WEBVTT - Could We Recycle Excess Subway Heat?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:07.200
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.400
<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here. With a ridership of more than

0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.960
<v Speaker 1>one billion passengers per year, the London Underground, better known

0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.960
<v Speaker 1>as the Tube, varies an impressive number of residents and

0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.200
<v Speaker 1>tourists across the city. It opened its first line in

0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.079
<v Speaker 1>eighteen sixty three as the Metropolitan Railway, which provided locomotive

0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.880
<v Speaker 1>trains that carried nine point five million passengers. In eighteen nine,

0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.880
<v Speaker 1>the line began running electric cars, making it the first

0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.720
<v Speaker 1>subway or metro system in the world. But it's also

0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.920
<v Speaker 1>impressively hot due to those very old, deep clay tunnels

0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.599
<v Speaker 1>containing few ventilation shafts, which lock in excess heat from

0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.040
<v Speaker 1>the metro system and make many a Londoner sweat on

0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.239
<v Speaker 1>their daily commute. The hottest stations without air conditioning routinely

0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.280
<v Speaker 1>get to eighty six degrees fahrenheit that's thirty degrees celsius

0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.040
<v Speaker 1>or more, and rising temperatures due to global warming don't help.

0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.560
<v Speaker 1>But one enterprising collaboration between the London Borough, Islington and Ramble,

0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.800
<v Speaker 1>a consulting company that works on many issues including energy

0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.800
<v Speaker 1>and urban design, will harness some of that excess subway

0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.560
<v Speaker 1>heat for the benefit of Londoners, with a completion date

0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.319
<v Speaker 1>for the project as early as late twenty nineteen. Ramble

0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.880
<v Speaker 1>has been commissioned by the Islington Council to quote deliver

0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.080
<v Speaker 1>a district wide heating network to provide cheaper and greener

0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.920
<v Speaker 1>heat to one thousand, three hundred and fifty homes plus

0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.279
<v Speaker 1>community buildings in North London. According to their press release

0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.600
<v Speaker 1>of those homes, the Islington Council and Ramble have already

0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.280
<v Speaker 1>brought cheap green energy to more than eight hundred through

0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.760
<v Speaker 1>the bun Hill Heat and Power Network, but the Islington

0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.160
<v Speaker 1>Council wanted to do more in order to reach their

0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.760
<v Speaker 1>goal of providing efficient and sustainable heat to the remaining homes.

0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.680
<v Speaker 1>So Ramble proposed extracting wasted heat for the London Underground's

0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.400
<v Speaker 1>northern line, specifically through a ventilation shaft connected to an

0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.080
<v Speaker 1>abandoned tube station, to serve as an innovative, low carbon

0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.240
<v Speaker 1>heat source for five hundred homes in North London. The

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.760
<v Speaker 1>plan is to use heat pumps to harness that excess

0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.400
<v Speaker 1>heat of the London Underground. According to the press release,

0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.440
<v Speaker 1>Ramble says that these heat pumps that recycle industrial heat

0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:10.760
<v Speaker 1>will prove to be a far more efficient and cheaper

0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.160
<v Speaker 1>use of carbon than gas powered energy sources, which is

0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.280
<v Speaker 1>a great win for the residents of North London whose

0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.079
<v Speaker 1>homes will be fueled by the waste energy from the

0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.120
<v Speaker 1>Northern Line. Riders on the Northern Line will sigh in

0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.200
<v Speaker 1>relief at cooler tunnels on their commute, and all Londoners

0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.799
<v Speaker 1>will reap the benefits of reduced air pollution and lower

0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:31.240
<v Speaker 1>carbon emissions. Could this innovative model be applied to other

0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:35.160
<v Speaker 1>cities with notoriously hot subway systems and more high density housing.

0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.040
<v Speaker 1>With the concerns of climate change looming, leaders all around

0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.120
<v Speaker 1>the world are hoping to decarbonize or remove carbon from

0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.760
<v Speaker 1>the global economy in order to move toward a carbon

0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.520
<v Speaker 1>neutral future by twenty fifty. Plans like the one in

0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:56.440
<v Speaker 1>Islington could be the first step in getting there. Today's

0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.840
<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Terry er Lagatta and produced by

0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.400
<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart

0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.679
<v Speaker 1>Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots

0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.280
<v Speaker 1>of other hot topics, visit our home planet how stuff

0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.160
<v Speaker 1>Works dot com. And for more podcasts from my heart Radio,

0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.119
<v Speaker 1>visit iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen

0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:13.079
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows,