Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Programme 2007 - 2013 North West Europe

Date of latest update: 2021-04-06

Description

Description (EN):

Currently. a transition is taking place in Europe towards an increasing awareness of the effects of our behavior on the environment. Instead of using fossil fuels. the focus slowly shifts towards minimizing energy consumption or using renewable sources of energy with the purpose to reduce carbon emissions. There is an enormous amount of energy within the urban water cycle that is ignored and lost. This can be illustrated by the following figures: municipal wastewater contains ten times the amount of energy needed for the treatment in wastewater treatment plants. On average. only 20% of the energy input in wastewater treatment is recovered energy; this means we are currently using only a small percentage of the available energy recovery potential. INNERS therefore. aims to approach the urban water cycle as a system that transports energy. Our main goal is to improve the energy balance of the urban water cycle by recovering the energy from all different parts within the urban water cycle and by promoting its re-use. The ultimate aim is to devise an urban water cycle that will be energy neutral or even an energy producer. The INNERS project will contribute to the EU climate policy demand to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to increase the use of currently unexploited renewable sources of energy. Also. a reduced energy demand contributes to lower energy costs and lower urban water cycle costs to the public. This strengthens the position of the urban communities with a more sustainable urban water cycle. Delivering improvement of the energy balance in the water cycle requires the development of new collaborations in North West Europe to transfer knowledge. Also. visible examples have to be developed to show the short and long term benefits. Our project set-up. with a mixture between research and implementation activities guarantees these demands in the most optimal way.

Achievements (EN):

Why working transnationally? Energy consumption varies largely from country to country in North-West Europe, which shows the need to optimise and harmonise practices in the area. To come to this conclusion, INNERS analysed the energy performance of 344 waste water treatment plants across the area. How does this work in practice? INNERS is not only producing knowledge but it is also applying it on seven demonstration projects. Examples: Raalte’s local swimming pool in the Netherlands is now heated by warmth from purified wastewater. With this, the project expects to save 137.000 kg of CO2 per year. 93 social housing apartments in Leuven (Belgium) will be heated by warmth from the sewer system We have produced an energy potential urban water cycle. The next step is to convert this tool into a format for wider use by researchers to advise local and regional authorities how energy from the urban water cycle can be used in their region. What will happen after INNERS ends? Project partners are ensuring work will go on. For that, they are targeting policy makers, future experts and technical specialists, able to apply the project’s findings. Until so far, the project has produced: An energy potential model for the urban water cycle. The next step is to translate it into a usable tool for researchers to advise local and regional authorities on how they can use energy from the urban water cycle in their region. Four out of seven demonstration projects to demonstrate how energy from the urban water cycle can be saved in practice. An Energy Online System (EOS) to help operators optimise the energy balance of their waste water treatment plants

Website: http://www.nweurope.eu/

Thematic information

Water management Waste and pollution

Partners (11)

Lead Partner: Waterschap Groot Salland

Address: Dr. vanThienenweg 1, 8000 AB Zwolle, Netherlands

Legal status: n/a

Waterschap Vallei & Eem

Name: Waterschap Vallei & Eem

Address: Fokkerstraat 16, 3833 LD Leusden, Netherlands

Legal status: n/a

Université du Luxembourg

Name: Université du Luxembourg

Address: Route du Diekirch, L - 7220 Walfer, Luxembourg

Legal status: n/a

Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor

Name: Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor

Address: Avenue John F. Kennedy 29, L-1855 Luxembourg - Kirchberg, Luxembourg

Legal status: n/a

Aquafin

Name: Aquafin

Address: Dijkstraat 8, 2630 Aartselaar, Belgium

Legal status: n/a

VLARIO Overlegplatform

Name: VLARIO Overlegplatform

Address: Sint-Bernardseweg 1126, 2660 Hoboken, Belgium

Legal status: n/a

Wupperverband

Name: Wupperverband

Address: Untere Lichtenplatzer Straße 100, 42289 Wuppertal, Germany

Legal status: n/a

Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine (LMCU)

Name: Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine (LMCU)

Address: 1, Rue du Ballion BP 749, 59034 Lille, France

Legal status: n/a

Syndicat Intercommunal de Dépollution des Eaux résiduaires du Nord (SIDEN)

Name: Syndicat Intercommunal de Dépollution des Eaux résiduaires du Nord (SIDEN)

Address: SIDEN Bleesbruck, L-9359 Bettendorf, Luxembourg

Legal status: n/a

Kent County Council

Name: Kent County Council

Address: Civic Centre 3, Market Street, HD1 2YZ Huddersfield, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

University of Bradford

Name: University of Bradford

Address: Richmond Road, BD7 1DP Bradford, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Waterschap Vallei & Eem

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Université du Luxembourg

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Aquafin

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

VLARIO Overlegplatform

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Wupperverband

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine (LMCU)

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Syndicat Intercommunal de Dépollution des Eaux résiduaires du Nord (SIDEN)

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Waterschap Groot Salland

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

Kent County Council

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Partners and Projects info

University of Bradford

Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Project acronym: INNERS

Project start date: 2010-04-01

Project end date: 2014-12-31

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 6 579 208.16

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 3 289 604.08

Co-financing sources:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2007 - 2013 North West Europe

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2015-12-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

114 / 114 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 104 / 1 104 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the programme and collected from programme's website

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Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle

Description

Thematic information

Partners (11)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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