Most of us are know how to trim our domestic energy consumption. Turn off the lights, don’t leave the TV on standby, lower the thermostat, set the washing machine on cold, and all that stuff. But how do you save energy if you run the Large Hadron Collider or the world’s largest cyclotron?
In mid-October, the world’s largest laboratory CERN helped gather international scientists and utility industry executives at a 2-day workshop in Lund, Sweden, to figure out how to lower their energy bills and limit CO2 emissions every time they smash atoms and the like. With participation and active contributions from AAPS, TRIUMF and its local landlord UBC made an appearance at the conference to share thoughts on how to repurpose the heat from accelerator cooling water for heating the nearby buildings of the local community.
The workshop focused on: efficiency and optimization of energy supply, energy recovery, storage and stability; challenges for heat recycling systems and water saving (energy conversion, heat recovery, high-temperature cooling loops). The discussion also explored current and future strategic and financial challenges.
Orion Henderson from UBC’s Office of Sustainability is participating on behalf of TRIUMF, UBC, and AAPS. In a new partnership, the organizations have been exploring options for using TRIUMF as a “heat producer” and UBC campus as a “heat consumer” through technology known as a district-energy system. The technology is not new, but the ambition to use TRIUMF’s cooling-water systems for its accelerators as a heat source is quite novel. The system, if constructed, would be the first of its kind in North America.
In simple terms, accelerators are not 100% efficient in converting input power into accelerating particles. The inefficiencies show up as heat in the beam pipes, magnets, and other components. Elsewhere on site, the particle beam is directed onto targets to produce isotopes–which can overheat the target system. To cool these components, TRIUMF uses sophisticated cooling-water systems to “take away” the heat. Traditionally, this heat is transferred to a cooling tower where it is sent into the atmosphere by simple evaporation. As TRIUMF expands with the ARIEL project, its overall cooling system could deal with as much as 10 MW of “unused” heat. This level of energy transfer is similar to what UBC could need to heat new residences or warm buildings on campus.
To seize this opportunity of heat “supply” and heat “demand,” and to reduce the overall carbon footprint, TRIUMF and UBC are examining the feasibility of a district-energy system that would use an independent, isolated system to extract heat from TRIUMF and send it up Wesbrook Mall to campus. AAPS has played a role in formulating the project and providing assistance with some of the technical feasibility studies. The conclusions suggest that while this entrepreneurial opportunity won’t generate new IP or launch a new business in re-selling heat from particle colliders, AAPS is pleased to have helped get the project above threshold so that it can provide value to the local community.
