On January 31, the Government of Mongolia decided to pilot a GGGI business case that will replace coal boiler with geothermal heat pump of the Public School #122 in Ulaanbaatar city. The pilot project is expected to demonstrate significant contribution in reducing consumption of raw coal for space heating, and relevant air and environmental pollution.
The National Program for Reducing Air and Environmental Pollution (NAP) has set forth commitments on comprehensive measures to reduce air pollution with the objective of reducing air, water and soil pollution and implementing appropriate waste management in cities and other urban areas. The NAP aims to reduce PM2.5 particulate to 70 mcg/m3 from 256 mcg/m3 (2016); PM10 particulate to 100 mcg/m3 from 279 mcg/m3 (2016), and Sulfur Oxides (SO2) to 50 mcg/m3 from 89 (2016) by end 2025. According to the NAP, household stoves in ger districts and 3200 heat-only boilers operated for space heating were responsible for 80% of all air pollution, over 400 000 vehicles for 10%, thermal power stations generated 5-6% and smoke, smog and dust from ash reservoirs, roads and outdoor waste caused 4%.
In support to the GoM’s immediate agenda to reduce urban air pollution, GHG emissions, particularly consumption of raw coals, and to promote clean energy, GGGI developed this business case study to identify Low-Carbon Small Scale Heating solutions for off-grid buildings in peri-urban areas of Ulaanbaatar city. The business case was successfully delivered to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), the Ministry of Energy (MoE), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (MECS), the Education Department of Ulaanbaatar /UB/ city (EDUB), and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
The Public School #122 school is located in Takhiltiin am, 22nd khoroo of Songinokhairkhan district, Ulaanbaatar. The School building was constructed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Japanese Grant Aid Project in 2013. Songinokhairkhan district highly populated area where five public schools, including the School 122 that operates in three-shifts. As of 2018, the number of students of the school is about 2,000 even though the school capacity is only for 640 children. To reduce classroom-load, ADB will be constructing another complex to the school using green building design delivered by the UN-PAGE program in 2019. The Business Case Study results demonstrated that small-scale low carbon heating systems – combined with the use of current HOBs can be financially affordable and technically viable to scale-up for phasing out heat only boilers in long run.
