Urban Planning

1. Urban Planning as if reality existed För att alla de okunniga människor som inte förstår svenska, skall kunna hänga med, är texten skriven på engelska Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

2. A newly built house will probably stay there for at least fifty years Therefore, when constructing the house, it is necessary to imagine how the world will look like, fifty years from now Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

3. A sustainable city is.. a contradiction in terms Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

4. A sustainable city is.. a contradiction in terms • Addiction to cheap energy • Addiction to constant food import from a vast area • Addiction to supporting and tolerant ecosystems Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

5. A sustainable city is.. a contradiction in terms • Addiction to cheap energy • Every actvity in the city is dependent of access to cheap energy • WILL ENERGY ALWAYS BE CHEAP? Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

6. The record year in oil prospecting Hubbert curve 50 1962 40 Amount of oil found every five year period 30 The Hubbert curve (extracion from a limited source) Found oil, bbl / 5 yr 20 10 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

7. Limited amount This is the total amount available This is the used amount Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

8. Restraining rule Rule: You can not use what is not found Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

9. Extraction modes A: The Bush/Cheney mode If you try to increase the extraction rate 1962: Maximum discovery Found Used The area of ”Used” will never be larger than the area of ”Found” ...the resource will end up faster Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

10. Extraction modes B: Improbable mode 1962 If you try to prolong the extraction at the same level Found Used The area of ”Used” will never be larger than the area of ”Found” …the depletion will be more sudden Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

11. Extraction modes C: Probable mode 1962 2006 Found Used The area of ”Used” will never be larger than the area of ”Found” Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

12. Salary (Money/work hour) Energy price (Money/kWh) Money / work hour Money / kWh Is energy cheap? Cheap energy Let mathematics help Cancel ’Money’: Division: Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

13. 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1920 1920 1930 1930 1940 1940 1950 1950 1960 1960 1970 1970 1980 1980 1990 1990 2000 2000 Cheap energy 450 New energy price measurement: Work time / kWh 400 seconds per kWh 400 350 300 250 Energy is cheap! 200 150 100 40 seconds per kWh 50 Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

14. 500 kg 750 kg 250 kg 2500 kg Cheap energy Food management Energy invested by middlemen: about 9.000 kWh/ p. The energy economy of food production Total energy investment: about 10.000 kWh / pers House Food energy delivered to households: about 1.000 kWh/ p. Car Energy invested in agriculture: about 1.000 kWh/ p. Food Farm 3000 kWh/p 2500 kWh/p Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

15. A sustainable city is.. a contradiction in terms • Addiction to constant food import from a vast area • Dependence of inorganic nutrients for food production • The HEAP trap = Inevitable pollution = Loss of nutrients Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

16. Nutrients To produce food, you need nutrients Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

17. Nutrients What is ’nutrients’? In principle, ’nutrients’ are the constituents of the animal or plant body Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008 FG

18. Nutrients The constituents of an animal (or plant) body: H O C N S P Na K Ca …64 H O C N S All nutrients are not the same With gaseous phases — can be transported by the air Without gaseous phases — must be transported as solids or liquids Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

19. 10 times more commonin the bodythan in theEarth crust Nutrients H O C N S P Na K Ca …64 All nutrients are not the same P Na K Ca …64 More common in the Earth crust than in the body => phosphorus is the most important nutrient ! Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

20. Nutrients Extraction horizons of phosphorus At higher energy price: ?? years At current energy price: 100 – 150 years Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

21. HEAP Our way of (mis-)managingthe nutrients The HEAP effect Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

22. HEAP The history of the living organisms conquering land • The situation in the primordial sea, 400 millon years ago Nutrients in food CREATCEAN SEA Elementary nutrients Nutrients in urine Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

23. HEAP What happened when the living organisms conquered land ? 2 The situation after the first animals had tread land Nutrients in food Nutrients in urine Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

24. HEAP After just a few tousand years: Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

25. HEAP Where are the green fields my ancestors were bragging about? Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

26. HEAP We need a method to use the phosphorus molecules many times, without losses, so we can retain phosphorus on land! ! Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

27. HEAP If we could transfer the phosphorus seamless from organism to organism without losses to sea, we might solve it ! Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

28. HEAP The regenerative cycle, basic for living systems -- ecosystem level: DNA Reconstruction Consumption PO4 Urine A seamless transport of phosphorus from organism to organism! Recycling Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

29. HEAP Petrified newspaper found in the Cretaceous – Devon geosynclinal Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

30. HEAP The regenerative cycle Reconstruction DNA High exergy Consumption Urine PO4 Recycling Low exergy Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

31. HEAP Present times Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

32. HEAP In pre-industrial times, the farmland nutrients came from the meadows N Phosphorus and nitrogen were collected by the meadow plants A certain amount of meadows were needed to feed the farmland = the meadow/farmland propotion Meadows Manure Feed Farmland Food PO4 Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

33. HEAP During industrialisation, people moved into cities Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

34. HEAP PO4 In the cities, they also needed food, food from the farms Food contains nutrients N The nutrients that went away to the cities never came back These nutrients were collected by the meadow plants The export led to an impoverishment of the agricultural land Feed PO4 Food Food PO4 Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

35. HEAP PO4 Food PO4 The impoverished land produced insufficient harvests This triggered emigration The industrialisation process might have been halted by the loss of nutrients from farmland Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

36. HEAP PO4 PO4 Food Food The situation was solved by the invention of artificial fertilizers By that, the nutrients from the meadows became unnecessary More food could be produced Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

37. HEAP PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Food Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion But in the cities, the situation became problematic Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

38. HEAP PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Food Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion The invention of the piping system eased up the problems Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

39. HEAP PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion However, at the end of the pipe, new problems were encountered Plancton algae multiplied gladly from the new phosphorus Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

40. HEAP PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Pollu-tion Already 50 years after the introduction of the process, it was realised that it was the phosphorus that caused the problems in the water Therefore, the politicians asked the technicians for a way to remove the phosphorus from the waste water Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

41. HEAP The problem Problem solved! Naturally, the technicians solved the problem in their usual expedient way Large particle filtration Sedimentation Sedimentation Aeration Sludge Air Flocculation Rotation Aluminum sulphate Filtering Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

42. HEAP The problem Problem solved! The problem to be solved was: ”How to get (moderately) clean water from the polluted water?” This problem was solved. Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

43. HEAP However, the questionnotasked was: ”How to recycle thephosphorus to avoid the problem?” A large part of the phosphorus is contained in the sludge Sludge Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

44. HEAP City Food Food Most of the food to the city come from very distant sources ..while the phoshorus in the sludge is placed much closer to the city PO4 PO4 PO4 Food Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

45. HEAP Food Food This means that there will be an accumulation of phosphorus around the city The larger the accumulated amount, the larger the leakage After some time, the leakage from this heap will equal what is put on PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Food Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

46. HEAP Food With effiecient waste water treatment methods (P precipitation), this state is attained faster Food When saturated, the system leaks at the same rate as it is charged PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 PO4 Food Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

47. HEAP Like showelling sand on a table Hampered Effluent Accumulation Process TheHEAPtrap Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

48. HEAP Hampered Effluent Accumulation Process Q Q:stored amount kQ Q:stored amount Leakage = input kQ=J J Q kQ:leakage Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

49. HEAP The HEAP effect-- diffuse nutrient leakage • Is an inevitable effect of urban agglomerations • Is an inevitable effect of deficient nutrent recycling • Can be solved by a changed settlement infrastructure • (or an extremenly expensive transportation system) Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008

50. Adaptations We are in trouble • Cheap energy will soon be a memory of forlorn times • Whithout cheap energy, phosphorus need to be recycled • Whithout cheap energy, supply lines need to be short • Whithout cheap energy, we have to rely on, and support, ecosystem services Lifeboats needed! Exergiakademins sommaruniversitet 2008