POCACITO - Asia

Akcansa - Waste Heat Recovery Plant

clf — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:23:12 +0000

Akcansa is a cement company owned by Sabanci Holding and Heidelberg Cement Mediterranean Basin Holdings. It is the largest cement producer in Turkey. The cement industry is responsible for 5% of human based GHG emissions. 50% of these emissions arise from production processes, 40% from fuel consumption, 10% from electricity consumption and transportation. The Akcansa cement plant located in Canakkale constructed a waste heat recovery plant with 15.2 MW capacity which recovers waste heat as electrical energy.

SMILE - Sustainable Management of Local Electronic Waste

clf — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 13:07:57 +0000

The SMILE project was the first action addressing electronic waste disposal in Istanbul. Before the project started, the departments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) were not qualified for waste disposal and the citizens of Istanbul had low awareness on this issue. SMILE supported the implementation process of national electronic waste disposal regulation, which was legislated recently, but not implemented yet. It aimed to collect electronic waste, to repair devices if possible, to create an inventory of collected materials and to determine the pieces that could be recycled. It was financed by the EU LIFE Programme, which aims to support EU candidate countries in implementing environmental policies. SMILE defined the framework for electronic waste management regarding collection systems, reuse, recycling, safe disposal, database creation, implementation of measures and most importantly, it helped municipalities to increase their technical and administrative capacity for electronic waste disposal management.

Airport Accreditation Programme

clf — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 14:05:50 +0000

As a member of ACI EUROPE (Airports Council International Europe) the Turkish Airports company TAV Airports Holding committed to reduce the carbon emissions in June 2008. In June 2009 ACI EUROPE launched the Airport Carbon Accreditation global standard for carbon management at airports. The programme aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via carbon and energy management. TAV Airports Holding is also a member of this Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme. The company operates four airports in Turkey, including Istanbul Ataturk International Airport. Istanbul Ataturk International Airport not only aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also considers waste, water conservation and wastewater re-use.

METU Water Treatment Facility

clf — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 09:47:17 +0000

METU (the Middle East Technical University) is located in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It includes a technopark for R&D companies. The maintaining of open green areas in the technopark and the university is an important issue, which is however costly. In order to decrease the irrigation costs and increase water efficiency, a water treatment facility was constructed at the campus. The operation of this system helps to treat wastewater and to reuse it for irrigation. This system saves 150,000 € annually for the technopark.

The project has started as a research project coordinated by METU and TUB (Berlin Technical University). The benefits of the facility have been investigated during the research period and in the meantime it started to be used as a primary water resource for irrigation.

Marmaray - Connecting Istanbul's Asian and European side by railway

clf — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 09:06:02 +0000

The Marmaray railway public transportation system was opened in 2013 in Istanbul. Transportation has been a major problem for Istanbul for many years, especially transportation between the two sides of the city - Asia and Europe - has been a real challenge. Before Marmaray has been implemented the two sides have been connected only by highways (2 Bosporus bridges) and sea transit ferries. The high-tech construction methods used for the Marmaray project helped creating smart solutions for specific challenges in cities. The project was planned already back in 1860, however only today’s technology made it possible to construct and operate it. In the further steps of the project, Marmaray will be connected to the existing railway system of the city. It enables to pass the Bosporus in 4 minutes and to transport 75,000 passengers per hour (Yenikapi station).

Low-carbon Transition Road Hangzhou pilot project

clf — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:24:43 +0000

China is currently facing the predicament that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing with the growth of the economy. In order to enable transition from the old development mode into a new low-carbon approach, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) started a low-carbon pilot program in 2010. Hangzhou has been selected as one of the pilot cities to implement a “low-carbon city pilot project”.

The project was implemented in two stages.The first stage lasted from 2010 to 2015, the second one started in 2015 and will last to 2020. Specific carbon emission reduction targets have been set during the initial planing period aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 20% per GDP unit until 2015 and 50% until 2020. As the city with the highest GDP among the first batch of Chinese cities chosen as low carbon project cities, Hangzhou has set a more ambitious carbon reduction target than the national one. Based on this target, Hangzhou municipal government drafted a more detailed plan, got sufficient local government policy support and covered more social sectors.The low-carbon development transition in Hangzhou was framed as “dominanted by low-carbon industries, based on low-carbon city life and building on low-carbon society”. The low-carbon project includes not only “Low-carbon Development” and “Solution for Climate Change” aspects but also “Ecological Civilization Construction”, “Circular Economy Development”, “Energy Conservation Demonstration”, etc., which cover industry, construction, transportation, ecosystems and waste management sectors.

Waste Charging System in Taipei

clf — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 07:38:12 +0000

Municipal solid waste management remains a challenge for highly urbanized societies. Due to a dense population and limited spaces for waste disposal, Taipei City's local government has implemented several policies for waste management since the 1980s. One remarkable policy is a waste charging system named “Per-Bag Trash Collection Fee Program”, introduced in 2000, whereby residents are required to purchase specially designated garbage bags for waste disposal. Since its introduction, waste production has reduced by one-third and the collection of recyclable materials increased significantly.

Guangyuan's Low Carbon Re-construction

clf — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:58:56 +0000

Guangyuan City, a less developed city in southeast China, suffered great loss in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. In the re-construction period, the city has set up the "low carbon re-construction and development" goal and generally found a good way towards sustainable city development. Its experience with low carbon development is especially precious for other under-developed areas.

Qingdao - China's sailing city goes low carbon

clf — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:51:11 +0000

Qingdao, China's sailing city has great determination to solve problems as growing population and increasing emissions from transportation and energy consumption sectors. Following the "one industry, one industrial park, one enterprise and one district" concept as pilot promotion and absorbing excellent foreign experiences and good practices, the city is progressing steadily on its way to low carbon and sustainable development.

Organic Solid Waste Management

clf — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 10:50:44 +0000

Dhaka has envisioned a strategy for zone-wise waste management through a network of decentralised composting plants and the establishment of successful partnerships with the government, private sector and residents. Through facilitating innovative partnership arrangements, a community-based solid waste management model for Dhaka has been developed, raising the attention of many other cities in Bangladesh and in developing countries, who sought to replicate it. With its emphasis on recycling and resource recovery, this model has improved the urban environment and the quality of lives of poor people living in slums.