.”

Dubbing the project a “forest town,” planners aim to retain some of the site’s natural greenery. Credit: Courtesy The Housing & Development Board

Connecting with nature
For Hamel, the integration of nature and residential areas — which creates “more opportunities for people to interact with nature” — is where Tengah’s plan excels. In addition to the aforementioned forest corridor, the town’s residents will have access to community farming in the so-called Plantation District.

Beyond promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature on the site can lead to further behavioral change, Hamel said.

“There are a lot of examples, from around the world, showing that changing our relationship with nature through everyday encounters does help people take environmental action,” she said. “On that front I think the biophilic design and (Tengah’s) master plan actually does a good job.”.

The Nature Society Singapore (NSS) has nonetheless criticized the plan for conserving too little — less than 10% — of the site’s existing forest. The environmental group has proposed two additional “core forest areas” at either end of the green corridor to promote biodiversity and protect migratory species.

The government said it is “refining” its plan based the NSS report, though Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has since disclosed that even more of the remaining forest — about 3% of the proposed corridor — will be felled to make way for viaducts connecting the town to a nearby expressway.

(In an email to CNN, the agency said it will later replant the trees in the cleared area and create “suitable temporary wildlife crossings … to provide a safe passage for animals during construction.”)

Yet, even Tengah’s critics have broadly welcomed the eco-town, with the NSS concluding its environmental critique by stating it is still “heartened by this bold plan.”

What these urban design initiatives mean for the rest of Singapore remains to be seen. When Tengah was first revealed in 2016, it was the first new town announced by Singapore’s government in two decades, meaning every other neighborhood was designed long before the era of autonomous vehicles and internet-enabled amenities. Chong readily admitted that “it’s not so easy” to retrofit underground road networks and pneumatic trash chutes in existing towns.

Nevertheless, he struck a positive note when asked what Tengah’s model offers future residential projects.
“We try to bring all the lessons forward — whenever we can and to the best of our ability,” he said. “You look at Tengah and, in a nutshell, you’re seeing the future of what the (government) is trying to build: the future of towns.”

Written byOscar Holland

Source CNN