New or revised pages:
(latest at top)
20 November 2009
Site history
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The environment and the Nicosia General Hospital area
Now in its Second Edition
This is a 28-page PDF essay describing how energy savings may be made at the
Hospital and surrounding buildings, up to a radius of 1 - 5 km. The key is a
Waste-to-Energy plant generating electricity and providing Distant Heat and
Cooling. This technology is well established in over 40 countries and its main
point is that the energy comes from municipal waste (household garbage) and some
other renewable sources which are not dependent on fossil fuels. At the same
time, it dramatically reduces landfill needs. Unlike other renewable energy,
such as solar and wind, it can operate 24/7 and thus make a significant
reduction in carbon emissions, sufficient to allow Cyprus to meet its
commitments to the EU and not be landed with swingeing fines. It will also
pre-empt the risk of the country falling foul of the EU Directives on landfills,
which are likely to be a future expensive thorn in our side.
The essay includes an illustrated description of how such a plant works and
how all measures are taken to prevent pollution and other nuisances to local
inhabitants. This is based on a similar sized plant which is operational in a
densely inhabited area in Lausanne, Switzerland and which provides heat for
space and water to a large University Hospital and to 18,000 apartments.
Second Edition: October 2009
This has been expanded with new sections and illustrations
and more concrete data, including updated facts and figures regarding
Nicosia General Hospital. It has grown from 28 to 35 pages and the download
has increased from 1.3 Mb to 1.8 Mb.
The author is Brian Ellis, a well-known international award-winning
environmental engineer, currently retired in Mosfiloti.
To view or download this 1.8 Mb document, left- or right-click
here. (PDF reader
required)
Water in Cyprus
This is the complete 2008 ASPX document, transcribed into a 31-page PDF
format, with small modifications, mainly to make it compatible with the
format. It was originally commissioned in 1998 by a Larnaca firm and written
by a Swiss company. Brian Ellis, the original lead author, revised it in
2008, to take into account the small evolution that has taken place since
the original document was published.
The document examines all the sources of water on the island, the
influence of climate and how they are exploited. Some technical content
describes how water may be purified for some degree of recycling. Above all,
it catalogues how vast quantities of this precious resource are simply
wasted, making desalination necessary to fill the shortfall, along with a
few suggestions as to how individuals and industries, particularly
agriculture, can help to reduce the demand for water.
To view or download this 0.7 Mb document, left- or right-click
here. (PDF reader
required)
Powering the Nation
Parsons Brinckerhoff have just published a most
interesting document showing the relative costs of Tidal, Offshore wind,
OCGT, OCGT (Gas-oil), Coal with PC CCS, IGCC with CCS, CCGT with PC CCS,
Biomass, CCGT, Onshore wind and Nuclear generated electricity in the UK.
They have given me permission to reproduce the report in full or partially,
with acknowledgement of the source (thanks!).
There is little reason why the general picture should not be similar in
Cyprus except:
- wind will be costlier (lower wind speeds than the UK)
- all forms of CCGT and OCGT will be costlier (no gas infrastructure:
regasification is expensive)
- tidal is a non-starter (tidal range is too small)
Here are the graphics from this report:
The full PDF
report (258 kb) is attached.
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