Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• Shops and services for a shopping mall that existed already
• 250 housing units
• Conference space, hotel, restaurant, and a recreation park
Wood was chosen for the structures due to resource eficiency as detailed in a report
for the Club of Rome of 1995 (Weizäker et al., 1997). Forests close to the construction site
were chosen as the source of the wood to reduce transportation requirements. Concrete
buildings were chosen to reduce climate control requirements. Energy savings of 23% for
heating enabled an 18% reduction of the CO
2
emissions. Approximately 10,000 m
2
(3800 PV
cells) of solar cells covered the roof of the wood and glass structure for the academy, hotel,
living quarters, and sports facilities. Natural ventilation was incorporated into the build-
ing. Energy consumption was reduced to 32 kW h/year. The power plant on the roof pro-
vides 1 MW of power, more than twice that needed by the center (EMC, 1998).
Approximately, 120 million m
3
of methane are generated from the abandoned mines.
The general practice of burning the methane releases approximately 8 million tonnes of
CO
2
. Therefore, it was decided to capture the gas containing 60% methane. This was con-
verted to 2 million kW h of electricity and 3 million kW h of heat for the nearby buildings.
The mine gas and solar panels generate energy for 130,000 homes. A power station is used
for energy storage. A supplementary natural gas plant (1800 kW h) and a hot water storage
tank were constructed to ensure adequate energy and heat due to the luctuating nature
Older buildings
Oval vista
Shafts with
safety zone
New
buildings
Old waste
pile
New main
building
FIGURE 13.6
Redeveloped Mont Cenis site. New buildings are in gray and older buildings are in white. The three abandoned
shafts (encircled with a safety zone) are used to recover energy. (Adapted from EMC, Mont-Cenis,
Report of the
Entwicklungsgesellschaft
, Mont-Cenis, Herne D, 44 pp., 1998.)
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