Waiting, waiting....

Progress:
The electrician showed up today and I think he has finished all that was needed by the ventilation team. Now the rest is up to the ventilation team, but they did not come today - and have not said anything about the plan to finish their project.

At the moment the temperature of the air that blows out of the building is the same as the temperature that is distributed to the rooms in our house (only 16C). There is definitely a need for calibration of the system - and if I'm not mistaken the ventilation team also has to make some changes to make it work as intended. I have provided them with a few suggestions that I think will improve the distribution of heated air - and at the same time utilizing the aggregate to "pull" energy out of the used air before it leaves the house.

One example: To get the most out of the exchange of energy between cold incoming air and warm "used" air I would think that the incomming air must be cold - and not mixed with heated air from the heatpump. Shouldn't the heated air be mixed with the fresh air after the aggregate? Looking forward to hear the response from the ventilation team.

Events:
As I'm writing this blog post, there is a program on the TV and the agenda is "global warming - true or false".

In the introduction they started with a look back at the 1970s - when the scientists predicted that we were entering a new ice age. We now know that their assumptions were wrong, and we have later observed that the average temperature in the world is rising.

Charles David Keeling published the first report on CO2 in the atmosphere as early as 1958. He continued to measure CO2 and after a few years the trend was clear - the CO2 content increases year over year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Curve). CO2 captures the heat on its way out from our planet - and increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere creates the greenhouse effect (global warming).

The Jason report on climate changes came in 1979 "Title Long term impact of atmospheric carbon dioxide on climate. Technical report JSR-78-07": The warming of climate will not necessarily lead to improved living conditions everywhere. Changes in sea level, in agricultural productivity, and in water availability can be anticipated, but the dimensions of their economic, political, or social consequences can not."

The Reagan administration in USA ordered another scientific report and their conclusion was different - there is no need to do anything. Later during the 80s and 90s the politicians could no longer close their eyes for the scientific evidence. Now, most world leaders have said that they will come to Copenhagen in December for the UN lead conference on climate chages.

Don't worry, I will not report on all the historic events they talked about in the program. It was interesting to see more of the scientific work behind the common view of the connection between CO2 emissions and potentially dramatic climate changes. Yes, the scientists have been wrong before (ice age/1970), but can we afford to not listen to the almost unison warning from the science community and world leaders?

(As discussed in an earlier blog post, there is also a different reason for reducing the use of fossile fuels - the reports of a looming energy crisis).

What will happen in Copenhagen? Can the world be saved by this summit?
The think tank Civita has invited to a breakfast meeting tomorrow (Nov 24th.) Keynote speaker is Norway's chief negotiator Hanne Bjurstrøm (and Minister of Labor after the Copenhagen summit). Terje Osmundsen, director of strategies and business development in the norwegian solar energy company Scatec Solar, will then comment on the keynote. I am looking forward to hear what these people have to say - now that we are only a few weeks from the Copenhagen summit.