IMPROVING ENERGY SECURITY AND REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS USING WIND-ELECTRICITY AND STORAGE HEATERS

摘要

The world economic crisis and volatile world energy markets are making energy security arnchallenge in most jurisdictions. This is especially true of communities with lengthy heatingrnseasons and limited domestic energy resources which rely heavily on imported energy to meetrntheir space heating requirements.rnThis paper describes how the City of Summerside in the Canadian province of Prince EdwardrnIsland installed a 12 MW wind-farm and a number of electric thermal-storage heaters andrndomestic hot water units to demonstrate the viability of using a variable source of electricity, thernwind, to heat residential structures. The decision was taken to both improve energy security andrnreduce greenhouse gas emissions, since Summerside relies on light-fuel oil to meet over 80% ofrnits residential heating demand, adding to the community’s greenhouse gas emissions.rnGiven the need to utilize wind-electricity both efficiently and effectively, the paper introducesrnfive methods for the control and allocation of wind-electricity. It shows that althoughrnSummerside has opted for recharging the thermal storage units during the overnight hours, therntest households would meet most of their heating needs if they were to be available forrnrecharging throughout the day. The paper also examines some of the shortcomings associatedrnwith wind-heating; however, in a time of growing concerns over energy security, the importancernof wind to meet the heating requirements of communities cannot be overlooked.