IES — the Scottish climate tech company — has created a live digital twin of Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park to help support the council in its goal of becoming net zero by 2030.
A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-world physical object or environment, allowing simulations to be run so that issues can be identified and improvements made.
In this instance, the model of Pollok Country Park aims to help Glasgow City Council and its citizens with understanding how and where energy is used and generated, and to mitigate emissions across the estate. This includes Pollok House, the Burrell Collection, the Stables Courtyard buildings, Knowehead Lodge, and the Police Dog Pound.
IES has utilised the digital twin to investigate options for making the park energy independent, generating energy and heat locally. So far, it’s been shown that planned improvements to the park’s buildings will decrease carbon emissions by up to 34%.
IES has also found that by using battery storage, additional renewables, heat pumps, and interconnecting all the buildings’ heat and electrical networks, the park could indeed reach net zero carbon.
A live dashboard has been created to display the project data and results, allowing the energy, carbon, and cost results for each individual building to be easily accessible. Once the project is complete, a dashboard will also be located in the park for public viewing.
Alex Fleming-Knox, Programme Liaison Officer at Glasgow City Council, said: “The IES Digital Twin has provided us with the data and a variety of solutions to help us meet our commitment to make Pollok Country Park net-zero carbon by 2030.
“The IES consultants took the time to guide us through the roadmap to net zero, taking a stepped approach so we could clearly understand the current energy and carbon use of the park and where we needed to implement improvements to create change.
“The Digital Twin has so far shown really encouraging possible results and savings and we very much look forward to seeing these become a reality.”
Valeria Ferrando, Associate Director at IES, also commented: “We’re really pleased to be working with Glasgow City Council on this project and helping to meet the city’s net zero targets with the help of innovative technology.
The council are setting a great example to others around the UK by taking action to decarbonise and utilise technology to help them make data backed, informed decisions on the best ways to improve the performance of the park.
“As energy prices rise and the window for climate action narrows, it’s important that councils are taking steps to actively reduce their consumption and emissions. This project is already showing huge promise and we’re confident that with the right changes in place there is scope for significant savings from the buildings on the estate.”
The project was recently featured in a documentary by B1M — the construction video channel. The documentary is accessible here.
Source: DIGIT