This project endeavors to foster cooperative efforts in developing Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter Solutions (SPESS) to strengthen the wider APEC community’s energy-resilience & sustainability affected by natural disasters, thereby contributing to APEC 2015’s priority area of “Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities” [1].
The Asia Pacific region experiences over 70 percent of the world's natural disasters with just 52 percent of the earth's surface area and 40 percent of the world's population. APEC economies collectively account for half of global trade, 60 percent of total GDP and much of the world’s growth. Significantly, they also incurred over USD 100 billion annually in disaster-related losses during the last decade [2]. Catastrophes in the region - such as the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and the 2012 Superstorm Sandy in US, the May 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan province, the 2010–11 Queensland floods in Australia, the Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami on 11 March 2011, and the Super Typhoon “Haiyan” hitting eastern Philippines on 8 Nov 2013 - are important reminders of the severe situation APEC community faces. Disturbingly, it is warned that the decades ahead will witness increased intensity and frequency of disasters in the Asia Pacific region, exacerbated by climate change and human elements such as unplanned urbanization and poor land-use management.
When natural disasters hit and conventional grid-based energy supply is severely disrupted, the to-be-developed (stand-alone/modular/foldable) SPESS is capable of being quickly deployed on-site, providing displaced victims with the much-needed emergency shelters as well as a reasonable amount of energy from integrated solar energy systems (e.g. PV is integrated into the shelter’s roof). From this perspective, SPESS also offers a new arena for low-carbon renewable measures (like solar) to be integrated into an overall (power-grid for normal time & SPESS for disaster-relief time) energy-resilient and sustainable power infrastructure. For a post-disaster community facing relatively long-term recovery, interconnected SPESS could even form micro-grids to sustain community rehabilitation.
SPESS project falls under Rank 1 on 2015 APEC Funding Criteria [3], as it evidently relates to Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities, Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management, and also Trade & Investment Facilitation and Liberalization (SPESS can promptly provide much-needed sheltering and energy for disaster-affected residents, thereby contributing to facilitating local community “back in business” earlier and liberalizing local economy’s Trade & Investment activities from the hindrance of natural disasters).
SPESS project also supports APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy (i.e. Rank 2), as it relates to Sustainable Growth (energy security and energy resiliency including the development of low carbon technology and alternative energy sources), Secure Growth (human security), and Innovative Growth (science and technology approaches in disaster preparedness, risk reduction, response and post-disaster recovery).
Useful links:
[1] http://apec2015.ph/apec-2015/ [2] http://www.apec.org/Press/News-Releases/2015/0930_SDMOF.aspx [3] http://www.apec.org/Projects/Projects-Overview.aspx
1) To promote low-carbon energy technology innovation in APEC, through advancing the integration of solar energy and emergency shelter technologies in the development of SPESS;
2) To improve capacity of APEC stakeholders (especially those from developing members) in adopting science-based approaches for emergency preparedness and post-disaster response, through harnessing an innovative, low-carbon, energy-resilient technology of SPESS;
3) To develop Recommendations on deploying SPESS that responds to the varying climatic, economic and cultural conditions of APEC member economies, helping bring low-carbon energy measures into the mainstream of APEC’s science-based Disaster Management framework.
Alignment with APEC: The 2014 APEC Leaders’ Declaration has stated under article 49 that it encourages further cooperation of member economies in disaster preparedness, risk reduction, response and post-disaster recovery, including through the application of science and technologies. Given the changing global climate and natural disasters’ negative impacts on the Asia Pacific region, APEC 2015 Philippines has prioritized the goal of “Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities”. This project supports the above APEC statements/priorities as it fosters APEC members’ collaborative efforts in developing SPESS as an innovative energy-resilient technology for natural disaster relief, thereby contributing to building a sustainable and energy-resilient APEC community.
Alignment with the originating forum of Energy Working Group (EWG): This project is aligned with EWG’s Strategic Plan in Strengthening Energy Security, Promoting Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Communities, and Developing Cleaner Energy Source, as SPESS aims to bring sustainable and cleaner energy technology (solar) into disaster-relief efforts among communities whose energy security has been affected by natural disasters.
It is no surprise that developing economies are at higher risk of climate change disasters, according to Verisk Maplecroft’s Natural Hazards Risk Atlas4. High economic exposure to natural hazards in emerging developing economies are compounded by a lack of resilience factors including economic strength, strong governance, established infrastructures, disaster preparedness, tight building regulations etc., which are much more likely effective and in place in developed economies. Hence, there is a high demand from developing economies for disaster preparedness related projects like SPESS.
[4] http://maplecroft.com/about/news/nha_2012.html
Outputs: The SPESS project delivers the following outputs:
1) Literature survey on the current practice of emergency sheltering and its energy supply in APEC as well as available technologies/solutions in this field (NB The survey results would form part of the final project report);
2) Workshop A (alongside EWG51 in Mar/Apr 2016) where delegates describe their current practice in emergency sheltering and its energy supply, present their expectations on the to-be-developed SPESS, agree on an action plan of the SPESS project and improve their knowledge in solar energy technology & emergency shelter solutions;
3) APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition website collecting, depositing and showcasing innovative SPESS designs from APEC citizens;
4) Workshop B (in Sep/Oct 2016) where APEC stakeholders/experts review the proposed SPESS designs and agree on an outline of the final project report;
5) Final project report of Recommendations on Deploying SPESS for Energy-Resilience in Disaster-Stricken APEC Community.
Outcomes:
1) The awareness and knowledge of APEC’s relevant stakeholders on SPESS is expected to be significantly improved, which helps bringing low-carbon energy technologies into the mainstream of APEC’s science-based Disaster Management framework;
2) Developing SPESS contributes to the growth of APEC’s solar (e.g. PV) & shelter (e.g. modular/prefabricated house) industry, improving members’ innovation capability in low-carbon energy technologies; and
3) The project also has the great potential to lead to the actual deployment of SPESS as an energy resilience tool for natural disaster relief practice in APEC community over the next few years.Beneficiaries: The direct project participants and users of the outputs are APEC’s government staff responsible for managing disaster relief efforts in providing emergency sheltering and its energy supply. They could be senior-ranking decision-makers or frontline coordinators for relief implementation. They could be women or men, from developing or developed economies. They could be representing their economies at an APEC forum like APEC EPWG (Emergency Preparedness Working Group).
Citizens from APEC’s solar and shelter (modular/prefabricated house) industry or R&D organizations can also benefit from SPESS project, which brings a new growth point, creates jobs in product development and manufacturing etc., and improves our members’ innovation capability.
More importantly, APEC citizens in disaster-stricken communities can significantly benefit from SPESS with the provision of much-needed sheltering and energy supply (e.g. used for lighting, ventilation, etc.), which significantly reduces further disaster-induced casualty and improves the living standard of displaced/homeless disaster victims (especially vulnerable women and children).
Final project report will be solely published electronically at APEC & EGNRET websites. There will be no paper-based publication using APEC fund for SPESS project, echoing the APEC efforts for paperless trading. The APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition website also allows APEC citizens from around the Pacific Rim to review the various visuals, artistic renderings, and construction documents of the submitted SPESS designs. The post-project maintenance of the APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition website shall be the responsibility of PO’s home institution, i.e. APSEC.
The target audience would be stakeholders working on emergency shelters and their energy supply from sectors of governments, businesses and academia etc. as well as the common people of the APEC community who may be interested in learning more of disaster preparedness.
The SPESS Open Innovation Competition would be actively promoted within relevant green design/innovation community online, e.g. through architecture design competition listing sites of Bustler[5], Inhabitat[6] etc. The Open Innovation will also advertised through circulation among EWG & EPWG emailing lists to reach potential designers/experts.
There is no intention to sell outputs arising from this project.
Useful links:[5] http://www.bustler.net/index.php/competitions/ [6] http://inhabitat.com/designcompetitions/
The SPESS project will take steps to ensure the engagement of women in project activities. For workshop participants and speakers, the PO will strive to ensure that women account for more than 40% of the total. The PO will also actively promote the involvement of women in the APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition, e.g. by advocating for a minimum percentage (30%) of women designers/engineers in each team competing for the Open Innovation Competition.
The above measures aims to contribute to the growth and development of women in the workforce of disaster-management government sectors as well as solar energy and emergency shelter industry sectors.
A gender approach is to be promoted in SPESS Open Innovation. As indicated in the following Red Cross Document [7], men and women have differing needs and access to temporary housing. Women needs will be built directly into the SPESS design competition, and play a major role in the final design selection.
Useful Links:[7] http://www.redcross.org.au/files/2011Gender_and_Shelter.pdf
Timeline
Key Activities
Deliverables
15 Nov 2015-Mar/Apr 2016
Start-Up Phase
1) Literature survey on the current practice of emergency sheltering and its energy supply in APEC as well as available technologies/solutions in this field;
2) Identification of and liaison with key stakeholders (e.g. economies’ officials/agencies responsible for disaster relief housing & energy-supply, researchers and manufacturers closely engaged in SPESS-related activities);
3) Website construction and rules/action-plans development for APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition.
1) Report of literature survey results;
2) Up-to-date list of APEC’s stakeholders & experts in government, R&D and industry sectors throughout the whole supply chain of emergency shelters and their energy supply;
3) The draft online package of APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition for stakeholder’s endorsement at Workshop A.
Mar/Apr 2016 (as a side event near EWG51)
Workshop A
Delegates shall present their current practice in emergency sheltering and its energy supply, present their expectations on the to-be-developed SPESS, agree on an action plan of the APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition and improve their knowledge on solar energy technology & emergency shelter solutions through interaction with SPESS experts.
Mar/Apr-Sep/Oct 2016
Development of SPESS (including schematic designs & construction documents)
Two in-parallel work streams of SPESS development:
1) SPESS development undertaken or led by key APEC stakeholders/experts who attend workshops of the project;
2) Crowdsource/open innovation on SPESS by common people from APEC communities, who are interested in presenting their ideas.
Sep/Oct 2016
Workshop B
APEC stakeholders/experts review the proposed SPESS designs from the above two parallel work streams, and agree on the content outline of the draft final project report.
Sep/Oct - Dec
2016
Project Finalization Phase
Finalization of Recommendations based upon outcomes of previous survey, workshops and open innovation;
Publication & Promotion of Recommendations on Deploying SPESS for Energy-Resilience in Disaster-Stricken APEC Community.
If the SPESS development is a mono-track work stream, i.e. SPESS being developed solely through the workshop-attending APEC stakeholders/experts or their contacts/referrals, this may result in risks of uncertainty or inadequacy in terms of design scheme quantity and quality. Hence, the presented dual-track work streams of SPESS development are adopted, with SPESS Open/Crowdsource Innovation Competition as the second track work stream.
The to-be-developed SPESS Recommendations will take into account public health & safety while meeting the standards of member economies. This could be done through input from the literature survey, consultation with the member economy representatives etc. Public health and safety will be one of the key criteria for selecting SPESS designs and construction documents that are to be adopted by the Recommendations. This is to ensure that the pre-fabrication, transport, on-site deployment and operation of SPESS cause no hazards to the environment and the users’ health & safety.
The target evaluation indicators include but are not limited to workshop participant stats (the numbers of total delegates, economies represented and women delegates), survey on workshop participants’ feedback (through follow-up evaluation forms), and the number of the submitted SPESS designs plus the website hits.
The specific stats are minimally 22 participants representing 11 travel-eligible economies & 6 experts/speakers for workshop A & B respectively, 21 SPESS scheme proposals selected from a larger collection developed through the dual-track work streams of SPESS development. It should be noted that the intellectual property of all SPESS proposals shall belong to their rightful owners, i.e. the developers.
With respect to the specific SPESS ideas that are generated at the APEC workshops, all contributors shall own the IP based on the agreed-upon percentages of their respective contributions. In the implementation process, the PO shall take measures to ensure the project follows the APEC Website Guidelines and APEC Intellectual Policy.
The proposed SPESS project has a great potential to promote cross-fora collaboration (e.g. between EWG & Emergency Preparedness Working Group EPWG). Member economy representatives to EPWG would be invited to participate workshops and interact with their EWG counterparts (e.g. at Workshop A alongside EWG51). The project could also engage world-leading solar research groups (e.g. NREL of US, ITRI of Chinese Taipei, and ANU of Australia etc.), whose expertise on solar-power energy systems can contribute to an efficient, reliable and durable energy-performance of SPESS. The knowledge and experience of US DOE's world-renowned Solar Decathlon [8] could also find its new "niche" from SPESS project.
In EPWG’s meeting in Boracay in May 2015, APEC officials called for greater commitment and a science-based approach to build safe and disaster resilient communities [9]. The present project can assist EWG in bringing an innovative, low-carbon, energy-resilient technology of SPESS into the mainstream of APEC’s science-based Disaster Management framework. As mentioned at Relevance, APEC members (especially developing economies) are highly prone to the loss and damage wrought by natural disasters. As APEC is striving for “Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities”, the proposed SPESS project would be a good investment.
Useful links:[8] http://www.solardecathlon.gov/[9] http://apec.org/Press/News-Releases/2015/0515_disaster.aspx
In the post-project period, the APEC SPESS Open Innovation Competition website can continue to act as a capacity-building and resource-sharing platform, where APEC stakeholders/citizens access for information, propose and discuss on various design ideas, add more SPESS ideas, and provide more input and feedback.
The outcomes can be measured by workshop participant stats, a survey on workshop participants’ feedback (e.g. whether they consider deploying SPESS in future disaster-relief efforts), and the number of the submitted SPESS designs (plus an analysis of the submission origins/demographics to evaluate the project’s impact on developing economies and women), the feedback of industry R&D experts or potential manufactures on the SPESS proposals (e.g. whether they may be interested in directing their resources into further developing these SPESS).
The PO is Dr. Xu Zhao, a researcher working with APEC Sustainable Energy Center (APSEC) in the EWG forum. He obtained his PhD in Engineering from The University of Western Australia in 2014. Full CV is available at http://yunpan.cn/cH4suG6THU2dQ (Pass: 06d6).
