Errors and lies thrive in cold weather

Events: Is global warming fact or fiction? Yesterday, I referred to Nikolai Astrup who said that the momentum for fighting dramatic climate changes suffer each time we experience cold winters or bad (cold/wet) summers. I have included a link to an interesting article on this topic because it explains why this is happening: errors and lies thrive in cold weather

Events: Are we heading for an energy crisis?
As Helge Lund said yesterday, the world consumes 85-million barrels per day and because production from existing oilfields drops 7.5% per year - the industry has to add 45 million barrels per day just to meet the demand today.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects demand for oil to hit 105-million barrels per day by 2030 (largely due to higher demand from developing countries - caused by more people and higher standard of living). Add these 20 million barrels to the 45 million barrels mentioned above and we get an extra demand of 65 million barrel of oil per day. This extra supply has to come from other sources than where we get our 85 million barrels today and IEA says it’s not clear how this gap will be filled.

Note: you can watch the whole session on "Energy in the future" on YouTube (in norwegian only).

Progress:
One guy from the ventilation subcontractor showed up today - and he added a thicker layer of isolation on the air intake. On the coldest days we had noticed that there was ice building on the outside of the isolation - and this problem should now be history.

To help us follow-up on the remaining tasks on the to-do list, I have included the list below. If you are interested then read on - if not you can skip the rest of this blog post :=)

1. The insulation around the pipes to / from the heat pump (thin copper tubes with coolant?) Is incomplete in several places: Fixed Jan 15th 
2. Grill in front of the exhaust outlet from the ventilation system has a large hole (where the thin tubes to the inside portion of the heat pump goes). Mice / rats can easily get into the house here: Fixed Jan 15th 
3. The fact that the unit stops at temperatures below-10C must of course be solved! (this point requires involvement from the supplier): Not fixed yet 
4. Remove the heat pump's outdoor unit from the wall or fix the noise problem in some other way (generates much more noise than other heat pumps): Not fixed yet
   
5. Do something with the noise from the two separate fans (and/or add extra noise protection in the closet as suggested earlier): The project leader and the subcontractor can't agree on whose responsibility this is. Not fixed yet   
6. Insulation on the exhaust pipe (where there was ice and condensation build-up when the air draft was under 0C): Fixed
7. It is now so cold that there is ice building outside the insulation (see attached picture): Fixed Jan 15th 
8. Complete the solution that removes condensation from the inside portion of the heat pump (the plastic pipe just hanging loose inside the cabinet in our WC):  Not fixed yet 
9. Is the actual effect of the unit (m3 per hour) according to manufacturer's specification? There was 2800 ppm CO2 with 20 people in the room (while the ventilation was running at maximum speed): Not fixed yet
10. Is it possible to do something about heat loss from the unit to the living room? (Ie adding insulation on pipes in the ventilation room where the temperature is only 10C and/or in the shed where it also is below 15C?): The subcontractor says that this has a high cost and only limited effect.   
11. Decorative: the ventilation hatch in the ceiling above the oven (as discussed at inspection). Can it moved slightly to one side and thus cover the unsightly open slot on the side of the hatch? Not fixed yet
12. And when everything is ready; training in the use and maintenance (cleaning procedures and setting the weekly program on the heat pump, etc.): Not done yet