


Terry Cullen
Oct 28, 2022
Scotland
Categories:
Carbon Neutral, Energy, Cities, Technology, Economy, Sustainability
Imagine if the body heat you and many others created at a dance club powered the nightclub. It sounds futuristic.
Well, it is happening at a music venue in Glasgow, Scotland, called SWG3, according to this BBC article dated October 7, 2022.
Thermal heat comes from the dancers and heats a fluid under the dance floor. That fluid travels to 650-foot (200-meter) boreholes that act as thermal batteries. The heated fluid charges the batteries. The stored energy from the charge powers the venue’s heat pumps, and the liquid are pumped back up under the dance floor, starting the cycle over again. It takes a lot of energy to heat a fluid but once warmed, that energy releases back slowly. SWG3 owners can now take their gas boilers offline and save 70 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
David Townsend of Townsend Energy designed the system. He said that a person dancing to a medium pace (he cited the musical group Rolling Stone) generates approximately 250 watts of thermal energy. But, if the music is faster and everyone jumps up and down, that rises to 500 to 600 watts.
The system is a first-of-its-kind expensive 600,000 GBP (682,000 USD), but the owners expect to recoup their costs in as little as five years. The Scottish Government subsidized costs.
National governments are just one of the levels of Government getting involved in the quest for carbon neutrality. City governments are too, and Glasgow aims to be just that by 2029.
A city can benefit from a drive to be carbon neutral. This goal is a new economic frontier with a lot of money invested globally to develop and test new technologies. The cities with a plan and purpose to become carbon neutral are in the best position to receive these new investments and the media attention that goes with them. That could mean an economic boost and a leg up globally, attracting jobs in this new and emerging market. The early adopters stand to gain the most.
So, what can you do with your local community? Talk to your local government officials and test the waters to see if there is interest in going carbon neutral. Connect local government officials with regional and state economic development agencies that might be able to subsidize technologies. A group of interested citizens and city staff could research emerging technologies worldwide and discuss what part of the field is best to explore and showcase. Tap into local university research talent. Create a group of many different interests, build a plan, and a demonstration project.
Smaller communities may shy away from this, but they miss an opportunity if they do so. For example, towns dependent upon tourism may look at technologies to turn their tourist zone (e.g., town center, historic district, event) into a carbon-neutral area.
Your advocacy today may create a brighter future for your community and the planet.
Photo by Vishnu R Nair on Pexels.
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Catalog #:
1022.100.07.10282022