PRESENTATION DETAILS
Speaker # 1: Dr. Symeon Christodoulou (2:00 pm – 2:30 pm)
Presentation Title: Sustainable Strategies for Managing Urban Water Distribution Networks And the Effects of Intermittent Water Supply
“The work presented discusses issues of sustainability and best-practices for the operation and maintenance of urban water distribution networks (UWDN), with a particular emphasis on the major UWDN of Cyprus (Nicosia, Limassol) and on global or localized risk-of-failure metrics. Furthermore, the effects of intermittent water supply on the condition of the piping networks are discussed, and the resulting water losses, inefficiencies and overall maintenance cost on these networks presented. The datasets analyzed cover a period of over a decade (about 80,000 water-loss incidents) and include information on breakage incidents, operating network parameters, external factors and vulnerability assessment. A variety of analyses are performed (data-mining, survival analysis, clustering, GIS) and the effects of intermittent supply strategies on the vulnerability of the water pipes and on the sustainability of the strategy are discussed.”
Speaker # 2: Dr. Adriana Bruggeman (2:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
Presentation Title: Water resources management in Cyprus under global change
“Average annual precipitation over Cyprus is approximately 460 mm (1970/71-2010/11). As is typical for dry Mediterranean environments, the majority of this rainfall returns to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration (green water), while water resources in streams, lakes, reservoirs and aquifers (blue water) form a small remainder. The 1971-2000 water balance of the Cyprus shows the incoming precipitation divided into 86% evapotranspiration, 7.1% surface runoff and 6.7% groundwater recharge. Average annual flow to the sea (surface and groundwater) has been estimated as 118 Mm3 (WDD, 2002). Thus, with a population of nearly 840,000 people, Cyprus’ average renewable water resources are less than 500 m3 per capita per year, placing Cyprus among the top-twenty water scarcest countries of the world.
An even more critical concern for the population of the island is the high variability of the rainfall. During the two driest years of the past four decades, the country received just 213 mm (1972/73) and 272 mm (2007/08). Sound planning and management are needed to store and save sufficient water during wet years to carry over to the dry years. Climate change is causing additional problems for water managers. Global and regional climate change simulations are projecting Cyprus to become not only hotter but also drier, with large uncertainties in the amount and distribution of future precipitation.
The introduction of European policies and institutions has improved accountability, transparency, and public involvement in decision making processes in Cyprus. European legislation such as the Water Framework Directive is encouraging a more efficient use of water resources through the recovery of the cost of water services and the polluter-pays principle. Water users will be expected to pay not only for the financial cost of water services but also for the environmental and resource costs. This presentation will look at water resources development and use in Cyprus in the past 50 years and options for sustainable future water use under climate, socio-economic and policy change.”
Speaker # 3: Dr. Huseyin Gokcekus (3:00 pm – 3:30 pm)
Presentation Title: The Pipeline Project from Turkey to Cyprus: From Dream to Reality
“Water problems on a global scale have increased due to the increase in world population, the increase in the standards of the quality of life, the imbalance of water demand and supply due to the global climate change, pollution caused by industrial and urban discharge, the degradation of ecosystems and wrong land use. As a result, globally we are suffering from serious water crisis.
The effects of global warming are felt worldwide as well as in the Mediterranean region. Cyprus is located in a semi - arid and arid climate regime and the Turkish Cypriot community has experienced an increase in temperature and more than 25 % of a decrease in precipitation during the past century. Excess water withdrawals in order to meet nearly the whole of the demand from groundwater resources, aggravated the sea water intrusion on the coastal aquifers and depleted the interior ones. Therefore, the ratio of demand/supply in the country has increased resulting in significant water imbalances in the country’s water budget. The Turkish Cypriot community is experiencing not only water quantity problems but also water quality and management problems. Alternative solutions have been tried to reduce the water stress in the aquifers but has been unsuccessful to meet the demand in the country. The situation is expected to worsen during the next hundred years. The “Pipeline project from Turkey to Cyprus” has become a must and not an alternative solution of water scarcity for the Turkish Cypriot community of Cyprus.
The presentation will focus on the 3 main phases of the pipeline project and construction. The first phase is composed of the Alaköprü Dam with the capacity of 130,5 million cubic meters, whose construction has started since March 2011 on Dragon Stream, located in Anamur province of Mersin. The second phase of the project is the construction of a Dam in Cyprus while the third and most important phase is the sea transition that is 80km long through special polyethylene pipes hanging 250 meters below mean sea level that will provide around 75 million cubic meters of water per year.”
Speaker # 4: Dr. Konstantinos Kostarelos (3:30 pm- 4:00 pm)
Presentation Title: Pollution of the subsurface from DNAPLs: what are the sources, where do we find them, and what methods can we use to remediate them?
“For at least 20 years, it is well-known that soil contamination exists from a class of toxic liquids that do not dissolve well in water. Due to their properties, these liquids are known as Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids, or “NAPLs”. These liquids are categorized into two groups according to their density–those that are more dense (DNAPLs) and less dense (LNAPLs) than water. The talk will focus on these dense toxic liquids–the seriousness of the contamination that they cause, how they move, and how we can recover them from the subsurface.
The Subsurface Research Laboratory (SRL) at the University of Cyprus has both the expertise and the facilities needed to explore various methodologies related to the remediation of the subsurface. The technical capability of the SRL arises from research grants provided by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, and the University of Cyprus start-up grant scheme. As an example, a recent research project of the SRL is the development of a chemical sensor that could be used to detect and measure contamination in-situ using a fiber optic probe. This sensor has immense potential, since it could be left in place to monitor a site. In this way, the sensor can be used remotely to provide real-time data as a means of monitoring changing site conditions. The details of this sensor and the potential applications will be reviewed during the talk.”
COFFEE BREAK (4:00 pm - 4:15 pm)
Speaker # 5: Dr. Serkan Abbasoglu (4:15 pm – 4:45 pm)
Presentation Title: Renewable Energy Sources and Some System Applications in Cyprus
“The total generated power in the Turkish Cypriot community of Cyprus is 362.5 MW. Nearly all of this power is supplied by the conventional fossil fuel fired thermal plants. Similar situation is a reality for the Greek Cypriot community of Cyprus also. Therefore, Cyprus is dependent on imported fossil fuels.
However, depletion of the fossil fuels and accordingly the rapid rise in the energy prices are two big problems in the use of these fuels. In addition, the environmental impact of fossil fuels is the other subject that should be considered during the evaluation of fossil fuels, because emissions from the burnt fossil fuels are known as the main reason of global warming. Therefore, the dependency on the fossil fuels should be reduced and sustainable alternatives should be found. This presentation addresses two sustainable energy sources, the solar power and wind energy, for the future energy supply of Cyprus. Cyprus has a good solar radiation throughout the year and wind is the other type of alternative energy source found in Cyprus.
At the first part of the presentation, the global energy production / consumption trends, amount of renewable energy sources in the global energy mix, renewable energy production / consumption trends, variation in fossil fuel prices, fossil fuel reserves and the environmental impact of fossil fuels will be discussed. Then, active and passive solar energy applications will be presented. Trombe wall, solar chimney, earth tube and overhangs will be discussed as passive solar energy systems. On the other hand, solar thermal water heating / power and solar photovoltaic systems will be considered as active solar energy systems. A case study will be presented that evaluates solar micro-generation systems in a house found in Cyprus. Also, another case study will be presented which involves the results of a techno-economical and environmental feasibility study on the implementation of 1 MW Photovoltaic power plant in Cyprus. At the end, brief information will be given on wind power and its global evolution. Results of a techno-economical and environmental feasibility study on the implementation of 10 MW Wind Power plant in Cyprus will also be presented. As a conclusion, some comments will be given on the current situation and future works.”
Speaker # 6: Dr. George Georghiou (4:45 pm – 5:15 pm)
Presentation Title: Novel Photovoltaic Technologies for improved energy harvesting
“Photovoltaic solar energy is expected to see increased penetration, particularly in regions of high solar irradiance such as Southern Europe. The recently revised prediction by the European PV Industry Association (EPIA) states that PV has the potential to supply 12% of the electricity energy demand for Europe by 2020. The majority of commercial PV modules utilise crystalline silicon with typical conversion efficiencies below 20%. Efforts to lower costs and improve efficiencies focus on the development and better application of improved PV materials such as in concentrator PV. New and emerging PV technologies utilise new thin film materials (CIS, CdTe, etc), tandem, organic, dye-sensitised cells and others. Multi-junction cells based on GaAs hold the current official conversion efficiency record with an efficiency exceeding 42%.
The wide variety of approaches and the rapid pace of technological progress complicate the comparison between different PV technologies. To tackle these shortfalls, further experience in the field and laboratory, especially for new technologies is urgently required as indicated in the Strategic Research Agenda for PV. Furthermore, reliability, durability and accelerated ageing of new PV technologies are burning questions for the future of the PV industry.”
Speaker # 7: Dr. Ali Muhtaroglu (5:15 pm – 5:45 pm)
Presentation Title: Power Management and Energy Scavenging in Computing
“Contemporary computers need to provide high performance coupled with compact components that consume the least amount of energy at the lowest possible cost. The quality of power management is hence one of the determinants for success. Main traditional power management areas range from architectural power/performance features in hardware/firmware, low power circuits, power electronics or power delivery and thermal management system design. These areas are reviewed in the first part of the presentation followed by the recently proposed power management idea of energy scavenging (a.k.a. energy harvesting or renewable energy use) in computer platforms. Available energy sources around typical computer systems, and associated scavenging technologies are examined with emphasis on full system approach for effective integration of energy scavengers to practical computer platforms. Finally, our recent research on energy scavenging will be presented and discussed, which is in part supported by MER (Middle East Energy Efficiency Research Center), a partnership between Intel Corporation and King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology, to conduct and promote research in the Middle East. It is also in part supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey).”
Speaker # 8: Dr. Savvas Xanthos (5:45 pm – 6:15 pm)
Presentation Title: Implementation of state of the Art Modeling and Novel microbial processes in the Nitrogen Cycle: Can such be implemented in Cyprus!
“The New York City Department of Environmental Pollution (NYCDEP) is implementing step feed biological nitrogen removal (BNR) process to meet the recent nitrogen discharge permit regulations at its Water Pollution Control Plants (WPCPs). Such a process change would lead to an increase in the mixed liquor concentration (MLSS) which results in an increased hydraulic and solids loading at the final settling tanks (FSTs).
To assess performance and evaluate alternatives to improve the efficiency of the FSTs, a computer model was developed depicting the actual structural configuration of the tanks and the current and proposed hydraulic and solids loading rates. The goal of this presentation will be to discuss some of the steps of the development of this integrated numerical tool for effluent quality prediction and control. The demand for energy reduction and sustainable WPCP operation has also lead to the implementation of newly considered microbial processes such as now globally know ANNAMOX (ANaerobicAMMoniumOxidation) process. A small introduction of this approach along with its shortcomings will be discussed as well.”