Danfoss – www.heating-danfoss.ru
Last year can be identified as the beginning of a new phase in the development of Russian Housing and Public Utilities Sector. The recent “Energy Efficiency” law, which was adopted last November, has changed the dynamics of the Housing and Public Utilities Sector as well as challenging its participants to review their economic priorities. How should we operate under the new conditions? The experience of companies which have chosen energy efficiency as their long term development policy will help to find the answer to this question.
It has become more and more apparent that energy efficiency is one of the principle trends in the development of the World Economy of the XXI century. The housing and Public Utilities Sector is no exception. Moreover, the issue of reducing energy loss is much more relevant than in any other sectors of the economy, as almost half of the fuel and energy resources of developed countries today is spent on the demands of public utilities.
Looking at Russia, the situation is more concerning. For example, Moscow public utility demands consume nearly 60% of entire generated heat and over a quarter of generated electricity. Moreover, between 40 and 70% of that energy is simply wasted. The situation throughout the country is not much better. Houses and buildings constantly leak heat through thin panel walls, though panel joints, through broken windows in communal staircases and through open windows, making Russian cities gigantic energy sieves.
To a large extent, the situation in the Housing and Public Utilities Sector has made the country’s GDP energy intensity colossal; one of the highest in the world. Scientists and industry experts believe that this index could be reduced by more than 40%. However, this means that we have to significantly improve energy use; primarily by bringing the public utilities infrastructure in line with up-to-date standards of energy conservation. As a matter of fact, the main volume of heat loss today falls within residential buildings, not the city and district heat distribution networks. This problem alone requires the implementation of integrated solutions, which is, unfortunately, a great rarity these days. “Public utility services often base their decisions on the grounds of short term savings, or with a desk-top approach to the implementation of the requirements of the “Energy Efficiency Law”. For instance, they convert houses into the metering system, without conducting any works on modernisation of the heating systems. Whilst the meter, as such, can not provide any energy savings, subsequently, the heating bills rise, but consumption is not reduced. This only leads to a conflict between the occupants and the Heating Supply Agencies”- says Michael Shapiro, the General Director of Danfoss, the world’s leading supplier of energy saving equipment heating systems and heating supplies.
If any modernisation does take place, it is often of a half-hearted nature, whereas, if we are to achieve truly significant heat saving of 35 to 40%, the performance of every element of a housing heating system should be optimised. The first and most obvious step is the installation of the Domestic Heating Plant (DHP). This would allow an adjustment in energy consumption, depending on weather conditions. Moreover, DHP creates only the amount of heat required for the building.
However, those needs could and indeed should be optimised. For example, the residents should be given a chance to control their heat consumption, i.e. regulate the temperature of the heating radiators. Otherwise they will continue to heat the street through the open windows. The solution to this is radiator thermostatic regulating valves being installed in every radiator in the house where they automatically maintain room temperature which is set by the inhabitants. No less crucial is the automatic balancing of the system in the water risers, which allows equal distribution of hot water throughout the building. “Only an integral approach, together with the installation of metering equipment, can achieve an outright tangible economic impact, i.e. provide significant reductions in heat consumption within the lifecycle of the equipment”, said Michael Shapiro, “ and if, in addition to the one communal heating meter, individual distribution meters are to be installed in every flat, every resident would have personal motivation to save, which might give results even higher than the anticipated”.
Following the Ural Lead
It must be said, the problems of the Russian heat supply are not only of a technical nature. For instance, some people argue that the implementation of energy-efficient technologies has natural, inherent barriers. In particular the direct economic dependence of generating companies and public utilities on energy consumption. However, the reality reveals that these claims are not only far from the truth, but do not make sense. Energy conservation can significantly increase the efficiency of the generating companies, heating supply agencies and management companies. The question is how to develop the right strategy for restructuring this sector.
One of the best examples of an integral approach to the restructuring of city energy networks is the development programme for the heat supply system in Chelyabinsk, which is to be implemented in this year. As part of the project, 2500 DHPs are to be installed in multi-occupancy dwellings. Moreover, the energy company “Fortum” (the main heat and electricity supplier in the city) is planning to do it at their own expense, with the future intention to pass the maintenance of equipment onto the utility frameworks.
The calculation of the power engineers is simple. According to the Director of the Chelyabinsk Heat Networks, Sergey Lobanov, the cost of heat which is lost annually through open windows, comes to 635 million Roubles. In comparison, total losses due to heat leaks do not exceed 5 million Roubles.
These modernisation efforts will benefit to the city inhabitants as well. By the transition to a meter system, which is a compulsory requirement of the “Energy efficiency law”, the people of Chelyabinsk will be able to manage their own heat consumption, which means that heating bills will be reduced. According to specialist calculations, savings for the average family will come to 1700-2500 roubles in one heating season.
It should be noted that Fortum already has successful experience in implementation of similar projects in Tallinn, Riga, and other Baltic countries where inefficiency in heating supply is similar to that in Russia.
Regional Support for Energy Efficiency
It is not only Chelyabirsk that is implemented such programs. Recently, a heat supply company in Gatchina (Leningrad region), a town with nearly 100 thousand population, experienced the problem of generating capacity deficit. We found ourselves in a difficult situation, – says the Chief Engineer of “Heating Networks of Gatchina ”, Vladimir Sharabakin. – the city utility networks were built a long time ago and were not modern consumption. In order to provide a sound heat supply, all the subscribers of the central part of the town have to change the main pipelines, which would allow the increase of the capacity of heating pipelines.
At the same time, our calculations reveal that heat which is supplied to the consumers is used inefficiently, particularly in the transitional periods between seasons. When the rooms get warm, people open their window and heat the street, whilst those losses significantly exceed our demands in additional energy resources.
If we are to change the elevator units in the houses to automatic domestic heating plants with weather-coordinating controls, the load to the city heating network will dramatically decrease. Moreover, after installing DHPs the heating systems in the buildings are closed and the required driving pressure in its internal pipework is created by pumping equipment, which is included in the heating unit. Consequently, we will be able to reduce the pumping load in the boiler plants which at the moment ‘pump through” the entire town. This also creates a
significant saving”.
A slightly different problem arose in the utility services of Zarechny of Sverdlovsk region. The residential stock of this town includes 200 multi-occupancy houses, which are connected to the central heating distribution system. Despite the fact that in winter the air temperature drops lower than – 30°C, in recent years the town dwellers suffered “overheating”. “Working temperature range in the town heating network is often unstable. As a result, the heat supply system received overheated water. Furthermore, it is not always frosty outside, – explains Director of the town servicing company LLC “Dez”, Sergey Skolobanov. – that is why it is always too hot in the houses. However, the residents do not have any tools to regulate the temperature. As a result, people pay for excessive heat, whilst they could spend that money, for example, on maintenance or upgrading their houses.
In order to rescue the situation, the decision was made, as part of the federal overhaul program, to equip all the houses with domestic heating plants. Interestingly, it was the management of the company who recommended its implementation to the owners. During last year, sixty residential houses in Zarechny were equipped with Danfoss control units, which allow temperature control at the building inlet in accordance with differing weather conditions. Now the temperature inside the houses is always comfortable. The outcome was the conversion of the remodelled houses to the metering system. “Not only have we solved the problem of “overheating”, but received 20% savings on the heating bills, – says Sergei Skolobanov. – Next year we are planning to submit another application to the Housing and Utility Reform Foundation to conduct reconstruction work on another 70 buildings”.
Most of the developed countries in Europe first experienced deficit of energy resources 30 years ago. The stumbling block back then, just like today in Russia, was excessive energy consumption of the housing and public utilities sector. However, the experience of the recent decades proves that this problem is solvable. Moreover, in the course of its resolution, the public utilities sector may well reach another level of efficiency. Today, similar transformation has begun in Russia Significant steps have already been taken The most important thing is to learn from experience from countries that have had similar problems in the past, and indeed follow the lead of regional authorities who are striving for a new, energy efficient Russia.
