Patent Publication Number: US-2015088582-A1

Title: Sustainability campus of co-located facilities

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/018,219, filed Jan. 31, 2011, which claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/337,021, entitled “Improved Business Systems for Energy”, filed Jan. 29, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and continued preservation of which is requested. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure generally relates to efficient energy use, and more particularly to facilities utilizing green technologies and alternative energy technologies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, decrease energy losses, increase waste reuse, and increase financial credits. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Twenty-first century industries such as advanced manufacturing and data centers commonly require access to large capacities of electric power, and access to green power that can be produced at a competitive cost. Continued increases in electricity consumption have sparked desires to find agricultural solutions to energy needs. 
     Several crops have found technical feasibility to generate fuels, such as soybeans, corn, and algae. However, economic successes are harder to find. These circumstances contribute to sense of urgency to find a more cost effective and technically feasible approach to agriculturally-based energy sources. Although biomass processing capacity has increased in recent times, there is a local, regional and national need to further expand that capacity and to more efficiently direct the use of that capacity, so as to reduce energy losses and waste. 
     Additionally, the emphasis on reducing dependence on fossil fuels and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is more evident than ever before. Furthermore, consumers desire energy sources with favorable emissions profiles. 
     Moreover, long term, decentralized power production is gaining acceptance and preference. Consumers desire independence from legacy power grids through obtaining power from their own sources or from local, self-sufficient energy sources with favorable emissions profiles. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one form, a system for energy use is provided that comprises a sustainability campus of co-located facilities that either are contiguously co-located or are in operational proximity and additionally under at least one of a commonly operated unit or a commonly designed unit. The co-located facilities comprise an energy production facility configured to produce energy, at least one consumption center configured to receive energy from the energy production facility, at least one development center configured to perform one of receiving energy from the energy production facility or producing energy, a waste center configured to receive waste produced via operation of the sustainability campus, and to utilize the waste for at least one of food or energy production within the sustainability campus, and a plurality of processing and collection facilities that process fuels for the energy production facility, the plurality of processing and collection facilities being regionally located, wherein operational proximity is defined as a geographic area that allows for economically viable logistics, and wherein contiguously co-located refers to land units, allocated specifically for particular facilities that are in physical contact with one another. 
     In another form, a method for energy use is provided that comprises obtaining biomass from a biomass source, the biomass having a biomass composition, processing the biomass, receiving the biomass at an energy production facility, the energy production facility being one of co-located facilities within a sustainability campus, or being adjacent to the sustainability campus, the co-located facilities being either contiguously co-located or in operational proximity and additionally under at least one of a commonly operated unit or a commonly designed unit, producing energy via the biomass compact at the energy production facility, powering at least one consumption center and at least one development center with the energy produced at the energy production facility, the at least one consumption center and the at least one development center being among the co-located facilities within the sustainability campus, sending waste produced within at least one of the sustainability campus or the energy production facility to a waste center, the waste center being one of the collocated facilities within the sustainability campus, reusing the waste within the sustainability campus, and processing fuels for the energy production facility at a plurality of processing and collection facilities that are regionally located, wherein operational proximity is defined as a geographic area that allows for economically viable logistics, and wherein contiguously co-located refers to land units, allocated specifically for particular facilities that are in physical contact with one another. 
     In another form, the present disclosure a method for energy use is provided that comprises producing energy at least one energy production facility, the energy production facility being one of co-located facilities within a sustainability campus, the co-located facilities being either contiguously co-located or in operational proximity and additionally under at least one of a commonly operated unit or a commonly designed unit, powering at least one consumption center, the consumption center being one of the co-located facilities within the sustainability campus, identifying sources and determining an amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere due to at least one of agricultural sources or operation of facilities located within the sustainability campus, processing fuels for the energy production facility at a plurality of processing and collection facilities that are regionally located, and increasing receipt of at least one of tax credits, energy coupons, vouchers, product credits, or carbon credits, for participants of the sustainability campus by offsetting the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere with reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by using green technologies, and due to contiguous colocation of the at least one energy production facility and the at least one consumption center within the sustainability campus, reducing energy line loss and increasing waste recapture, wherein operational proximity is defined as a geographic area that allows for economically viable logistics, and wherein contiguously co-located refers to land units, allocated specifically for particular facilities that are in physical contact with one another. 
     Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now be described various forms thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating a layout and function of a sustainability campus in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a method for enhancing a greenhouse gas emissions profile and obtaining financial credits in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a method for waste management in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a sustainability campus of co-located facilities in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure is illustrated and generally indicated by reference numeral  100 . In conjunction with associated facilities such as an energy production facility  110 , a source  120 , and a processing or collection facility  130 , the sustainability campus  100  incorporates physical design principles and business processes to increase the receipt of financial credits, decrease environmental impact per unit energy usage, and increase waste reuse within the sustainability campus  100 . The energy production facility  110 , the source  120 , and the processing or collection facility  130  may each be located within or adjacent to the sustainability campus  100 , or within the same city, county, or state as, up to about 100 kilometers distant, or up to about 200 kilometers distant from the sustainability campus  100 . Alternative forms of the present disclosure may include a plurality of sustainability campuses  100 , a plurality of energy production facilities  110 , a plurality of sources  120 , and/or a plurality of processing or collection facilities  130 . 
     As used herein, the term “co-located” is defined as facilities located in operational proximity, and additionally under at least one of a commonly operated unit and/or a commonly designed (planned or developed) unit. The term “operational proximity” is defined as a geographic area that allows for economically viable logistics, such as transportation, piping, and power distribution, among others. The term “contiguously co-located” is defined herein as land units, allocated specifically for particular facilities that are in physical contact with one another. For example, if the land allocated for facility A is in physical contact with the land allocated for facility B, then facility A and facility B are contiguously co-located. Three facilities A, B, and C form a contiguously co-located bloc if, for example, the land allocated for structure A is in physical contact with the land allocated for structure B, and the land allocated for structure B is in physical contact with the land allocated for structure C. The term “adjacent” is defined herein as being located on land units or zones that are located next to one another. 
     Located within the sustainability campus  100  is a plurality of co-located facilities. In one form, the co-located facilities emphasize 21 st  century technologies, including energy consumers  140 , manufacturing centers  150 , and energy development centers  160 . In another form, the energy consumers  140 , manufacturing centers  150 , and energy development centers  160  may each form their own contiguous blocs in the sustainability campus, e.g. an energy consumer bloc (all the energy consumers may be located in one contiguous bloc), a manufacturing bloc, or an energy development bloc. In an alternative form, the individual facilities among the energy consumers  140 , manufacturing centers  150 , and energy development centers  160  may not be limited to locations in particular blocs, such that individual energy consumers, individual manufacturing centers, or individual energy production facilities may be scattered and intermingled throughout the sustainability campus  100 . 
     In one form, all facilities located within and associated with the sustainability campus  100  are kept adjacent or in close proximity to one another, so as to reduce or minimize costs, reduce or minimize energy line losses, and increase or maximize recapture of waste products, including tempered water, ashes, carbon sources, and biogases. The associated facilities include the energy production facility  110 , the source  120 , and the processing or collection facility  130 . 
     Particularly, the co-located facilities within the sustainability campus  100  may include, for example, one or more of a data processing center  200 , computing center  210 , solar energy production facility  220 , plating facility for next generation batteries  230 , wind energy production facility  240 , natural gas production facility  250 , cloud computing data management facility  260 , 21 st  century education center  270 , recycling center  280 , plastic production facility  290 , biomass fuel energy production facility  300 , biomass use center  310 , heat reuse center  320 , waste reuse center  330 , waste reclamation center  340 , pellet manufacturing center  350 , briquette manufacturing center  360 , algae production or processing center  370 , geothermal energy production facility  380 , methane-fueled combustion facility  390 , extension manufacturing and technology development center  400 , aqua center  410 , food production facility  420  using hydroponics, horticulture facility  430 , landfills  440 , hydrogen power facility  450 , livestock feed centers  460 , and an agricultural power production center  470 . It should be understood that these co-located facilities are merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, other facilities not listed herein, which would accommodate operation of the sustainability campus  100  in accordance with the teachings herein shall be construed as falling within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     The sustainability campus  100  may contain any combination of these co-located facilities, including more than one of any one type of facility. Additionally, any of these individual facilities can be classified under one or more than one of the energy consumers  140  if they consume energy, manufacturing centers  150  if they manufacture or produce any products, or energy development centers  160  if they produce energy. In one form, the energy production facility  110  or any of the energy development centers  160  may or may not use backup battery energy storage. 
     The source  120  may provide fuel  125 , wherein the fuel  125  may for example be one or a mixture of biomass, forage, a forest product, natural gas, coal dust, starch, algae, duckweed, biogas from a landfill, biogas from a biomass, woods, wood waste, grass, canes, sprouts, cakes, coal and coal products, yard waste, crop waste and byproducts, wind, or solar energy. 
     The source  120  may for example be a conservation site, a reserve, the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wildlife Reserve Program, a marginal land, a nonproductive land, a park, an urban yard, an agricultural crop field, a food processing plant, or a land in government-managed or government-contracted land use program, among others. Another form may involve developing estimates of potential new areas of energy sourcing lands that are not currently in production of food products. In an alternative form, a plurality of sources  120  may provide fuels  125 . 
     Source  120  management may encompass development of a statewide resource development plan for underutilized sources of, for example, agricultural biomass, woods, forages, duckweed, algae, and all the other listed fuel sources. Source  120  management may further relate to the creation or enhancement of existing systems and methods of collection, marketing, and trading of biomass products, by use of a cooperative effort between sources  120  and other associated parties, and though business structures that emphasize market access e.g. the establishment of conditions for the entry of goods on the market. Source  120  management may further promote the expansion of growing season, expansion of acceptable species for growing areas, and/or the expansion of regions acceptable for raising economically viable crops. For example, as an improvement over conventional seasonal crops, the development of new “twelve month” forage crops and biomass markets of agricultural products, which due to development and marketing techniques may be available year-round. Source  120  management may also encompass farmers and ownerships harvesting and collecting existing forage materials and planting new crops of woods, canes, algae, forages, and other fuels  125 . 
     In one form, the source  120  may send the fuel  125  to a processing or collection facility  130 , which processes or collects the fuel  125  for use at the energy production facility  110  or any of the energy development centers  160 . Once there, the fuel  125  may be utilized for energy, for example by undergoing combustion. In another form, a plurality of processing and collection facilities  130  may process fuels  125 , and may be regionally located. In an alternative form, the source  120  may directly provide processed or unprocessed fuel  125  to the energy production facility  110  or any of the energy development centers  160 . In a further form, some of the fuels  125 , processed or unprocessed, may be placed on a commercial product market. 
     In a specific form, one or more of the co-located facilities in the sustainability campus  100  may operate on energy received solely from within the sustainability campus  100 , or solely from the energy produced at the energy production facility  110  and/or the energy development centers  160 . In a particular form, the energy produced by the energy production facility  110  and/or the energy development centers  160  may provide energy independence to small, remote, or regional areas, or clusters of agribusiness operations, eliminating the need for access to legacy electrical power grids and resulting in the decentralization of power distribution. In another form, the use of the processes allows for a facility to generate electrical power to place on the legacy electrical power grid. 
     In one form, wind power may be harvested using windmills or wind turbines optionally supplemented with photovoltaic cells in the ground level area around the base of the windmill or wind turbine. In another form, the base or pillar of the wind turbine structure may optionally incorporate air pressure vessels, which aid in overcoming the torque of start-up, or serve as exhaust for jet turbines. In another form, wind turbines are co-located to capture extra wind energy and can thus be spun with supplemental energy. 
     The fuel processing may for example involve receiving, separation, processing, and manufacturing, and may for example convert the fuel  125  into biomass compacts, pellets, briquettes, and gases. The fuel processing may also or alternatively involve collection and compaction of fuel  125  comprising agricultural biomass into forms of bales, bags, cakes, bundles, rolls, bricks, and blocks. The fuel processing may also encompass dewatering of biomass to make it transportable, or extraction of oil from the biomass. 
     All forms of transportation may be used to transport the fuels and products between the source  120 , the processing or collection facility  130 , the energy production facility  110 , and the sustainability campus  100 , and between the co-located facilities within the sustainability campus  100 . In a particular form, vehicles and other transportation methods may utilize hybrid technology, electric-powered engines, and other green engine designs. Transportation methods may also involve reducing transmit time and distance between facilities by design of direct routes and roads, and by a comprehensive rail system. Transportation methods may favor the use of ethanol, biodiesel, biofuel, and other green fuels. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the present disclosure further relates to a method  500  of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and enhancement of financial credits, accomplished through a cooperative effort between participants and facilities associated with and within the sustainability campus  100 . 
     Particularly, the present disclosure involves identifying sources  510  and determining an amount  520  of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere due to one or more source  120  e.g. an agricultural source, or due to operation of facilities located within or associated with the sustainability campus  100 . The greenhouse gases are, for example, carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and nitrous oxide. The determination of the amount of greenhouse gases released may incorporate which gases were not captured or accounted for, and may involve developing a quantitative measure, for example the mass of carbon released. The agricultural sources causing greenhouse gas emissions may include both natural and unnatural means, for example burning of conservation reserve programs, wildlife reserve programs, pastures, forested areas, and wood waste incinerators. 
     The greenhouse gases released are offset by greenhouse gas emission reductions  530 , which are achieved through the use of green technologies, and due to co-location or contiguous co-location of and due to contiguous co-location the facilities associated with and within the sustainability campus  100 , which reduces energy line loss and increases waste recapture. The use of green technologies may involve utilizing fuels produced from plant materials that sequester carbon during their growth, while producing oxygen. Because of this carbon trapping, the fuels produced from these materials are classified as “carbon neutral.” The use and reuse of biomass waste also results in an improved environmental footprint, without air quality hazards. Additionally, the use of the biomass mixtures and compacts described in concurrently filed applications “Composite Biomass Fuel Compact” and “Biomass Fuel Compact Processing Method,” which are commonly assigned with the present application and incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, yields an improved burning medium that enhances the regulated or unregulated emissions profile, particularly through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 
     The favorable ratio between greenhouse gas released and greenhouse gas reductions, in addition to the use of green technologies eligible for government subsidies, results in increased receipt of financial credits  540 , including state and federal tax credits, agricultural tax credits, energy coupons, vouchers, electric vouchers, product credits, and carbon credits, to participants and facilities within and associated with the sustainability campus  100 . The use of “carbon neutral” materials, for example, results in state and federal tax credits, and exemptions from carbon tariffs. 
     The present disclosure also relates to waste management and sustainable energy practices at the sustainability campus  100 . Waste generated within the sustainability campus  100  is processed for reuse. In one form, the close proximity of energy consumers  140  and energy development centers  160  and the energy production facility  110  increases or maximizes recapture of waste products, including warm wastewater, ashes, carbon sources, and biogases. In another form, the thermal content of these waste products may be repurposed. 
     In one form, wastewater treatment material handling methods are used to harvest, handle, and otherwise manage wastewater resulting from biomass that is being produced for renewable energy for the sustainability campus  100 , or resulting from any other activities on the sustainability campus  100 . Further, warm wastewater sources are co-located with sites and facilities utilizing the thermal content of the warm wastewater. 
     In another form, one or more of the co-located facilities in the sustainability campus  100 , for example the aqua center  410 , algae production or processing center  370 , food production facility  420 , or horticulture facility  430 , and/or one or more sources  120  may be co-located with one or more energy consumers  140 . The aqua center  410  manages water distribution throughout the sustainability campus  100 , and optionally functions as a central warm waste water distribution center. 
     In one form, one or more of the energy consumers  140 , such as the data processing center  200  or the computing center  210 , utilize wastewater as a cooling medium. In a separate form, the wastewater is deployed through a landfill  440  with appropriate bacteria to produce methane gas. The methane gas can then fuel hydrogen production at the hydrogen power production facility  450  via electrolysis of water or bio-reaction of biomass. The wastewater source may be located adjacent to the landfill  440  and the aqua center  410 . In an alternative form, the wastewater, optionally the last remnants of wastewater, may irrigate hay, grass crop, seasonal field or produce crops, optionally combined for example with compost generated by the aqua center  410 . In yet another form, wastewater, optionally the entire quantity generated, is returned for production or use at the sustainability campus  100 . In another form, the aqua center  210  uses energy produced, for example, by the solar power production facility  220 , hydrogen power production facility  450 , or any other energy development centers  160 , or energy from fossil fuels, to augment the latent energy in the wastewater to achieve target thermal loads. In another form, the warm wastewater is a feedstock in the production of steam. 
     In another form, biomass is recycled onsite at the sustainability campus  100  into energy for drying and processing, for capture of flue gas and fly ash, for reincorporation into products, or for sequestration and sparging into lagoons for uptake by aquatic life such as duckweed, or for recapture or recycling of combustion ash and residue into pellets for use as fertilizer, or for return of inorganics to the soil, or as fillers for concrete or asphalt. In another form, post combustion waste products can be added to animal feeds as trace mineral source. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a specific form of a method for waste management  600  is presented. Biomass originates at a source  610 , and passes through storage  620  and processing  630  until it reaches an energy production facility  640 . There, the energy produced is used to power energy consumers and manufacturing facilities  650 . However, waste produced at the source  610 , storage  620 , processing  630 , and energy production facility  640  are repurposed to landfill bioreactors and leachate ponds  650 , and composting and recycling facilities  660 . The waste is also sent to wastewater storage  670  and a city sewer system  680 , and undergoes wastewater processing  690 . The waste is processed into usable waste. Some of the usable waste is used to produce recyclable products  700 , while some or all of the remaining waste is returned in the form of steam, heat, hot water, carbon, or fly ash  710  to the energy production facility  640 . Some of the waste/ash produced by the energy production facility  650  is also used for soil treatment, recyclables, landfills, concrete plants, asphalt plants, and plant fertilizer  720 . 
     It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the various forms described and illustrated as examples. A large variety of modifications have been described and more are part of the knowledge of the person skilled in the art. These and further modifications as well as any replacement by technical equivalents may be added to the description and figures, without leaving the scope of the protection of the invention and of the present patent.