Hi all and welcome back to another post of a Circular Victory. After a short break, I am back to regular scheduling with interesting posts for all of you about the Circular Economy!
The goal of the blog and podcast is still to inform and, more importantly, start conversations! So if you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me. You can send an email to acircularvictory@gmail.com or send me a message on LinkedIn to Victor Lanckriet.
Today we are going to talk about a fascinating Circular use case that is already being used today in London. To find out more about how the London Underground helps to heat hundreds of homes and offices, continue reading!
London Underground Logo
Reusing the Heat of the London Underground
The London Underground of course requires energy to run. When that energy is converted into movement, a large amount of heat is generated. Due to the underground being far under the earth and travelling through narrow tunnels, a lot of that heat gets trapped.
Even during the coldest parts of winter, that is a problem. All that excess heat needs to get vented to the outside world. This heat is a complete by-product of the running of the Tube. However, just venting this hot air outside is a huge waste! Energy and resources have been used to create this heat and even though that wasn’t the original intention, we should aim to reuse this heat. The people working on the Bunhill Heat and Power Network project also realised this and they have found an amazing solution!
In Islington Council, a project has been launched to recover this wasted heat. This hot air is between 18 and 28 degrees when it is expelled. Instead of sending it into the open air, it is recovered through a ventilation duct and then further heated to the desired temperature with a heat pump. This can then be fed to the existing heating infrastructure in the Islington Council. By capturing this excess hot air, this project aims to heat 500 homes! If this project is further expanded, it is even predicted that this forgotten resource could meet up to 38% of London’s current heating needs.
This project makes use of one of my favourite characteristics of the Circular Economy. In the beginning, this excess heat was waste and a problem that needed to be dealt with. By simply changing the perspective and focusing on it from a Circular point of view, this problem suddenly became a huge opportunity! Resources were already being used for a certain purpose, but not all the results of these resources were effectively being used.
A Circular perspective allows us to change many of the problems we see in the world around us into opportunities and possibilities to make the world a better place!