The JAHUS blog

Long time - no see...

2010-09-27T09:55:00.000+02:00

Sorry, for entering silent mode without any warning.

This silence does not in any way mean that I think that cuts in CO2 emissions / energy usage is less important now than in 2009 and first half 2010. I still follow the activities in our local- and the global arena, but because I recently joined CapGemini I do not currently have time to share my thoughts on this blog.

CapGemini is in the forefront when it comes to Smart Energy Services - so maybe I'll be back before you know it :-)
Smart energy services

Au revoir!

Putting sunglasses on the sun

2010-04-16T14:53:00.000+02:00

Event 1: Iceland volcano eruption
The volcano eruption on Iceland has had a dramatic effect on air-traffic in the northern part of Europe. Yesterday, no airtraffic was allowed in Norwegian air-space (not even emergency helicopter flights were allowed). The problem has later spread to England, France, Germany etc. Why do I mention this event here?

1) Not since "9-11" 2001 have the videoconference companies been more active. They say that companies should use their technology rather than airplanes (with CO2 emissions)

2) One of the geo-engineering options is putting man-made "sunglasses" on the sun. The real life example of a similar effect can be observed now (though in small scale). Many thousands of years ago a big volcano eruption in (what is now) Indonesia caused our planet to reflect enough heat from the sun to cause an ice-age on planet Earth. 200 years ago we lost one summer due to a similar effect after a volcano eruption on Iceland (the temperature can drop and leave us with a very long "fall season").

Volcanic ash cloud: no flights out of Britain
Norway's Stranded Prime Minister Uses iPad To Govern From U.S.

Event 2: Weak energy results in Enova

The Auditor General has conducted an investigation of Enova SF's operation and management - and the final report was sent to Parliament on April 15th 2010.

Enova SF is a public enterprise owned by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. It's main mission is to contribute to environmentally sound and rational use and production of energy, relying on financial instruments and incentives to stimulate market actors and mechanisms to achieve national energy policy goals.

Enova's realized energy results are considerably lower than the established goals. This is true both overall and for the goals related to the heat and wind power. The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and Enova should to a far greater extent follow up on supported projects - verifying that they actually result in new environment-friendly energy production or energy savings, says Auditor General Jørgen Kosmo.

The aim is that Enova through his use of instruments to trigger projects that provide new environmentally friendly energy production and energy savings equivalent to 18 TWh / year by the end of 2011. Auditor General's investigation shows that the realized energy results are generally even lower than Enova's final reported results.

Comments 2: I heard this on the news this morning, and I hope that the report will trigger a new discussion on how to reach our goals - both for renewable energy and of course the very important energy savings potential ("the greenest energy is the energy not used").

When the Climate and Pollution Control Directorate (Klima- og forurensingsdirektoratet) earlier this year presented their comprehensive report on how to reach our energy savings/CO2 cuts (Klimakur 2020: the target for cuts =12 million tonnes of CO2), they did not highlight energy savings in buildings as a major contributor. The reason for this is that energy saved is mostly clean energy (hydroelectric power from waterfalls). I think that this must- and will change, and Enova should be used much more actively to encourage energy saving in the more than 1 million old drafty homes in Norway.

Statnett is already planning major investments in the grid - allowing Norway to import/export electricity. When this has been implemented you could say that:

1 KWh clean energy saved in a "Jahus" in Norway reduces the CO2 emissions in Europe by between 0,5 and 1 kg of CO2 (coal-fired powerplants)
Norway can take the role of Europe's battery: supply of clean energy (send more water through the turbines) when solar-, and windpowered energy production is temporarily reduced/stopped because of weather conditions.

Aligning energy prices with the rest of Europe and potentially adding a new tax on electricity, will increase the electricty bill for normal families, but will....

Reduce the purchasing power: the indicators our central bank follows say that the temperature in the economy is at a point where a hike in the interest rates should be used to reduce the pressure in the economy (inflation). Rather than do this, we could introduce higher electricity prices (same effect - but also driving energy savings)
Our social-democratic government believes in a redistributing some of the wealth from the rich to the less fortunate. Higher electricity prices will affect the rich more (with bigger houses and multiple summer/winter houses).

My wishlist includes: cheap loans, more grants from Enova and tax-relief

More projects will get started and more energy is saved
More activity and higher employment is a plus in these difficult financial times
Indoor climate is improved in these houses: which potentially could reduce lost production capacity due to sick leave (a hot topic these days in Norway)

"Spend more (and more wisely) to encourage energy savings - and less on renewables"

Progress (status):
I discovered the other day that the "used" air leaving the house now holds 18.8 C. I checked the ventilation aggregate and noticed that the heat exchanger was off (the rotor wasn't rotating). I asked the Project Leader a week ago, but have not received an answer.

I know that the aggregate is supposed to automatically detect when it's summer, but something must be wrong when the rotor does not operate and the supply air temperature is lower than the exhaust air (and both are below the desired room temp)?

On extra hot summer days, the temperature of the "used" air will be cooler than the outside air (closer to the ideal temperature because of the cooling effect of the heatpump) - and I would therefore expect the rotor to operate and provide "cool-exchange" in the same way we get heat-exchange during the winter?

Other relevant data:

External temperature 11C
Temp out of the aggregate 14C
Temp out to the living room 21C
And as mentioned, the temperature out of the unit / house 18.8C

Climate meeting in London

2010-03-30T18:09:00.001+02:00

Event 1: How to find 100 billion USD ?
One of the importat breakthroughs during the conference on climate change in Copenhagen was an agreement that in 2020 developed countries will provide $ 100 billion annually to climate-projects in developing countries. The money will be allocated to emissions control and climate adaptation.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently named members of a high-level advisory group on mobilizing Climate Change Resources. The group is led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Gordon Brown of Britain.

Money is one of the most important and difficult issues in the climate change negotiations. The unanswered question is how the find the $ 100 billion annually to climate-projects in developing countries. This challenge must be solved if there is going to be a new international climate agreement. The financial crisis has not made this task any easier.Tomorrow the 19 people in this high-level advisory group will meet in London to try to find a solution.

From the USA comes Lawrence H. Summers, president Barack Obama's principal economic adviser. From China comes Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao. India, Brazil and South Africa are included - and of course Mexico, who will host the next major climate meeting. Among the members are also the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, the economist Nicholas Stern and investor George Soros.

In reality, Ban Ki-moon set up a forum for negotiations outside of the official climate negotiations. Agreement between the countries in the group, will lay the foundation for unity in the formal UN negotiations.

Event 2: First high-energy collisions carried out in Geneva

The first high-energy collisions between particle beams have taken place at the Large Hadron Collider, ending more than a year of frustration for scientists in Geneva.

Collisions occurred just after noon BST, five hours after scheduled, but well within the time frame expected by scientists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN).

"This is a major breakthrough. We are going where nobody has been before. We have opened a new territory for physics,” said Oliver Buchmueller, one of the key figures on the project.

The atomic particles smashed together in head-on collisions, with each beam having an energy of 3.5 trillion electron volts, three times the previous record. By creating ultra-high energy collisions, scientists are mimicking the conditions moments after the Big Bang.

"It's a great day to be a particle physicist," said Professor Rolf Heuer, the director-general of CERN. "A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends."

Link to CNN.com

Progress: The snow is melting
Still no word from the subcontractor who has been measuring the heatloss from the ventilationsystem in the attic. Now that the outside temperature is above 0C every day - we will of course not see icicles until next year, but I still hope that they will improve the isolation of the pipes as they have promised. Not only will it hopefully reduce the icicles problem, but it will also improve the overall energy efficiency of our "Jahus" (more heat reaches the livingroom).

I do not want to accept the proposal to move the heatpump (which will cost me ca 1000 USD) until the other issues have been solved.

Earth Hour - Yesterday

2010-03-28T17:59:00.001+02:00

Event 1: Earth Hour was yesterday evening
Watch the 3 minute official video below .... (does only work from the blog not from the Facebook copy)....

Happy Easter Vacation !

Can Norway's black gold be green?

2010-03-26T16:23:00.001+01:00

Event 1: The greenest barrel of oil in the world
CNN went offshore to an oil rig in the North Sea to see how in Norway we manage to produce the greenest barrel of oil in the world. For every barrel of oil produced, 8kg of carbon dioxide is emitted (sixty percent less than the global average).

"In Norway they have a great attitude towards the environment. There were little notes on our beds in fifth-floor hotel rooms with encouragements to use the stairs; the napkin dispensers in restaurants are emblazoned with "just take one"; and there were recycling bins on every street corner. I was left wondering how this environmental awareness translates into the big business of oil and gas exports."

Link to the article on CNN.com

Comment 1: Didn't he give the answer himself in the first sentence? Statoils CEO Helge Lund (ref previous blog post) is very proud of the fact that his company produces oil with 60% less CO2 emissions than the industry average. Without the environmental awareness this would not have happened.

Oil and gas is- and will for a long time be their primary focus, but Helge Lund is also happy to talk about their other "green" R&D efforts - new renewable energy sources (offshore windmills, wave-energy, tidal etc.) and of course their carbon capture and storage projects.

You may also want to see the articles "Environment and Society" and
"Statoil publishes annual and sustainability report for 2009" and the actual Sustainability Report to get more information on this topic.

Event 2: Hungary's sale of used CO2 credits worries carbon traders
EU has the world's largest emissions-trading market. On March 15th the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) said sales of ‘recycled’ United Nations carbon credits could damage the reputation of the European Union’s emissions-trading market.

The warning came after Hungary said it agreed to sell UN credits to an unspecified broker for 4 billion forint ($21 million).

Link to article on this AAU sale

ASPECTS OF CARBON TRADE

There are two main kinds of UN carbon credits.

Assigned Amount Units (AAU): Under the Kyoto Protocol, countries were granted a certain number of permits to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), which are equivalent to one tonne of CO2. On average 1.5 billion AAUs are accumulated every year under the Kyoto Protocol, according to European Commission figures circulated among EU member states.
Certified Emission Reductions (CER): is accepted in Europe’s market. CERs are also known as carbon offsets because they are created when polluters or investors pay for emission reductions in poorer countries in exchange for the tradeable credits.

Rich countries can buy carbon offsets to help them meet emissions caps, paying for carbon cuts in developing countries. International trade in recycled credits is legal, and exploits the fact that the greenhouse gas emissions of some former communist countries are far below their Kyoto targets, leaving them with surplus emissions rights (Note: this is due to worse than expected market growth and NOT a result of big investments in CO2 reduction projects).

The AAU figures (per year) are broken down as follows:

Russia: 1.1 billion AAUs (see definition below)
Ukraine: 478 million AAUs
EU10 (East & Central Europe): 439 million AAUs
In contrast, the older member states of Western Europe (EU15) have a shortage of 144 million AAUs per year that they should buy from other countries on the carbon market.

The Hungary deal
Hungary figured out how to swap its more valuable CERs for less-valuable UN credits known as Assigned Amount Units (sold some 800,000 tonnes of used CERs, saying it would put aside the equivalent number of AAUs) .

The European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, said it was “concerned” as the central European country sold credits that had already been turned over to comply in the bloc’s system.

"Carbon leakage"
Carbon leakage occurs when there is an increase in carbon dioxide emissions in one country as a result of an emissions reduction by a second country with a strict climate policy. Carbon leakage may occur for a number of reasons:

If the emissions policy of a country raises local costs, then another country with a more relaxed policy may have a trading advantage. If demand for these goods remains the same, production may move offshore to the cheaper country with lower standards, and global emissions will not be reduced.
If environmental policies in one country add a premium to certain fuels or commodities, then the demand may decline and their price may fall. Countries that do not place a premium on those items may then take up the demand and use the same supply, negating any benefit.

Carbon leakage does not necessarily imply that the increased emissions are from competing companies; climate policies may have the effect of causing companies to relocate its production to countries without a climate policy in order to take advantage of the economic benefits.

Carbon leakage has been cited as an impediment to the effective reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the Kyoto Protocol. This is because the 37 developed countries are the only parties to have agreed to cap their industrial emissions and there is no visibility of the carbon footprint of their imports.

Recent studies suggest that nearly a quarter of China's CO2 emissions are as a result of its production of goods for export, primarily to the USA but also to Europe, suggesting that the current focus on emission policies within national schemes may be misplaced, and question whether responsibility for emissions should rest with the producer or the consumer. It has also been argued that developed countries have a responsibility for the historical legacy of pollution which obliges them to act first, whilst allowing other developing countries with a low intensity of emissions per person to find methods of raising their economies and standard of living in a sustainable way. Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism was designed as a way of funding the technology transfer needed for such sustainable development.

One example is the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro who uses a lot of energy to produce the light-metal aluminum. They argue that unless they can continue to get cheap electricity in Norway - they will have to move all production to other parts of the planet where they will use cheaper fossil-fueled energy (in countries where they do not have to pay for CO2 emissions). Link to information about their new gas-powered Qatar-plant.

Green certificates
A Green Certificate - terminology used in Europe - also known as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in the USA, are a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents generation of 1 Megawatthour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varies from certificate trading scheme to trading scheme. Usually, at least the following sources are considered as renewable:

Wind (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
Solar (often further divided into photovoltaic and thermal)
Wave (often further divided into onshore and offshore) and tidal (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
Geothermal
Hydro (often further divided into small - microhydro - and large)
Biomass (mainly biofuels, often further divided by actual fuel used).

Green certificates represent the environmental value of renewable energy generated. The certificates can be traded separately from the energy produced. Several countries use green certificates as a mean to make the support of green electricity generation closer to a market economy instead of more bureaucratic investment support and feed-in tariffs. Such national trading schemes are in use in e.g. Poland, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), and some US states.

Norway is not on the list, but it isa positive move that our Oil and Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen, and the Swedish industry minister Maud Olofsson signed an agreement in september 2009 on principles for further cooperation on green certificates. The ambition is a common certificate market in the two countries.

In contrast to CO2-reduction certificates (AAU's or CER's under the UNFCC), which can be exchanged worldwide, Green Certificates cannot be exchanged/traded between e.g. Belgium an Italy, let alone the USA and the EU member States.

Comment:
Given that "the greenest energy is the energy we don't use" - I hope that we will get to a point when 1 MWh of saved electric energy will equal 1 certificate. This would lower the total cost of "Jahus" projects and therefore help reduce the demand for electricity for heating houses.

Bring (clean) energy to the consumer

2010-03-25T17:48:00.000+01:00

Event 1: Energy Creep
SURVEYS of hundreds of UK households reveal that people who have made their houses more energy efficient are more likely to indulge in small excesses - turning up the heating, for example, or keeping it on for longer.

Small excesses add up to large costs. The results of the studies - seven of them in total - suggest that such energy creep could wipe out as much as half of the anticipated savings from making homes more energy efficient (Building Research & Information, vol 38, issue 1).

Comment 1:

It sounds like those who increase the efficiency of their houses are getting increased comfort, paying less for it and reducing their carbon emissions at the same time. That sounds like a win-win-win to me and it should be promoted as such.

Event 2: From hippy to nuclear enthusiast

In previous blog posts I have regularly referred to a book by Steward Brand that I enjoyed reading. From actively fighting nuclear energy - he is now arguing for nuclear energy. Included below is an interesting article about Steward Brand.

Link to article on Steward Brand

Yesterday, I also included a link to a recommended 30-minute video-clip in which another nuclear enthusiast, Bill Gates, talks about the challenges we're facing and the potential that lies in TerraPower. He talks about small nuclear reactors that will feed on waste from current nuclear reactors - and because we do not have to refill fuel or remove waste from it during the 60 year operation-cycle it is more secure than any nuclear reactor today.

Comment 2: Bring (clean) energy to the consumer

Many of the latest developments discussed in this blog will bring "energy production" closer to the consumer (Bloom boxes, PowerChips etc) - which will reduce the need for more capacity and redundancy in the power grid. The vulnerability will be reduced - because a distributed network of power generators are less likely to fail than fewer and bigger units.

We will still need a power-grid and there is a heated debate about the investments in a better power grid (smart-grid, more capacity, more redundancy etc.)

Avoid the big price differences we have seen in Norway this winter. The south-west region had more electricity available than the east/northern parts - but the grid did not have enough capacity to even out these differences
Enable export of clean energy from Norway to Europe (energy saved in private households can be used to replace coal-based electricity in Europe)
Establish Norway as the green battery of Europe (pump water to the dams in the mountains when there is "too much" electricity generated in Denmark (windmills) and Spain (solar-powered energy).
Will probably result in more expensive electricity in Norway. I have argued that this is a better way to control inflation than higher interest rates - but many disagree with my arguments (will drive energy saving projects, will create more jobs, will limit inflation etc.)

Event 3: Summary Projected Costs of Generating Electricity -- 2010 EditionThis joint report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), is the seventh in a series of studies on electricity generating costs. It presents the latest data available for a wide variety of fuels and technologies, including coal and gas (with and without carbon capture), nuclear, hydro, onshore and offshore wind, biomass, solar, wave and tidal as well as combined heat and power (CHP). It provides levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) per MWh for almost 200 plants, based on data covering 21 countries (including four major non-OECD countries), and several industrial companies and organisations. For the first time, the report contains an extensive sensitivity analysis of the impact of variations in key parameters such as discount rates, fuel prices and carbon costs on LCOE. Additional issues affecting power generation choices are also examined.

The study shows that the cost competitiveness of electricity generating technologies depends on a number of factors which may vary nationally and regionally. Readers will find full details and analyses, supported by over 130 figures and tables, in this report which is expected to constitute a valuable tool for decision makers and researchers concerned with energy policies and climate change.

The figure below shows regional ranges of LCOE for nuclear, coal, gas and onshore wind power plants (at 5% discount rate)

Hints and Tips:

Checklist before you invest in a heatpump:

Does the supplier have a good reputation?

Is the vendor a certified refrigeration fitter (if in Norway, preferably with the approval of the Norwegian Heat pump Association - NOVAP) ?
Ask for references and check them!

Verify that the product has the capacity and features to meet your needs.

It is better to buy a pump that is too big than too small.
Check that the pump has stepless adjustment / inverter
The pump should have R410A as refrigerant.

Check that the heat pump is adapted to local weather conditions

In Norway the winters can be very cold and it should therefore have a heating cable in the drainage channel (to avoid ice that blocks the flow of condensated water)
Get a statement from the reseller that specifies that the pump is suitable for the climate where you live. Some manufacturers say that their pumps do not operate well in salty air, something which is common along the coast.

Make sure you get a detailed written contract

Does the price include installation and verification of the installation?
If you also have a balanced ventilation system, do they verify that they work well together?
Do they offer a services contract? You need yearly maintenance (change filters etc.) and a health check of the system once a year is recommended.
Include all the promises from the supplier

A "Micro Nuclear" reactor for your garage?

2010-03-24T16:39:00.000+01:00

Event 1: A "Micro Nuclear" reactor for your garage?
It would seem that Toshiba hasn't given up on its dream of producing a nuclear reactor for the home, and its latest potential partner counts quite the big name among its backers. Run by a former Microsoft exec and partially funded by Bill Gates himself, TerraPower is said to have opened preliminary discussions with Toshiba regarding a possible joint venture between the two companies.

The aim is, predictably, to make safer, smaller, more socially acceptable, and just plain better reactors. TerraPower boasts its tech can run without refueling for up to 60 years on depleted uranium and Bill Gates has gotten enthusiastic enough about the whole thing to give a 30-minute talk on the matter (click below for the video).

Event 2: Turn off your lights for one hour
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future.

Turn off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, 8.30pm, Saturday 27th March 2010.

Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet

China’s most significant historic landmark, the Forbidden City in Beijing, will turn off its lights for Earth Hour at 8.30pm on Saturday March 27, in a dramatic display of action on global warming from the world’s most populous nation.

Link to earthhour.org

Progress:
Still no word from the ventilation subcontractor. They have previously said that they can move the outdoor-part of the heatpump, and my third of the cost will be approximately 1000 USD. The goal is to move it away from the bedroom wall (to the bathroom wall where the noise does not bother us) and further away from our neighbor. I am still waitning for the specifications of the operation (how will it look like after the operation?).

They have in the last few weeks collected temperature information from the ventilation system. The goal was to determine the cause of the icicles problems (why is the cold attic warmer than before the "Jahus" project?) We have not yet received any report after the data was recorded and analyzed.

"Food for thought"

2010-03-19T15:18:00.002+01:00

Comments:
I have previously referred to the book by the American social entrepreneur and technology guru Stewart Brand - "Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto". It examines four "tools that environmentalists have distrusted and now need to embrace". Below I have added some more comments on some of his suggestions:

Urbanization: In China we now see the biggest movement of people seen in human history (more than 300 million people moving to the cities in the next 15-20 years). This is a positive thing for the climate because the footprint per person is less in densely populated areas.

You do not have to drive your car as much (or even have a car at all). Look to Curtiba in Brazil to find city planning at its best (picture).

You don't have to use as much energy to heat your appartment (compared to a house in the suburbs) because you get heat from the appartments next to yours, the one above you and the one underneath yours
Requires less resources for utility services (water, garbage collection etc.)
According to Steward Brand women tend to get other priorities when they move to a city. They want to work, and one result is that they give birth to fewer children. Fewer people means less pressure on the resources of our planet (both the challenge of feeding everybody, the energy needed to support all these people and of course the CO2 footprint of every individual that walks this planet)
Link to my previous blog post

Nuclear power: This is energy without greenhouse gases and this is why Steward Brand argues that even environmentalists must embrace this technology. This is also the reason why the Department of Energy in USA recently proposed $36 billion in new federal loan guarantees on top of $18.5 billion already budgeted – for a total of $54.5 billion. That's enough to help fund six or seven new power plants. Link to my previous blog post

Geo-engineering: scientists search for ways to manipulate the climate to avoid some of the global warming effects that they say will come as a result of too much GHG in the atmosphere. This is a very controversial idea - but maybe we will find it neccessary if all else fails
Biotechnology: grow more on less space and with less resources sounds like a "no brainer" when you read Steward Brands book. He even talks of "smart houses" in the cities where they grow vegetables very efficiently. If genetically modified food means growing more food on less space and with less energy (and CO2 emissions during the production process) - it can have a positive effect on our climate. This free farmland can again become forests which work as CO2 sinks.

I have also included other issues and measures associated with the theme of energy and climate crisis:

More effective power generation: A chunk of ceramic can efficiently combine everyday fossil-fuel natural gas with oxygen from the air – without burning – to generate electricity on a small scale. That offers a way to meet a building's demand for power without losing energy to heat and friction in a conventional power plant or to transmission losses in a national grid. Earlier this month I included a piece on Bloom boxes - Bloom claims its boxes can halve a building's carbon footprint, a figure backed up by many familiar with such fuel cells.

NewScientist have now published more on this technology. Bloom boxes must operate at minimum 900 °C, they claim, but solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can get even cooler. Those from Ceres Power in Crawley, UK, operate below 600 °C, because they use an electrolyte that works at lower temperatures than those used by Bloom and Topsoe. That's low enough for the device to be held together with steel welds. "That was a real 'Aha!' moment," says Peter Bance of Ceres. "We don't rely on the ceramics for support – we can use steel." A porous steel sheet at the cell's heart is printed with ultra-thin layers of ceramic anode, electrolyte, and cathode.

Home boilers powered by the cells are cheap enough to begin rolling them out in their thousands this year, the start of a four-year programme to install 37,500 in the homes of customers of the UK's biggest energy supplier, British Gas. The technology could, says Bance, "almost make your electricity bill disappear".

As this quick survey of the fuel-cell market shows, the interest and excitement around Bloom's technology is understandable, but more thanks to the underlying technology's potential than to a single, PR-savvy company.
More effective car fuel: SOFCs are much more practical than the hydrogen fuel cells used in some prototype vehicles. They eschew expensive platinum catalysts by operating at high temperature, and because they can use a variety of small-chain hydrocarbon fuels, they can use today's fuel (does not require tomorrow's fuel).

Some people point out that the rainforests are extremely valuable to humanity - but where can you see this value in the marketplace? We saw signs of money transfer from the developed- to the developing countries at COP15 in Copenhagen. When the countries with rainforests get credit for the CO2 their forests "suck up" - hopefully more money will be transferred from countries with "dirty" coal powerplants.

Countries may also decide, like Norway and France, to take some of the comitted CO2 cuts abroad by investing money in rainforest-friendly projects in Brazil etc.

Not only will this money be used by the developing countries to protect the rain-forests, but they will use it to grow in a sustainable way. In India villages have received some money and invested in solarcells and batteries at a local power-loading station. The villagers come once a day to pay for- and take home a fully recharged lamp. This project replaces the old oil-fired lamps which resulted in local pollution (sick children and CO2 emissions). Better light in the evenings also allow children to do more homework and improve their skills.

Why does the Norwegian government want to tax (VAT) e-books while their printed counterparts are not taxed? It must be better for everybody if we could produce and distribute content electronically (paper comes from trees and the process recuires a lot of physical packaging and transportation before the book reaches the consumer).

IPCC say that more than 50% of the CO2 cuts must come from reduced energy demand. Are we spending too much money and direct too much attention to the generation of more new (sustainable) energy and too little on saving energy where we can? There are low-hangig fruit in abundance out there and most people agree that "the cleanest energy - is the energy you don't use".

Some of the obvious measures include improved public transportation system (more frequent and cheaper trains/buses - ref comments above on Curtiba in Brazil), more expensive fuel for fossil-fueled cars, higher tax on electricity combined with incentives to improve energy efficiency of businesses and ordinary private homes ("Jahus" projects) etc.

The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Control Directorate (Klima- og forurensingsdirektoratet) recently presented their report "Klimakur 2020". This report adresses how Norway can achieve cuts of 12 million tonnes of CO2 by 2020. It was a big surprise to find that cuts in energy used in buildings were hardly mentioned. The reason was that the energy used today is dominated by clean hydroelectrical power (almost no CO2 footprint). I would argue that it should have been given much more attention. 1 TWh of reduced energy demand from buildings will be just as important to the climate as 1 TWh of energy from a new windpowered powerplant - assuming there is a demand for this energy (or else the prices will drop and we go in the opposite direction).

The added demand for this high quality energy (low CO2 footprint) will come from electrifying both the transport sector and the offshore oilproduction, providing electricity to the industry with high-energy demand (Aluminum produced with clean electricity in Norway rather than with coal in Qatar) and export to EU via the expanded power grid (to replace coal-powered powerplants). Event: International meeting on climate change
Bolivia and other developing nations refused to sign the Copenhagen accord and this is why Bolivia is hosting an international meeting on climate change next month. In the words of the Tuvalu negotiator, "we were not prepared to betray our people for 30 pieces of silver".

Link to The Guardian (on this conference)

Big power from tiny wires

2010-03-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

Event 1: Big power from tiny wires
A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.

Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave — a moving pulse of heat — traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current.

Link to MIT News

Event 2: Dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency of cars?
The Power Chip™ is a new technology that uses the physical mechanism of thermionics and quantum thermotunnelling to generate electrical power directly from heat, with no moving parts, and with a higher projected efficiency than any current technology.

Power Chips should revolutionize electrical power generation across virtually all applications. In present large generating stations, adding Power Chips to capture heat that is now wasted will enable power plants to produce at least 20% more power with no increase in fuel consumption or emissions. Eventually, more-efficient power plants, using only Power Chips to produce power, will become common.

In automobiles and other vehicles, Power Chips initially are likely to replace the alternator, using waste heat from the radiator and exhaust and greatly increasing the efficiency of the internal combustion engine. Within a few years, electrically-driven vehicles will become possible, with power generated by Power Chips--burning gasoline, natural gas, or hydrogen as fuel to produce heat--and driving a super-efficient Chorus® Motor. Such an automobile would achieve dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency, and produce a fraction of the emissions.

Link to PowerChips

Comments: I also included some info about the Bloom box recently which promises to generate electricity from natural gas more efficiently than the combustion-type burners today (using new fuel-cells). I will of course continue to look for news-clips like these, and those I find most relevant will also be shared with readers of this blog.

Progress:
I have no progress to report, but I want to share with you my expereices from registering our house on the web-site http://www.energimerking.no/ (to get an official energy efficiency lable for our house).

I logged in using the same procedure I use when registering my tax return statement every year (on Altinn). I entered my 11-number personal ID number and a password - and then received a passcode as an sms on my cellphone. Using that passcode I was able to enter the web site.

I wanted to see the effect of our Jahus project on the official energy efficiency rating - and I therefore started by registering our house the way it was before the Jahus project. I entered the size of the house (270 sq meters) and the year it was built (1971) and used defaults generated by the system wherever possible. The whole process took less than 30 minutes and I came out with an rating "E".

I then selected the simple dataentry process again, but with the Jahus data. I was able to specify that we now have a air-to-air heatpump and balanced ventilation, but this process did not let me specify the extra isolation and changing of old windows and doors (ca 50% of the Jahus cost). The result was a rating "D".

I then selected the detailed data-entry process to get credit for all our renovation efforts (extra isolation + new windows and doors). I now had to specify the shape of the building and on which walls the different windows were located. The system also asked about timers on the thermostats (panel heaters, heated floors etc.), and I was able to specify that the heated air from the heatpump gets distributed by the ventilation system. The whole process took almost 1 hour, but to my surprise the rate was still a "D".

If I only judged by the rating of this system - 50% of the Jahus project (judging by the cost) was a waste. Adding isolation and replacing old windows and doors are the number 1 actions recommended by Enova - so finding that these efforts didn't give any improvement in the rating was a big disappointment. We are not planning to sell the house anytime soon. The energy lable is therefore not as important to us as the positive effects we have experienced in our indoor climate and the lower electricity bills in the years to come.

The electricity bill has arrived

2010-03-16T23:13:00.001+01:00

Update frequency
It has been a while since I posted anything on this blog (sorry). The reason for this "radio silence" is:

Nothing has happenend in our "Jahus project". See comments under the heading "Progress"
No major events in the marketplace (climate/energy)

Event 1: Electricity bills arrive
Most norwegian homes have now received their latest electricity bill. There was quite a lot of attention in the press regarding higher energy prices even before the latest electricity bills, but the higher cost still came as a surprise to many families.

"Reducing the electricity bill" has been a more frequent topic around lunch- and dinner tables these last weeks than CO2 and global warming.

Comment 1: This is of course a good thing. Even the global warming sceptics see the need for energy saving efforts - and reducing the electricity bill at home involves extra isolation, replacing old windows/doors, adding a heatpump and balanced ventilation, and of course replacing the oilburner as a heatsource. Most people prefer these efforts to shorter shower-time, lower temperature in the house etc.

Event 2: Energy lables on all buildings

Last week I attended the first seminar (hosted by NVE) on energy lables for buildings in Norway. As mentioned in an earlier blog post these energy lables are mandatory from July 1st 2010 for rent- and sales of homes in Norway.

The goal of this project is to help the customers (buyers) navigate in the marketplace and select the object with the best value for money - including the projected operations cost.

Comment 2: I believe that this effort will help put emphasis on energy efficiency in homes, but think that we need more incentives to accellerate the adoption of these energy saving efforts in our over 1 million draughty houses. These incentives could be cheap loans from Husbanken (pri 1), more grants from Enova (for example to isolation and blanced ventilation projects), and reduced VAT on typical products like heatpumps, balanced ventilation, isolation etc.

Progress:
The two top priorities now are:

To move the outside portion of the heatpump to a new place where the noise is less of a problem (to where it should have been put in the first place).
To reduce the heatloss in the cold attic and therefore fixing the icicles problem

Progress 1: They admit that the heatpump probably should have been placed in the corner outside the bathroom and WC (restroom) from day 1 - away from the neighbors and not on a bedroom wall. We had some discussions, but I have indicated that I can be willing to pay one third of the cost related to this operation (to finally finish this project and "get on with life"). They offered to move the outside portion of the heatpump for a fixed price of 1200 USD (which should be 1/3 of the total cost).

I asked how they planned to do it, are they including the wooden heatpump cover, and where they recommended that it gets moved - they couldn't answer and I am still waiting for the spesifications (we will do X for the price Y).

Progress 2: The Project Leader has previously promised to add more isolation on the ventilation pipes in the attic to keep it cold. He promised that the net result would be warmer air supplied to the living room and no more icicles problems.

The ventilation subcontractor and the project leader, however, have had a dispute over responsability for the icicles problem. To prove their point the ventilation subcontractor have placed some monitoring/recording device in the system and I am waiting for the two companies to reach an agreement and deliver what they have promised.

The Future Of Energy?

2010-03-05T18:08:00.003+01:00

Event 1: Bloom Energy Boxes

Over the past several years, there’s been no shortage of talk about alternative energy, and its potential to change the world. The problem is that most of it is just that — talk. But on February 22nd., a report that aired on 60 Minutes showed one alternative that is not only real, it’s already being tested by companies such as Google and eBay.

Bloom Energy are producing tiny fuel cell boxes they call “Bloom Boxes.” Two of these can apparently power a U.S. home (and only one for homes in countries that use less power). So how small are they? Look at the picture above, each device isn’t much bigger than a standard brick. Of course, they need to be surrounded by a larger unit that takes in an energy source (such as natural gas). But still, these units look to be about the size of a refrigerator and can easily fit outside of a home, providing it with clean, cheap energy.

Currently, these boxes cost some $700,000 - $800,000, but eventually, founder K.R. Sridhar envisions one in every home — and he thinks he can get the cost below $3,000 for a unit to make that happen. And he’s talking a 5 to 10 year timeframe for this.

You simply have to watch this clip (from 60 Minutes on CBS): The Bloom Box

What is a fuel cell?
How does this specific solid-oxide-fuel-cell (SOFC) work?

Comment 1: Any effect on CO2 emissions?
I found the following on CO2 emissions from traditional natural gas- and coal fired powerplants: The average emissions rate from natural gas-fired generation is 515 kg (1135 lbs)/MWh of carbon dioxide. Compared to the average emissions from coal-fired generation, natural gas produces half as much carbon dioxide.

Bloom Energy claims in their Datasheet that the CO2 emissions will be 350 kg (773 lbs) / MWh when running on natural gas (carbon neutral on Directed Biogas). This is only 67% of the emissions from a traditional powerplant based on natural gas combustion - and hence this looks like a good alternative to the big centralised powerplants burning natural gas (and even better when you compare it to coal).

Comment 2: What other positive effects could we expect?

More effective electricity generation:

They claim that they get more electricity out of the gas. Normal gas power stations have an efficiency of 50%, and an (achievable) efficiency of 80% for such a device therefore means half price per kWh, for the same amount of gas you burn (and almost half the CO2 emissions as previously discussed).
The loss of energy associated with transport of electricity over the powergrid is dramatically reduced in a scenario with a network of distributed Bloom boxes (anything less than 100% efficiency with a pressurized gas line is a leak that needs to be serviced).

Replacing one grid with another: gas must be transported to each of these Bloom boxes.

In USA 50% of the houses are hooked up to the gas network (and many more could), but in other countries like Norway there are very few houses hooked up to a distribution system for natural gas
The cost of building a distribution system for natural gas is probably too high. Regions without such a network will probably not see a Bloom box in every home - but bigger regional poverplants based on the same SOFC technology

More robust energy distribution system:

Removing many SPOFs (single point of failure) such as the big powerplants, critical powerlines etc. Black-outs are therefore less likely in a scenario with millions of distributed Bloom boxes
There is of course the possibility of failure in the gas-supply, but I would be surprised if they do not include a small tank of LNG with every Bloom box installation (allowing it to operate for a few hours without supply of gas through the network).

Comment 3: What could this technology have done to the current "energy crisis" in Norway?

The CEO of Statoil, Helge Lund, would be very happy because this scenario would lead to a massive demand for "his" natural gas. He has for a long time argued that all coal-based powerplants should be converted to gas to cut the CO2 emissions in half (50%).
We wouldn't be so dependant on nuclear power from Sweden (producing more energy ourselves - using our own natural gas)
Our lack of capacity in the powergrid has led to very different prices depending on which region you live in. This problem would not exist if we had a network of thousands micro-powerplants (in all regions)
The concern about the vulnerability in the energy supplychain would fade with this transition from a centralized to a distributed infrastructure

BUT, even though the CO2 emissions are lower than from traditional gas-fueled powerplants, there would be more CO2 emissions from Norway than what we have today.

It would replace clean nuclear power from Sweden (no CO2 emissions)
It could increase the available electricity in the marketplace and prices would therefore drop - leading to an increase in demand

I believe there is too much talk about increasing the energy-production today. What we need today is better incentives for those who initiate energysaving projects (and we all know that lower energyprices will have the opposite effect).

The Bloom boxes will probably have limited success in Norway - due to the availability of clean energy (hydroelectric power) and a lack of gas distribution infrastructure. Agri businesses/farmers could, however, run their whole operations from methane and other gases that are produced from composting and slurrystores (manure).

In the USA where they have limited amounts of clean energy, huge reserves of gas and a good distribution network for the gas - the Bloom boxes might turn out to be a huge hit.

Progress:
Today the ventilation subcontractor finally replaced the big and noisy fan - with a smaller and less noisy fan. He also took out some instrumentation from the system and brought it back to the office. They will now analyse the results and then disucss with the project leader who should be responsible for fixing the "too warm attic problem".

Rebate for home improvement

2010-03-02T23:09:00.004+01:00

Event 1:
President Obama is on a tour across the southern USA right now promoting his plans for getting the country back to work. The number one program he highlighted? "Cash-for-Caulkers," a $6 billion proposal to provide cash rebates to people who improve the energy efficiency of their homes. That's right: getting America and the world back to work means investing in clean energy programs that save cash and the climate.

“This is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea,” Obama told his audience. “This is a common-sense approach that will help jump-start job creation while making our economy stronger.”

Comment 1:
Why doesn't politicians here in Norway do the same?

the last few weeks have shown us what happens when the demand for electricity exceeds supply (prices go sky-high). Electrifying the oil-fields and the transport sector will further increase demand and it is much cheaper and makes more sense to reduce energy demand in draughty houses than to invest in more electricity generation capability.
Norway also needs more activity in the building- and construction sector (unemployment is high on the political agenda)

Yes, we have Enova and they provide some grants, but only small amounts and not for any of the measures we have implemented in our "Jahus" (balanced ventilation, air-to-air heatpump, improved isolation and replacing old windows/doors).

Our Finance Minister even says that printed books will continue to be tax-free, but ebooks (to my Kindle ebook reader) will not be given the same tax exemption. Does this make sense?

Cut down the forests to produce paper and packaging material (CO2 emissions)
Transport the paper to where they print the books (fossil fueled transport sector)
Transport the book half way around the globe to a bookstore near you (more CO2 emissions)
Recycle or burn all the packaging material and the books not being sold

.....or, you could buy a book online from Amazon and in a matter of minutes it downloads automatically to your Kindle. What can be more climate-friendly than that?

The same goes for music CDs - isn't it a good thing that you can buy and download music from Spotify, Itunes etc. rather than having to bother with physical media? Films used to ship on VHS cassettes, and now DVDs are common - but soon we will get rid of the physical media here too.

Content does not weigh anything and travels with the speed of light.

Progress:
Yesterday, the "too warm attic" not only caused snow on the roof to melt and create icicles as it fell from the roof - but on the inside of the roof there was condensated water that ran down the inside of the roof and tried to get out. Some of it didn't - and started to find its way into our living room.

The attached pictures show that icicles also form under the roof - indicating that there is condensated water coming out from under the roof. The Project Leader was here today to look at this new surprising effect and promised to fix it. I believe there he has a fight going on with the subcontractor who placed the ventilationsystem in the cold attic (Rockwool and Glava who produces isolation material say that you should avoid placing ventilation systems in cold attics).

"Motivates households and businesses to save power..."

2010-02-27T11:47:00.000+01:00

Event1: Higher energyprices - yes, thank you
In todays issue of Dagens Naeringsliv, Sofie Mathiassen says "High energy prices are the solution to both the climate crisis and the current issue with watersupply". In the section "Unfiltered" she included a quote from our Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen (in a letter to the Parliament 16 February 2010 about the cuts in taxes on electricity):

"The price increase is a signal of scarcity in the market and motivates households and businesses to save power."

She goes on to discuss the cost of CO2-reducing projects domestic and abroad. "Why" she asks "should we insist on CO2 cutting projects in Norway - when the same amount of money can give much more CO2 cuts in developing countries?". The climate does not care whether the CO2 cut comes from Norway or from somewhere in Africa.

Comments:
On November 26th (2009) my blog-post was titled "Higher energy prices? Yes please". I do of course appreciate the fact that the journalist Sofie Mathiassen share my views - on page 2 in Dagens Naeringsliv (many politicians will read this).

"Food for thought":

The building and construction sector has among the highest levels of unemployment in Norway (7.2%)
Low interest rates was expected to drive more projects when the spring comes, but the Norwegian Central Bank (Norges Bank) and politicians worry about inflation. We can therefore expect increases in interest rates in the months to come.
Higher interest rates will lead to more unemployment

Fewer building- and construction jobs
The export industry will find it more difficult to sell their products to other markets (makes our currency more valuable - and hence our products more expensive to foreign buyers).

If, however, the government introduced an extra tax on electricity rather than increasing the interest rates?

Inflation pressure would decrease (the share of your wallet available for shopping is reduced - either you pay more to your bank or to the utility company)
More projects (both new buildings and refurbishment projects) would be initiated, and unemployment in the building- and construction sector would therefore come down
CO2 emissions and the demand for energy (and hence and the pressure on electricity prices) and would be reduced
Would energy-intensive industrial heavyweights face trouble if energy-prices are increased further? Politicians have already granted these companies special (lower) electricity prices, and will have to continue to consider the prices versus the risk of CO2 leakage (industry moving to other countries where the energy is cheaper, but more "dirty").
Other export industry would most likely prefer such an el-tax to higher interest rates

Yesterday I forgot (sorry) to mention one important factor that drives the electricity-prices in the market: the oilfield Ormen Lange .

Rather than burn fossil fuels (oil/gas) offshore with considerable amounts of CO2 emissions as a result (like the traditional offshore oil fields), they now pull clean energy from the Norwegian mainland power-grid. The electricity to drive this offshore installation comes from the part of the Norwegian grid where there is a big gap between supply and demand these days. Electrifying this oilfield has therefore contributed to the record high energyprices in this region.

Electrifying oilfields will generate more demand for clean energy and so will electrifying the transport sector. It is therefore important that we prioritize projects that will reduce energy demand in other sectors. As mentioned earlier - it is currently much cheaper to reduce the demand than to generate additional energy (fossil or renewable).

Event 2: IPCC chief Pachauri to face independent inquiry

Environment and Climate ministers meeting in closed session in Bali last night insisted that an independent review should be carried out following the publicising of mistakes in its last report, and a row surrounding Dr Pachauri's robust response to his critics. If his management is found to be at fault his position could become untenable.

The ministers regard the mistakes as exaggerated, point out that they just concern a few sentences in a 3000 page report, and say they do not in any way undermine the basic science behind global warming. Their main concern has been over the aggressive way in which Dr Pachauri has responded to criticism, beginning with denouncing Indian research suggesting that the glaciers were not melting so rapidly as “voodoo science”.

Green Light for Nuclear Energy?

2010-02-26T23:37:00.002+01:00

Event 1: Energycrisis in Norway?

Electricity-prices in the Nordic countries have skyrocketed last week. Why?

Cold and dry weather has driven demand up (and reduced the water in the dams that will be used for generating hydroelectric power in the months to come)
Sweden has it's nuclear powerstations running at only 60% of full capacity (40% is out for maintenance)
The network infrastructure (the grid) does not have the neccessary capacity. The prices are therefore almost 100% higher in the eastern- and northern parts of Norway compared to the southern and western parts (where the supply is more in line with demand).
The oilfield Ormen Lange has been "electrified" and the electricity to drive this offshore installation comes from the part of the Norwegian grid where there is a big gap between supply and demand (and therefore record high energyprices)
The cable between Holland and Norway is currently out of operation. Because this cable is terminated in the south-western part of Norway, the import over this cable will only reduce the prices in that region and not help the gap in the rest of the country (due to grid limitations as mentioned above)

What does this price-increase lead to?

Energy-intensive industrial heavyweights have cut production and politicians are afraid the situation will lead to loss of jobs
Private households have to pay record high prices for electricity and with all the publicity there will be more talk about isolation and other efforts that can reduce energy demand
Statnett will put the mobile gas power plants in readiness so that they can be started up in the case of energy shortages: At a press conference in Oslo on Thursday afternoon, Oil and Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen informed about the power situation in the Nordic countries together with Auke Lont, CEO of Statnett. The mobile gas power plants will not alleviate the difficult situation in the power market today (their production capacity is too low), but they could prove invaluable if a line or a transformer goes down in central Norway and Bergen, explained CEO Auke Lont in Statnett. "Today's emergency plan is not good enough in the event of a power line- or transformer failure. We will during this week ask the Oil and Energy Minister for approval and start putting the spare power plants in emergency preparedness. When approved we will have the gas supplies and a crew ready to put the two mobile gas power plants into operation in two to three hours notice"said Lont. (Today it will take two to three weeks from Statnett requesting permission to use the spare power plants until a permission by the authorities is given).

Comment: Too much focus on increased energy generation
In a leading Norwegian financial newspaper, a journalist said today that there is too much focus on generating more energy - rather than focusing on reducing the demand. I couldn't agree more. IEA says that 57% (!) of future CO2 cuts must come as a result of reduced demand for energy (better isolated houses etc.). The effect on CO2 cuts are 4 times higher (per USD) for energysaving projects compared to for example windmill-projects.

In the book I mentioned yesterday, "Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto", the American social entrepreneur and technology guru Stewart Brand says that the Greens must admit that nuclear power is the lesser of two evils. He used to be against nuclear power - but has now changed his opinion.

As mentioned above, it is the re-entry of swedish nuclear power that will normalize the Nordic energy markets. Sweden and other countries that previously said that they plan to reduce the dependency on nuclear energy - have turned and many are now planning new generation nuclear powerplants (a big one is currently being built in Finland).

Climate changes: the scientists who know the most about these issues are the most worried
Nuclear power: the scientists who know the most about this topic are the least worried

Is it time to re-introduce the discussions about nuclear energy in Norway? (It is a knowledgeintensive industry and Norway also has huge amounts of Thorium which may very well be the fuel for next generation power plants).

Event 2:
The first meeting of the High-Level Taskforce for climate services selected Jan Egeland of Norway and Mahmoud Abu-Zeid of Egypt as co-chairs.

In September 2009, World Climate Conference-3 decided to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services to “strengthen production, availability, delivery and application of science-based climate prediction and services”. Terms of reference were recently approved, and the composition of a High-Level Taskforce of independent advisers endorsed. The newly set up Taskforce will follow up with recommendations for proposed elements of the GFCS. Its report will be published before the next quadrennial World Meteorological Congress in May 2011.

Co-chair of the taskforce, Jan Egeland is the Executive Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger. Mr Egeland was the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006.
"This is a sort of sequel to the IPCC (IPCC) which has gathered science- women and men to document possible changes in the climate. What we should do is to create the system that brings information out to farmers, health workers, humanitarian organizations and small, vulnerable island community in the Pacific Ocean - about climate change and extreme weather," said Egeland. "This may help to save many human lives and livelihoods in the south. It is a matter of life or death".

Progress:
The ventilation system subcontractor sent a guy to our house this morning - to replace the big and noisy fan with a smaller and less noisy fan (on which the output effect can be adjusted without the howling sound we get now). He also said that he would install some temperature measurement points that can be read from a PC in their office.

He did, however, leave after a while - without changing the fan and without leaving any message for us (so we don't know why he left or when he will return).

The pictures below show:

Have they installed rubber bushing on one side of the fan? (to reduce the noise by stopping the vibrations from the fan to spread to the rest of the ventilation system)
A new set of icicles seem to build outside the two bedrooms. Outside the bedroom to the left (with a new window and hence low thermal transmittance, U-factor) there are even icicles hanging from under the roof ridge and from the window frame. Still haven't figured out why this is happening.

Manhattan - the greenest place on our planet

2010-02-23T21:26:00.001+01:00

Event 1: Accellerating electricity prices

The price of electricity (highest in Europe) has been the top story in our biggest newspaper (Aftenposten) two days in a row. It is caused by a combination of cold weather and lower than normal production in Swedish nuclear plants (40% lower due to maintenance).

With a price per KWh of 2USD - some of the bigger "power-hungry" companies have cut production during peak hours - and only run at night when the prices come down.

There is also some concern about the lower than normal amount of water in the dams up in the mountains (water that will run through the turbines this winter/spring to generate electricity) and also less snow in the mountains (not as much melting water this spring). The prices may stay high even when Sweden is back to normal production in their nuclear plants.

Comment 1: Higher energy prices are welcome

I have in previous blog posts argued that we should increase the prices of electricity - to raise awareness and accellerate the implementation of energy saving projects (in private homes and businesses).

With a higher price on electricity the danger of overheated economy is reduced - and the rate of interest hikes from the Central Bank should therefore slow down.

Event 2: Manhattan - the greenest place on our planetI got a Kindle e-book reader for Christmas and the first book I downloaded and have started reading is "Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto" by the American social entrepreneur and technology guru Stewart Brand.

I really enjoy reading this book and want to recommend it to others who are interested in these global challenges - and would appreciate a new perspective on some of these questions. The book examines four "tools that environmentalists have distrusted and now need to embrace":

Urbanization: the footprint per person is less in cities
Nuclear power: energy without greenhouse gases
Geo-engineering: manipulate the climate
Biotechnology: grow more on less space and with less resources (even within cities)

Progress:

Yesterday they stopped by our house, but they triggered the alarm system when they entered the house. We initialized the alarmsystem before we left for the mountains (school is out and many people head for the mountains in what we call "winter vacation") - and didn't expect them to show up during this vacation week.

We talked on the phone and they said that they would return today. I don't think they did because the ventilation pipes in the attic are still not completely covered in new isolation material.

We are still waiting for a suggestion on how to fix the problem with the outdoor part of our heatpump (to conform with the installation manual it should be moved away from the corner closest to our neighbor - because of the noice problem).

Many good discussions on energy and CO2 cuts

2010-02-18T16:07:00.005+01:00

Event 1: "The great climate change retreat?"The Daily Express has led the way in exposing flaws in the arguments supporting global warming and today they published another article that will be seized upon by sceptics as fresh evidence that the science of global warming is flawed and climate change is not man-made. (link).

The result is many conspiracy theories - like ""the governments are only using global warming as an excuse to.....":

"put their clammy hands on more of our money". Do the climate sceptics think that we should drop all efforts to make our houses more energy efficient and perhaps buy more SUVs?
"force the transfer of wealth from developed- to developing countries": in the west we have occupied all of the available "CO2 space" (they say) as a result of our transformation to developed countries. Now that developing countries want to go through the same process - there is no more CO2 space availble, and they therefore say (and who can blaim them?) that the developed nations should finance their extra cost of transformation to developed countries.

Comments: "Call to action"
In two previous blog posts I argued that even climate sceptics should agree to the fact that we, regardless of global warming, need to do something with our demand for energy (not only fossil fuel):

"Errors and lies thrive in cold weather": comments on the warming or cooling of our planet (link)
"Energy for the Future": minutes from a presentation by Helge Lund CEO of Statoil. (link)

Why will the demand for energy increase by almost 50% by 2030 (fossil fuels included, both for transportation, heating and for generating electricity) ?

The people living on this globe will have almost doubled (to ca 10 billion)
More of the developing countries will "develop" and their people will get:

access to electricity: there are 1.6 billion people without electrical power today
own a car
buy "more stuff"

You may also find inspiration (like I did) in David MacKays book “Sustainable Energy without the hot air”. This book estimates this planet's demand for energy in 2030, and looks at ways to fill the gap between projected energy generation and energy demand. It can downloaded free of charge from
http://www.withouthotair.com/.

Event 2:
The report "Klimakur2020" was handed over to the Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim yesterday. When giving his "thank you" speach afterwards, he said that this 300+ pages report is probably one of the worlds most comprehensive studies of efforts to reduce a country's emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG=CO2, methan etc.).

It came as no surprise that increasing fuel prices and road toll by 100% triggered the most discussions. People do not have to agree with the suggestions in this report - but by triggering many discussions around coffee machines and in the media they have already reached one of the goals for their work (raise awareness and get people to discuss pros and cons of the different measures).

Comments:

Pluses

It's provocing suggestions has already made this report an important happening in our efforts to ajust to the new reality - with threats of global warming and energy shortages looming in the not so distant future.
The way they have put a price on CO2 cuts for each sector should provide the politicians with excellent guidelines as to which efforts give "the most bang for the buck". Politicians also have to fight over side effects such as:

Higher fuel prices: forcing people to move from the countryside to the cities
Higher price of electricity: will result in fewer jobs in industry with high demand for electrical power (forcing Norsk Hydro to move aluminum production out of Norway), but it will also accellerate home improvement programs...

Minuses

I had hoped that the report would put more emphasis on the efforts "you and I" can do today, but I fear that the key message that most people get from this report is that the ball is now in the politicians' court. ("I'll just have to wait for the government to introduce the appropriate new laws and regulations")
One of the cheapest ways to reduce our energy usage is by making our buildings more energy efficient. Sintef Byggforsk has estimated the potential savings in this sector to 12 TWh per year by 2020. Because most of these savings come from clean energy sources (hydro electric power) - the importance of these efforts came in the shadow of doubled fuelprices for cars etc. This is very unfortunate because a 12TWh per year cut is important in the efforts to reduce the total energy demand in Norway, and it can lead to the following CO2 cuts (copied from yesterday's blog post):

Electrifying the transport sector: providing the required energy for CO2 cuts in the transport sector
Replacing heating based on fossil-fuels: driving heatpumps, balanced ventilation and even traditional electrical ovens
Producing aluminum with electricity in Norway rather than with coal in other countries: is good for the planet even though it might not affect the CO2 numbers for Norway
Establishing Norway as the "green battery" of Europe: when renewable energy sources such as wind and sun stops producing electricity (cold, cloudy and no wind), the powergrid in Europe will need electricity from other sources - and Norway can fill this temporary gap between supply and demand. The alternative for Europe is generating nuclear or fossil-fueled electricity (=CO2 emissions).
A welcome side effect is also the ability to store excess energy in our "green battery" when Europe generates more electrical power than it can use (a sunny and windy day in July when the demand for heating is at it's minimum): it can be exported to Norway and used for pumping water from sealevel to the dams high up in the mountains (to be released through our turbines when the supply-demand situation has switched as mentioned above).
Export of clean electricity to countries where they use coal and oil for the production of electricity. Replacing 1 KWh of coal-based electricity can save almost 1 kg of CO2 emissions. If we could save 12 TWh of electricity per year in the building sector like Sintef Byggforsk has claimed, and all of this energy replaced coal-based electricity in EU - then theoretically our efforts here would save almost 12 megatonnes of CO2 per year in EU. We loose some of the energy while sending the electricity over cables to EU etc, but still...

Progress:

The project leader came to our "Jahus" yesterday and we discussed the remaining tasks.

Heat loss in the attic (and thus problems with icicles): "We will improve the isolation of all the pipes in the loft. John M agreed in the fact that there is heat loss from the pipes in the attic. The attic will become cooler and the livingroom warmer! (Icicles will not return)" said the Project Leader.

I agreed with the engineers on Friday that the measurements of heat loss must be performed when the ventilation system is in normal operation - ie minimum 20C supply air in the livingroom (farthest away). My point is that they can not come up with proof that there is no heat loss if they turn off the supply of hot air from the heat pump (the air transported through the attic and flowing in to the living room will be well below 20C).
The Project Leader saw with his own eyes that the surface temperature of the ventilation pipes which have yet to get extra isolation are well above 8C (see attached picture). He agrees that this must be fixed to get rid of the icicles problem (and improve the energy efficiency of the solution by reducing the heat loss between the aggregate and the livingroom).

Problems with the regulation and noise from the fans: "There was talk about looking at the fans possibly be replaced with slightly smaller fans, with lower power (thought this was completed)".

On Friday, the engineers said that howling from the fans could be stopped by the electrician (something that must be adjusted inside the dimmer).
"We should try to reduce the fan noise today with rubber bushings so that there is no direct contact between the fan and the channel network"
Yesterday they said that they had decided to replace the fans (with smaller fans)

Problems with noise from the outdoor part of the heat pump: "We came to much the same conclusion as P E Hansen (the heatpump distributor). It might be that it should be free-standing. In addition, it stands too close to bedroom wall (the wall is far from soundproof). It is possible that it should be moved" - said the Project Leader.

I mentioned to the Project Leader yesterday that the Installation Manual clearly states that care should be taken when installing the heatpump so that it minimizes the noice problem for the neighbors. The current location of the heatpump is THE place on our house which is the closest to our neighbors (less than 3 meters from our border and ca 10 meters from their house.
The noise would have been much less of a problem if it was placed outside the new bathroom. There is no sleepingroom nearby and it is further away (and partly shielded) from our neighbors.
The Project Leader agrees that it shouldn't be a technically challenging project to move the heatpump (shorter distance between the outdoor- and indoor parts of the heatpump). He indicated that a solution could be to split the bill in 3 - one for us, one for them and one for the subcontractor who placed the heatpump where it is today.

One of the two entrypoints for fresh air from the ventilation system to the livingroom (over the stove) is positioned incorrectly in relation to the hole in the roof: "Should be rectified!"
The heat exchanger inside the ventilation aggregate has stopped working a number of times when the outside temperature was below-13C: "....is in dialogue with the supplier. There's no explanation yet as to why this happens. Once you find an answer / solution will let you know".

This has not happened after they used the thicker insulation on the supply- and exhaust air, but I do not know if the problem therefore has been fixed.
Yesterday we agreed that we just leave it as it is, and if it happens again I will contact them.

The cost of CO2 cuts

2010-02-17T14:20:00.003+01:00

Comments:When the Climate and Pollution Control Directorate (Klima- og forurensingsdirektoratet) presented their report "Klimakur 2020", they showed a cost of 1100 NOK (ca 200 USD) per ton of CO2 reduction - when the target for cuts is 12 million tonnes of CO2.

The head of Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Agnar Aas presented the sector "buildings and their energy consumption" (representing 26% of the Norwegian CO2 emissions). He started by reflecting on the fact that most of the energy consumed in this sector is electrical power produced with close to zero CO2 emissions (hydro electric power). Cuts will therefore not directly affect the emissions of CO2. Indirectly, however, the cuts will be important:

Electrifying the transport sector: providing the required energy for CO2 cuts in the transport sector
Replacing heating based on fossil-fuels: driving heatpumps, balanced ventilation and even traditional electrical ovens
Producing aluminum with electricity in Norway rather than with coal in other countries: is good for the planet even though it might not affect the CO2 numbers for Norway
Export of clean electricity to countries where they use coal and oil for the production of electricity. Replacing 1 KWh of coal-based electricity can save 1 kg of CO2 emissions. If we could save 12 TWh of electricity per year in the building sector like Sintef Byggforsk has claimed, and all of this energy replaced coal-based electricity in EU - then theoretically our efforts here would save 12.000.000 tonnes of CO2 per year in EU (12 Mt of CO2). We loose some of the energy while sending the electricity over cables to EU, but still...

He did, however, not say that there are no possibilities for direct CO2 cuts in "his sector". He said that the mentioned efforts to replace fossil-fuel burners for heating could result in a 1.3 Mt of direct CO2 cuts - at moderate cost compared to the other efforts mentioned in the other sectors (most of the efforts were estmated below 1000 kr/ton).

I wanted to compare these numbers to the cost of energy cuts (and hence CO2 cuts) in the real-world example here in our "Jahus". In a previous blog post (link) I estimated the cost mer ton CO2 to be: 5 kg CO2 per USD or 1 NOK/kg CO2. Take this number and convert it to NOK/ton of CO2 and you get 1000 NOK/ton.

It is very important to note that this is before the return on investment such as savings on the electricity bill (50%) and increased value of the house (increasingly true when energy efficiency lables become obligatory on all houses for sale in Norway from July 1st 2010). The estimated return on investment is 10 years when we only count the savings on the electricity bill (not the expected increase in value of the house). If tax cuts, cheap loans and other incentives were introduced - the ROI could come down to 5 years, and more people would feel tempted to do this in their houses.

In the most unlikely scenario that the government decided to pay for all "Jahus" projects, the cost per ton of CO2 reduction (1000) would be below the 1100 NOK/ton they estimated in the report and the total savings could be above 10 Mt of CO2. Not entirely true of course because 1 KWh is not equal to 1 kg of CO2 in the real world:
- 1 KWh transferred from Norway to Poland is not 1 KWh when it arrives (transmission losses)
- Norway does not have the capacity to export this amount of energy to EU (need more powercables)
- There are efforts underway to convert coal and oilbased powerstations to gas (which reduces the CO2 emissions by almost 50%)

The tipping point?

2010-02-17T09:12:00.000+01:00

Events: Call to action
The government has been agressive when communicating the goal for CO2 cuts in Norway, but the part on how to actually meet these goals have been missing.

Today, however, the Climate and Pollution Control Directorate (Klima- og forurensingsdirektoratet) will present measures and means to reduce Norwegian emissions of greenhouse gases 15-17 million tonnes (including forestry) in 2020. The document "Klimakur 2020" will form the basis for the government's assessment of the climate policy that will be presented to the Parliament.

(In Norwegian): Follow the session on net-TV http://presenter.qbrick.com/?pguid=9816df16-977e-41bb-b02c-cdbb3cff2b00

(In Norwegian): "Klimakur som syretest" av Av Rasmus Hansson, Generalsekretær WWF-Norge.

Progress: Checkpoint
It is currently -4C outside and +4C in the attic. The result can be seen outside - the water is dripping from the icicles (and they are therefore growing in size).

The project leader will visit today to discuss the remaining tasks.

The Climate Dance continues

2010-02-15T14:55:00.000+01:00

Events:
The Copenhagen climate dance continues. Before the end of January 55 nations representing 78 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions from energy use, submitted pledges to the UN to cut emissions by 2020.

The commitments were made to meet a deadline set at the climate talks held in Copenhagen in December. But they mostly reiterate national pledges made before the summit, and are steeped in conditions. The US, for instance, reaffirmed its commitment to cut emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels, contingent on legislation being passed at home. China repeated that it would "endeavour to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 per cent" between 2005 and 2020.

"The vast majority of nations has failed to seize this opportunity to make their pledges more ambitious," says Niklas Höhne, a policy analyst at Ecofys in Cologne, Germany. "Our analysis suggests that the world is still on track for a 3.5 °C rise."

Listed below is the table showing developing countries and their pledges (the developed countries are listed above).

Progress:
On Friday I was given a quick introduction to operation and maintenance of the ventilation aggregate and the heatpump. The first part was very useful. They even showed me ways to extend the solution with connection to external control programs/consoles.

The second part on the use- and maintenance of the heatpump, however, was done in 30 seconds and basically consisted of handing over the instruction manual - "it's all in there".

They have promised to reduce the noice from the two extra fans - by using rubber bushings to avoid direct contact between the fans and ventilation network. On Friday they also said that the high frequency sound that we get when we reduce the effects on the fan - can be avoided if the electrician modifies a setting on the dimmer.

I am looking forward to hear the results of these modifications.

I should also add that one of the two passive houses I visited last week ("the house on the hill" in Lier outside Oslo) had the same ventilation aggregate that we have in our house. Given that SINTEF/Byggforsk and other power houses have been involved - I take this as proof that the product was a good choice and the issues we're facing are associated with the implementation project. For more info (in Norwegian: http://www.husbanken.no/Venstremeny/Miljo%20og%20energi/Passivhus_meny/Huset%20pa%20Haugen%20reiser%20seg.aspx)

Improving isolation in the attic (cont.)

2010-02-07T15:48:00.001+01:00

Progress:
As mentioned yesterday. they put some isolation mats on top of the ventilation pipes in the attic on Friday. In the first of the attached pictures you can see the black outside (and the yellow isolation material) of these mats.

Today I measured the temperature on the surface of these mats compared to the mats further in (where there are no ventilation pipes). The area without ventilation pipes was at 0C, while the outside temperature of the mats that were sitting directly on top of the ventilation pipes was +5C.

The pictures attached below show that there are still ventilation pipes in the attic where there have been no attempt at improving the isolation. At these points, like the the "silver-covered" boxes that sit on top of the ventilation valves in the livingroom, the surface temperature is actually at +7C to +10C.

Since they have not told me that they consider themselves finished in the attic, I will sit patiently and wait for a statusmessage from them.

Improving isolation in the attic

2010-02-06T22:21:00.000+01:00

Progress:
On Friday they put some isolation mats on top of some of the ventilation pipes in the attic - to reduce the loss of heat that has caused a serious problem with icicles (snow melting on the roof even at outside tempereatures well below zero).

I was therefore frustrated when I noticed that there was water dripping from the icicles today, even when the outside temperature was -2C.

Are the ventilation pipes still leaving too much heat/energy on it's way through the attic....
Or, do we now leak heat through the openings in the ceiling isolation that had to be made to get fresh air into each room - and pull exhaust air out of each room?

I will send the ventilation team a report and hope that they have more actions up their sleeves.

Improving the isolation

2010-02-04T21:11:00.000+01:00

Jahus Progress:

It's been a couple of days without any updates - because nothing has been done to remove the last items from the "backlog". Today, however, the "ventilation guy" stopped by and worked for an hour or two in the attic. I believe he fixed poor insulation in some of the joints and links to reduce the heat loss.

I asked him if this was all they intended to do to fix the heat-loss problem (that causes the snow on the roof to melt an build dangerously big icicles). He answered that he thinks the manager will stop by tomorrow to add more isolation on top of the ventilation pipes. They hope that this will fix the problem.

I have added some pictures taken a few days ago from outside the house - and some taken from the attic this evening to illustrate what was done today. One picture also shows where we measure the temperature - and an other picture shows that temperature at that moment was above +8C even if we have -3C outside (no wonder the snow on the roof melts).

Moving in the right direction

2010-01-28T11:41:00.002+01:00

Event 1: Low energy usage = higher value of the house
When consumers are looking for a new home, they should be able to see the energy requirement in the house for sale. The Liberal-Conservative government in Denmark will now make it a legal obligation on estate agents to advertise with the energyquotient (energy usage per square meter) of homes for sale.

Comment 1: We welcome energyquotients
All efforts that will incentivate families to isolate and perform other tasks that will reduce the power used for heating/cooling their houses are most welcome. If all the houses sold are marked with a energyquotient - the market will gradually adjust and the sellers with the most energy-efficient houses will get more for their houses.

I have previously argued that politicians should add incentives to kick-start homeowners, and the possible actions that have been discussed earlier are:

Information campaign

you save money, get an improved indoor climate and contribute to "saving the planet" as a bonus

Remove the most critical hurdle (the high up-front investment that scares most homeowners)

Cheap loans for home improvement projects focused on energy efficiency (ref interest free loans over 10 years in France)

Reduce the price of these projects

Capital grants: Enova in Norway can for certain type of projects grant up to 1000 USD (but this program does not include isolation, air-to-air heatpumps, or ventilation systems)
Tax benefits (remove VAT on these products, and give homeowners a taxrelief if their house is energy efficient - ref USA)

Improve the benefits for such projects

Increase the price of electrical power (for Norway this means, get in synch with EU): This will cause many projects aimed at reducing the use of electrical power to get a short return on investment (ROI). What you pay per year to the bank for the related "jahus" loan (in Norway: "Husbanken", I hope...) will only be a fraction higher than what you save on your yearly electricity bill.
Introduce the energyquotient as a mandatory element of all house sale transactions: this will further incentivate homeowners who initiate "jahus" projects - because the value of the house increases. This benefit will more than make up for the gap mentioned above (loan payments vs savings on the yearly electricity bill)
Not all benefits can be measured in dollars: you get improved indoor climate (and hence better health), and good conscience as a result of the fact that the family contributes to the global efforts to save the planet.

In Norway, it is mandatory to include such a energyquotient for all house sale transactions from July 1st 2010. The system includes energy quotients from A and B (will only be given to the so-called low-energy and passive houses), while houses built by today's standards will generally get C and D. The three lowest grades are awarded to older houses that are not repaired ("nei-hus"). To read more on this topic (in Norwegian):
"Nå skal huset ditt energimerkes"
"Energimerking av hus" (Enova)

Jahus Progress (part 2):
The Project Leader now told us to power on the aggregate again - they had just forgot to do that yesterday.

He also told us to remove the ice under the heatpump and then turn it back on. It does not seem to bother him that the company that imports these heatpumps told us to first thaw the heatpump with hot water or a hairdryer on a long extension cord (to remove all the ice from the outlets for the condensated water and the air intake on the side).

After months of trying, I finally received a response directly from the manufacturer of the ventilation aggregate. He told us that our aggregate can be managed by a central management system based in for example input from a CO2 meter - when the air quality is bad, the aggregate increases the amount of fresh air that is delivered to the house and vice versa. I have also found a couple of companies who can deliver the required networking CO2 sensors. This might be the next project once the current project has been completed.

I also asked him about the problem (described earlier) when the aggregate stops operating below -10C (the rotating heat exchanger stops rotating). I hope that this direct contact works better and faster than the current support line via the ventilation team that installed the appliance.

Ventilation system and heatpump switched off

2010-01-28T09:04:00.000+01:00

Jahus progress:
Yesterday (27.jan) the Project Leader and the ventilation subcontractor visited our house to discuss the remaining tasks and come up with a project plan with milestones (and who should do what). This is good news and I hope to see some action in the coming weeks.

As described in a previous blog post, we have seen ice build-up on the intake of the heatpump outside. Yesterday, the company responsible for import of these heatpumps to Norway called me. He explained that during extremely cold weather the condensated water which normally falls freely from the heatpump to the ground (and flows away), will build up inverted icicles. When they reach the outlet for the condensated water (ca 0.5m), the water has nowhere to flow but out through the air-intake. The last picture attached to the previous blog post clearly show these icicles and the condensated water that has frozen in the air-intake. He told me to switch of the heatpump immediately to avoid further ice-building on the heatpump outside.

This message is definitely different from the message I got from the local ventilation subcontractor - he said that the ice problem is normal and nothing to worry about (and he told us to leave the heatpump fully operational). I am now waiting for further instructions and expect them to remove the ice from the heatpump before they try to start it again.

The other strange thing was that they pulled the plug on the ventilation aggregate (no power). They have not told us why, but at the moment we have no ventilation system and no heatpump :-(

The 31 of January Deadline

2010-01-27T11:00:00.000+01:00

Event 1: The BASIC countries met in India
The BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China), functioning as a cohesive group, made important and constructive contributions at the recently concluded 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen. The second meeting of Ministers of the four BASIC group countries took place in New Delhi on the 24th of January.

The Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the other four Ministers re-emphasised their commitment to working together with all other countries to ensure an agreed outcome at COP-16 in Mexico later this year.

The Ministers expressed their intention to communicate information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the UNFCCC by 31 January 2010. In doing so, they put pressure on the developed countries to communicate their mitigation actions by the 31 January deadline as well.
The Ministers called for the early flow of the pledged $10 billion in 2010 with focus on the least developed countries, small island developing states and countries of Africa, as proof of their commitment to urgently address the global challenge of climate change.

Joint statement by the BASIC group countries, New Delhi 25.1. 2010

Comment 1:

It is an interesting observation that the leaders in this process seems to be the BASIC group countries and USA - while the European Union is waiting outside in the hallway with the rest of world (even if the EU countries are the most agressive in fighting dramatic climate changes).
Event 2: Home retrofit program in USA
Secretary Steven Chu of the Department of Energy list three major energy initiatives for 2010:

Home retrofit program: "will save energy costs for millions of americans" (an of course reduce the record high CO2 footprint of the average american family.
New ways of funding new energy projects: will increase the amount of renewable energy in USA
Restart the nuclear energy program

Link to the White House 2010 Cabinet Reports

Comment 2:
For followers of this blog it comes as no surprise that the new home retrofit program in USA is good news for us. Why? We have argued that the most effective CO2/energy reduction efforts ("low hanging fruit") is to fix all the draughty and energy wasting houses. These "JAHUS" projects will result in higher tonnes of CO2 (or TWh) per dollar than all fancy renewable energy projects.

I do not mean that all renewable energy projects should be stopped, we do of course need both projects that reduce energy demand (and hence CO2/GHG emissions) - AND projects that ultimately will provide us with more non-fossil fuel energy. It is, however, a mismatch between dollars allocated to renewables (which, might, some time in the future, result in a commercial production of renewable energy) - and government dollars allocated to kick-start the implementation of energy saving efforts in private homes (which are based on known and available technology and will give immediate effect).

Norway's leading financial newspaper, DN, recently said "the most climate-friendly energy - is the the energy not being used". (Gets thumbs up from me :-)

JAHUS progress:
On Monday it was-9.6C outside and the fan was on all day (ading heated air to the ventilation system) and the ventilation aggregate (w/heat exchanger) was running on "normal" effect. When I came home from work, I checked the attic and found that the temperature was 5.5 C !

The temperature in the attic should of course be much closer to the outside temperature. A temperature difference of above 15C is way too much (energy is wasted and it is causing a major icicles problem). I am looking forward to the day the ventilation team fixes this problem (and the other tasks in the backlog).

More trouble from above

2010-01-24T21:16:00.000+01:00

Progress:
Still no sign of progress - but on Thursday, the project leader stopped by and saw with his own eyes the long icicles hanging from our roof. It may be difficult to notice on the attached picture, but there are no icicles on our neighbor's house. After the visit, he said that they agree that this must be fixed (free of charge) and that the solution is adding more isolation to the pipes on the attic (so that the ventilation system looses less heat to the attic).

He also heard (for the first time) the noice from the fan that blows heated air (from the heatpump) into the ventilation system. Afterwards he said that this must be fixed. He has now told us that he will get the ventilation subcontractor to come to the house again next week to discuss the remaining tasks.

During the weekend I have been outside to check out the status of the heatpump. I was surprised to find more than 75% of the intake covered with ice! (see the attached pictures)

The intake is where the heatpump sucks in air before it "heats up" the coolant and is blown out again even colder than when it was sucked in (normal heatpump process). Is this normal maintenance or an issue that needs to be resolved? I have forwarded this information to the ventilation team and asked for advice (they have not told us to regularly check the heatpump and remove ice from the intake).

Unexpected trouble from above

2010-01-18T21:34:00.001+01:00

Progress:
There is no progress to report today. I have, however, included a picture of record size icicles that are hanging from our roof these days - to raise a question about the effects of the isolation efforts we have done.

The experts say that icicles are a sign of a badly isolated house - and the reason being that too much heat comes through the roof and melts the snow that is lying there on the roof. Because the outdoor is below zero - this water freezes on its way from the roof down the icicles (causing the size to increase every day).

The strange thing is that we have never had as much- and as long icicles hanging from our roof. It is actually dangerous to enter the house these days, with icicles of up to 1 m hanging 5-6 meters above the entrance area. None of our neighbors (who live in almost identical houses) have nearly as much icicles as us. Why?

As part of the JAHUS project, we paid them to add an extra layer of isolation on top of the the isolation that already was on top of the ceiling (the floor in the attic). We also paid them to replace the old loft hatch to reduce the heat loss to the attic. These efforts should have reduced the amount of icicles - not resulted in the opposite effect.

The only reason I can find for this unexpected effect is that the there is heatloss from the ventilation system that has been introduced in the attic. Inside the pipes there is air flowing at approximately 20C and if the isolation is too thin or ineffective, the considerable amount of piping in the attic will cause the temperature in the attic (and therefore on the roof) to be higher than previous winters dispite our efforts to improve isolation. The pictures below show the piping on the attic and the black "floor" is the new layer of isolation (notice that there is no isolation on the roof).

I have contacted the ventilation team to explain this and ask for advice. Did they expect this? Will they fix it - or tell us to "live with it"?

Errors and lies thrive in cold weather

2010-01-15T16:58:00.001+01:00

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 :=)

The insulation around the pipes to / from the heat pump (thin copper tubes with coolant?) Is incomplete in several places: Fixed Jan 15th
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
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
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
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
Insulation on the exhaust pipe (where there was ice and condensation build-up when the air draft was under 0C): Fixed
It is now so cold that there is ice building outside the insulation (see attached picture): Fixed Jan 15th
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
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
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.
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
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

Energy for the Future

2010-01-14T19:49:00.001+01:00

Progress:
Still no progress in our "JAHUS".

Event: Energy for the Future

How do we cover the future energy needs, AND solve the climate crisis? We were not given the final answer in Copenhagen. What does this mean for the energy sector's challenges? What does it mean for our climate?

This morning I had the pleasure of attending a meeting with the above mentioned agenda. The chief executive officer of Statoil, Helge Lund was there to give the opening speach and professor at the University of Oslo, Dag Harald Claes, was invited to comment on the speach by Helge Lund. Secretary General of the Red Cross and former Minister of the Environment, Børge Brende was also invited - but he had to fly to Haiti this morning to lead rescue efforts following the earthquake yesterday. In his place, they managed to get Nikolai Astrup is member of parliament and in the energy and environment committee, deputy chairman of the Oslo Conservatives Party (Høyre).

I found the speaches and discussions very interesting, and have therefore included highlight below (assuming also readers of this blog are interested in the questions of energy supply and climate changes).

Helge Lund first talked about the common misconception that we are running out of oil in a few years - and Dag Harald Claes later on referred to numbers from BP that there are reserves (including estimates for future discovery of new oilfields) to last an estimated 40 years with todays level of production. "The interesting thing" said the professor, "is that BP in 1980 said that it would last only 20 years".

During the questions and answers session at the end, there was a comment about the middle-east countries manipulating the numbers (size of oil reserves) to get the oil-price they want. Both Helge Lund and Dag Harald Claes agreed with the statement that estimates of reserves in Saudi Arabia is largely a political question.

It is, however, a fact that the new oil reserves Statoil finds these days are smaller and the oil more expensive to produce (deeper waters, colder etc.). Combine this with the increase in demand expected over the next 20 years and you get a big challenge. Why will the demand for energy increase by almost 50% by 2030 (fossil fuels included, both for transportation, heating and for generating electricity) ?

By 2030 they estimate that the people living on this globe will have almost doubled (to ca 10 billion)
Today there are 1.6 billion people without electrical power. More of the developing countries will "develop" and their people will get access to electricity, own a car and buy "more stuff" (take China for example, who now have bypassed USA as number 1 on the list of countries with the most new cars sold per year)

Helge Lund mentoned that the oil companies have to bring to the market an additional 45 million barrels of oil per day by 2030, just to meet todays demand for oil (need to replace the reduction in production from the current oil fields). Given that the total oil production today is approximately 80 million barrels per day - we understand that this is a big challenge.

He also claimed that petroleum is the best carrier of energy known today and referred to the energy needed in a car during a normal year: to replace the gasoline one would have to grow biodiesel material (sugercane etc) on farmland equal to 35 acres, or dig out 450 kg of coal. It takes ca 5 seconds on the Grane oilfield to produce the oil needed for one car/year. His claim was that it is not easy to replace the oil that fuels the machinery of our planet - and demand for fossil fuels will be there for a long time even with the climate changes being high on the political agenda.

So we need fossil fuels, but what can Statoil and its competitors do - to also do their fair share of fighting dramatic climate changes due largely to emissions from burning fossil fuels?

Helge Lund said that they have for a long time used the norwegian tax of 350 NOK/ton of CO2 as input to their project calculations. This results in best in class numbers for CO2 emissions per produced barrel of oil (7 tons) - much better than for example oil from Nigeria (40 tons).

They also engage in projects for capture and storage of CO2, and renewable energy (i.e. offshore wind farms). Statoil has market leading skills in operations offshore and can utilize this to win new business in wind farms and wave energy. This will not help Norway cut CO2 emissions, but it can generate new business - AND - it is a fact that global warming and the expected energy crisis is a global challenge. Helping UK cut CO2 emissions (look at the blog post from yesterday to read more) is just as valuable as cutting CO2 here in Norway.

The projects in UK are based on wind-mills that stand on the bottom of the ocean - but Statoil is also involved in the Hywind project which is a full-scale pilot involving a floating (!) wind mill. They say that each such windmill should be able to generate 2.3MW (or 230 houses who uses 10KW each). With Statoil putting 400 MNOK into Hywind and Enova and others add ca 100MNOK - the price per W is very high: 0.0008 W/USD (compared to the estimated cost at Doggerbank of 0,18W/USD). This is, however, a pilot and price per produced W will of course come down before this becomes a commercial product.

Nikolai Astrup also commented on the fact that the yearly tax- and dividends from Statoil make Norway a very rich country and this enables us to launch expensive research and development projects such as the CO2- capture and storage project (25 000 MNOK or ca 4 000 MUSD).

OK, so it will be very difficult for the transportation industry to replace fossil fuels quickly, but can (and should) we look at other sectors with high energy demand - like the way we produce and use electricity?

Dag Harald Claes later on said that coal was used for 75% of all electricity produced in 1970, and that it is now down to being used as fuel fir a third of all electricity produced. It is, however, also a fact that the consumption of electricity have increased. The net of this is that the use of coal for generating electricity has tripled in the same period (!) To illustrate: China opens on average a coal fired power plant each week.

Electricity generation using carbon based fuels is responsible for a large fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions worldwide; and for 41% of U.S. man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Of fossil fuels, coal combustion in thermal power stations result in greater amounts of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity generated (2249 lbs/MWh) while oil produces less (1672 lbs/MWh) and natural gas produces the least (1135 lbs/MWh).

Helge Lund followed up with comments on gas (in the intersection between the issue of energy shortages and climate changes). "The importance of natural gas is grossly underestimated" he said, and "the United States could be energy self-sufficient for a 100 years if they managed to migrate to natural gas". He also mentioned the amount of CO2 cuts we could get from increased export of natural gas from Norway to Europe if it was used for replacing coal as the fuel for powerplants (50% reduction in CO2 emissions). He claimed the savings would be more than the total CO2 emissions from Norway. I know where he's coming from (want to sell gas), but still...

Nikolai Astrup was part of the norwegian delegation to COP15 in Copehagen in December and he admitted that the COP15 unfortunately didn't give the results he had hoped for. He also looked back to Kyoto - were the countries signed the Kyoto Protocol and then went back and did nothing (ref. Canada who has increased their CO2 emissions and have not come close to what they comitted to in Kyoto).

There is political will in EU to cut CO2 emissions and the UK wind farm project mentioned is one example. Nikolai Astrup said that EU is good at both promising CO2 cuts and delivering on their promise - while Norway is good at promising deep cuts, but show little in terms of actions that will generate the required CO2 cuts.

The recent cold weather here in Europe (or a bad/cold summer) makes many people think that the global warming is just fiction - and they are not motivated to go the extra mile "to save the planet". What they forget is that the temperature in the Arctic is 5C warmer (and many other scientific reports that documents the effects of global warming.

Astrup says that he thinks that we need a new framework that will make more homeowners - isolate their houses and replace their oil-fueled heating with biomass and/or heatpumps. He must be referring to the financial help homeowners get in France (interest-free loans of 30.000 Euros for 10 years) and tax relief in USA. We need these types of start help to get the "ball rolling"....

Nikolai Astrup also commented on many interesting facts such as:

EU has a goal of 20% renewable energy, but Norway is already at 60% due to our hydroelectric powerplants (water coming down from the mountains)
If we don't increase our ability to transfer clean energy to Europe, the effect of our energy saving efforts will be energy surplus and lower prices
On the production of aluminum (Norsk Hydro) he said that the CO2 emissions per ton of aluminum produced with coal-based electricity is 8 tonnes and with hydro electrical power it is 2 tonnes. He wants rules and regulations that cuts the CO2 emissions - not move it (to a country where they have different CO2 pricing).
Renewable investment does not provide gains in Norway. We also need actions that cuts CO2 in Norway like the house improvement projects - see "Klimakur" (in norwegian).

Dag Harald Claes later on said:

"Helge Lund can be disappointed with the results from COP15 (in terms of uncertainty associated with CO2 prices etc) - but he should be used to worse risks". International Energy Agency (IEA) has been very precise in predicting the demand of oil, but the price still fluctuates wildly (150 USD to 40 USD per barrel in just one year). He therfore claims that the normal market forces do not work in the oil sector (demand/supply)
"Many of the worlds oil reserves are located in geographies where corruption is commonplace. Statoil faces the fact that their competitors go in - forcing Statoil to follow?". Helge Lund answered that new and very strict new anti-corruption laws in USA has changed the view on corruption in all the big oil companies. He therefore claims that even their competitors stay clear of anything that smells like corruption.
Why do people think that Statoil and Norway as major oil-producing nation/country should be in the frontline of finding a replacement for fossil fuels? "It does not make sense".

Additional comments on JAHUS savings

2010-01-13T15:57:00.000+01:00

Comments:
In a recent blog post I estimated the savings of our JAHUS project to approximately 5.8KW (effect of improved isolation, heatpump and the heatexchanger/ventilation system). Not all days of January will be below -10C, but the savings do not change dramatically from -15C to -5C:

improved effect of the heatpump (COP goes from 2 to 3+)
slightly lower savings from the isolation and ventilation system
5KW as an average for January is probably a good estimate.

The estimated total energy savings for a full year is 15.000 KWh. With the average total price of electricity (incl. a fixed cost per month for "rent of powerlines") at 0.85 NOK/KWh - the savings will be 12 750 NOK/year (or 2236 USD).

Note: We do, however, hope that the savings will be closer to 20.000 KWh, and this can only be verified when we get the invoices for the full year (and can compare with the relevant numbers from 2009).

Progress:
No progress to report today.

Renewable energy in the wind

2010-01-12T23:02:00.002+01:00

Events:

On Friday (Jan 8th) UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a £100bn programme to build more offshore wind farms. The map shows that the areas are spread around the coastline from Firth of Forth on the east coast of Scotland to the Irish Sea.

In total, the successful bidders (including Statkraft and Statoil from Norway) estimate the farms will generate 32 gigawatts of electricity. To put this in perspective, the total amount of energy currently being generated from all offshore wind farms in the world was 1.4 GW by the end of 2008.

32GW at a cost of £100bn (approx 1 000 000 MNOK) should give a price per GW of ca £3bn or 31 MNOK per MW. I have previously read articles that suggest that the price of 1 MW from a windfarm costs 30 MNOK - which is amazingly close to the numbers presented from UK.

Read more about this interesting project on BBCs website.

Comments:
In an earlier blog post I estimated the total energy savings in our house to 30.000 KWh/year. This equals 3 KW as a yearly average - and the price for these energy savings was approximately 60.000 USD. Divide one by the other and you get 0,05W/USD as the price for our JAHUS project.

Just for fun I wanted to compare that to the price of renewable projects as the one mentioned above. There they expect to produce 32GW of clean and renewable energy for the price of £100bn (or approximately 175 150 MUSD). The calcualted price for this energy is: 0,18 W/USD (3 times more efficient than our JAHUS project).

We do not produce electricity, but reduce the demand by 30.000 KWh per year. The savings are, however, not equally distributed - we have more savings during winter (when there is much demand and high prices), and lower/no savings during warm summer months. The wind farms produces electricity when there is wind (and in these areas that means pretty much year around). It is therefore not correct to say that a JAHUS project is 3 times more expensive per KW saved/produced.

Norway has high mountains and is blessed with hydro-electric power (water from the mountains runs through turbines that generate clean and renewable energy). As mentioned in an earlier blog post, Norway is therefore well positioned for a role as the "battery of Europe" - supply of clean energy when there isn't enough wind to generate 32GW from these wind farms.

Progress:
The aggregate stopped again yesterday - so I had to "pull the plug" and let it rest for a while. Later in the evening it started again and has been running since then. I told the project leader yesterday, but it obviously didn't help - because there wasn't any progress today.

Using 5,8KW less for heating during a cold January day

2010-01-10T15:00:00.009+01:00

Progress:
Unfortunately, the progress from Thursday did not continue on Friday (nobody showed up to finish the work).

The last few days have been very cold, and as a result the aggregate stopped again today. Included below are the temperature statistics from these last cold days (with temperatures below -20C) and when the aggregate ran as it is supposed to:

The last columns represent the results:

Input air: this is the temperature of the fresh air that the ventilation systems sends out in the living room (after the heat exchanger and after the heated air from the heatpump has been added)
Exhaust air: this is the temperature of the "used" air that leaves the house. When we lived in a "nei hus" ("no house") the temperature of the air leaving the house was 20C, but with the heat exchanger - the results show that we have managed to lower the temperature by as much as 26.9C (to -6.9C)
Delta: shows a calculated difference between the outside temperature and the exhaust air (the lower values are the best - because we manage to transfer most of the energy from the exhaust air to the incomming fresh air)

I also wanted to estimate the savings of the new ventilation system compared with traditional air hatches. The assumptions and calculations are included below:

Previously, the recirculation of air was done through traditional air hatches
The temperature of the "used air" that left the house through these air hatches was approximately 21C
We estimate that we have approximately 650 cubic meters of air in the house
The ventilation system changes 350 cubic meters of air per hour at normal effect, and at maximum effect it can change 500 cubic meters of air
The volumetric heat capacity (VHC) for air: 0.001297 J/(cm3*K) and this translates to 126W/K for 350 cubic meters per hour
On the coldest day the temperature difference between "normal" exit temperature (+21C) and the JAHUS exit temperature (-13C) was 34K
The calculated energy savings of the ventilation system was 4.3KW (at 350 cubic meters per hour)
Add to the 4.3KW the savings of the heatpump: at these low temperatures the heatpump effect is lower and the 1.5KW "put into" the heatpump we get approximately 3KW of heated air - a saving of "only" 1.5KW => a total saving of 5.8KW for heatpump and ventilation
On top of the 5.8KW savings we can add the reduction in heating requirement caused by improved isolation (changed windows and doors, and added an extra layer if isolation in the cold attic): it is hard to measure the effect of the isolation efforts, but a low estimate is 1KW

The savings of 5.8KW during the cold days of January gives the following economic savings:

Average price of electricity over a full year is 0.155 USD/KWh (0.85NOK/KWh - total delivered to a home in our area), but for January isolated the price is higher: 0.25 USD/KWh (1.4 NOK/KWh)
Hours in January = 744
Estimated savings in January: 744hours* 5.8KW*0.2USD/KWh= 863 USD (4919 NOK)

Where is the greenhouse effect?

2010-01-08T12:51:00.011+01:00

Events:

In Norway and most of Europe we have record low temperatures and the press picks up on the theme of many lunch discussions - what happened to the global warming? Is it just fiction that big global enterprises push on us to make huge profits from their products and services?

My personal comments are as follows:

Energy crisis: We are running out of fossil fuels and do not have enough alternative energy sources to meet the needs of current developed countries and the increased demand of China, India and other developing countries. I have found David MacKay's book "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air" very interesting because it quantifies the demand and how much alternative energy we can get from windmills etc. http://www.withouthotair.com/

As a result of the above mentioned, unsustainable, route we are on - we do have to change. Even if you don't believe in global warming or the claim that it is largely "man made" (greenhouse gas emissions) - we will have to change the way we use energy. 1) Reduce the demand for energy (JAHUS projects, cars and airplanes that use less fuel etc.) and increase the use of sustainable energy sources such as windmills, waves, solar and hydroelectric power.
We can't be 100% sure, but I believe that we can't rule out the possibility of a connection between CO2 and global warming (even with the current cold weather in the northern hemisphere). We therefore cannot take a chance of staying on the current course and do nothing - because it will be to late when our children and grandchildren wake up to irreversible and dramatic climate changes.

Progress: Yesterday, they isolated the piping that takes the cold exhaust air from the aggregate to the exit point (upper right corner of the picture). This should result in slightly higher room temperature in this room (only +9C yesterday) and I hoped that it would help us get rid of the ice/condensation problem on the pipes.

The pictures below show that with the current outside temperature of -21C (and the exhaust temperature is at -11C), there is ice building on the aggregate itself (where there is tiny small leakages from the interior) and actually on the outside of the isolation.

They also replaced the regulator that is connected to the fan. The disappointment, however, was that it makes just as much noise when it is set on the lowest effect possible. We therefore have to turn it off at night until they have fixed the noise problem (fan and the heatpump outside).

Still cold - but our JAHUS is warm inside

2010-01-05T13:59:00.006+01:00

Progress:
The temperature is still below -10C and our ventilation aggregate stops working once every 24 hours (the rotating heat exchanger stops rotating and the motor makes a wird noice). The ventilation team has contacted the vendor (in Sweden) and say they will try to send someone over to finish the other work tomorrow (Wednesday, January 6th).

The second picture shows the outside part of the heatpump and the ice that has started to build underneath the heatpump. At the end of this blog post I have also included some pictures of the ice and condensated water that causes trouble inside the house (because air below 0C flows through pipes without isolation). When the team looked at it, they promised to fix it (but it hasn't happened yet).

I have included some of the temperature measurements below to illustrate how the different settings affect the supply of fresh air to the living room and the temperature of the exhaust air. For those of you who are above average interested, I have also included some comments about the different measurements etc.

The first columns in the report represent the input variables:

Outside temperature: measured on the property, but away from the house (and hence as exact as possible with normal equipment)

Heatpump: temperaturesetting on the heatpump (it tries to produce air at this temperature)

Fan: a "1" means that the fan is running - pulling hot air from the area above the heatpump and inserting it into the airflow from the ventilation aggregate (after the heat exchanger)

Ventilation aggregate: a "1" means minimum effect and a "2" means normal effect. "3" is maximum effect, but was not used during these tests

The next columns represent the results:

Input air: this is the temperature of the fresh air that the ventilation systems sends out in the living room (after the heat exchanger and after the heated air from the heatpump has been added)

Exhaust air: this is the temperature of the "used" air that leaves the house. When we lived in a "nei hus" ("no house") the temperature of the air leaving the house was 20C, but with the heat exchanger - the results show that we have managed to lower the temperature by as much as 26.9C (to -6.9C)

Delta: shows a calculated difference between the outside temperature and the exhaust air (the lower values are the best - because we manage to transfer most of the energy from the exhaust air to the incomming fresh air)

Findings:

The heat exchanger works as expected (except for the stops mentioned earlier): The Delta is between 5 and 14C. When there is -18C outside, we send exhaust air of only -6.9C out of the house (Delta = 11.1C)

When the fan is off - the temperature the system supplies to the livingroom is below 10C and we therefore decided not to include those measurements

When it is below -10C it seems as though there is now effect of increasing the teperature setting of the heatpump. It probably runs at maximum effect anyways and even a setting of 40C would not make a difference.

When the outside temperature falls - the effect of the heat exchanger falls (the Delta temperature increases)
When the aggregate runs on normal effect (2) the volume of air flowing through the system is higher and the temperature of the air to the livingroom is therefore lower. When the temperature of the exhaust air is lower (due to the effect mentioned above), the exchanger is able to cool it down more than the tests with the aggregate running at low effect (1).

Cold last days of 2009

2009-12-29T22:02:00.004+01:00

Progress (or lack there of):
The weather in our region is very cold these days, and it is expected to last for at least 14 days.

As a result, our ventilation aggregate stopped working again the other day (-13C). It seems as though temperatures below -10C causes build up of ice inside the rotating heat-exchanger and the aggregate stops working (the alarm flashing on the display says "Rotor"). The ventilation subcontractor has been notified, but we are still waiting for them to fix this and other remaining issues.

Dispite the fact that the project has not been completed and formally "handed over" to us, they sent us the remaining invoices on December 23rd. I immediately contacted the project leader and told him that we accept to pay for the other work - but the last invoice for the ventilation system (ca 10.000 USD) will not be paid until the solution has been delivered according to the contract.

Note: The updates on this blog have not come as frequently as they used to. First we had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the last couple of days we have been skiing in the norwegian mountains (at Beitostoelen).

Comments:
Until our own JAHUS project has finished - I will continue to write updates when there is progress to report. There will also be more on the economics of this project. Initial calculations indicate that our project will have a paybacktime of approximately 12 years. With more fine-tuning others who want a JAHUS project should be able to get almost the same CO2/energy savings with a paybacktime of 10 years. More on these calculations and suggestions on how to achieve the same benefits and a paybacktime of only 10 years in future blog-posts.

"The job isn't done...."
COP15 in Copenhagen didn't give us what we had hoped for. In the next 12 months we will continue to see development and discussons on the unresolved issues (China letting UN monitor what they do, USA to pass a new climate law, who pays for what etc.). As we enter into a new year, I will also continue to update this blog with information on topics related to global warming and energy-saving.

After Copenhagen - now what?

2009-12-21T15:06:00.008+01:00

Comments: not done yet
The climate meeting in Copenhagen ended, as feared, without the big breakthrough. The result was a sort of declaration to continue work, and at least that is something.

The U.S. and other rich countries were blamed for the failure in Copenhagen. I think the toughest COP15 critics oversimplyfy what in reality is very difficult political questions.

1) It was an error to put a lid on the scientific debate about climate change: instead, one should be much more open about the uncertainty, but also remind people that the uncertainty could mean that things are worse than the models indicate. We should view the measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as an insurance. (Insurance is something we pay for even if we do not know for sure that something goes wrong.)

2) It will be expensive: One can compare the cost to the entire world's GDP, and say that it is not going to cost us much. The burden, however, will not be evenly distributed and it will definitely change the lives of many people. Are these efforts going to result in major transfer of resources from developed- to developing countries?

3) The distinction between the "rich nations" and the rest is also too easy. It was also one of the major problems with the Kyoto Protocol (in addition to the United States never ratified it): no restrictions were imposed on most countries in the world, also relatively rich countries, such as South Korea. The same was true for rapidly growing economies such as China, which in the meantime has become the world's largest emission source.

(Thanks to Are Slettan for input)

Progress:
As mentioned in my previous blog post, the ventilation aggregate stopped working around noon on Saturday. Later on that same day, the outside temperature increased to -7C (from -12C) and I decided to start the aggregate again. This time it worked - and I told the ventilation team that it seems like the aggregate has problems below -10C. This is of course not an acceptable limitation in a country like ours where we can expect -10C in December, January, February and occationally even in March. It is now 4 pm on Monday and they have not responded or showed up to finish the work...

In my email I also asked for an update on when the electrician is planning to connect the new fans - to get the flow of heated air into the ventilation system. He didn't come on Friday, but the projectleader responded per email on Sunday saying "The electrician is coming tomorrow!".

Around noon today I received a phonecall directly from the electrician - and he said he could not make it today. I told him what the project leader had promised me, but he insisted that he could not come today.

I sent a frustrated mail back to the project leader: "Did just hear that Morten is not coming today (so now we see how much your promises, with exclamation points, are worth) ..."

He responded very quickly: "I spoke with Runar now, he promised to call Morten and tell him to stop by today! He will call you back. " (Runar is the manager). Does anyone believe that the electrician called me back or showed up?

Final day of negotiations in Copenhagen

2009-12-18T16:15:00.011+01:00

Event: A Copenhagen Accord it is
An agreement drawn up Friday night by leaders from the US, China, India and South Africa has been recognized Saturday morning by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The three-page document, which would not be binding in international law, dropped a final paragraph in a previous draft that had said that negotiations on a full, legally binding treaty would have to be completed by the end of 2010.

The text stuck to previous goals, including one of limiting world temperature rises to a maximum rise of 2 Celsius above pre-industrial times to avert impacts such as floods, heat waves, species extinctions and rising ocean levels.

The draft still left blank key elements such as the depth of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions expected of developed nations by 2020.
http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=3070

Comments: What was agreed at Copenhagen – and what was left out
National leaders and sleep-deprived negotiators thrashed out a text late last night that could determine the balance of power in the world and possibly the future of our species. A useful breakdown of the key points is provided at the following web-site:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/how-copenhagen-text-was-changed

Comments: Copenhagen climate conference: global warming talks meltdown
The Bella Centre in Copenhagen looks more like the aftermath of a particularly messy house party rather than the place where 120 of the most powerful men and women have just met to discuss saving the planet.

Obama said “Yes we can!”

Umm, actually no we can’t.

It soon became clear that China was not signing up to any treaty that allowed other countries to snoop around in their dirty emissions laundry. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reportedly left for his hotel in a huff and suddenly the whole conference was plunged into chaos.

What really happened - and why?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6843154/Copenhagen-climate-conference-global-warming-talks-meltdown.html

Progress:
The carpenter came to our house yesterday and he removed the "doghouse" (that covers the heatpump), but to our surprise it didn't make the noice go away. The problem must be the heatpump itself or the way it is connected to the house. The team who installed it has promised to fix it (but did not show up yesterday).

The electrician didn't come on Friday and we therefore still can't try the JAHUS solution (with heated air added after the aggregate). At the moment it is -12C outside, and the fresh air that is delivered to the livingroom is only 7C (!).

The pictures show that the pipe that is used for sending the exhaust air out of the house, is full of condensated- and partly frozen water (the exhaust air is -3C).

I hope they will wrap this pipe in isolation material too, to fix the problem.

To add to our frustration, the aggregate stoppped working this morning (Saturday). It started making noices and I had to pull the plug. When I restarted the aggregate, the heat-exchanger didn't rotate and that was the cause of the noices from the aggregate. I therefore pulled the plug again and emailed the project leader and the subcontractor - telling them that we are currently without a working ventilation system. With Christmas only days away, I really hope that they take this seriously on Monday.

Progress - in Copenhagen and in our JAHUS

2009-12-17T09:42:00.010+01:00

Event 1: Video clip
As world leaders arrived in Copenhagen yesterday, a nice videoclip was released to further highlight the need for serious committments from both developed- and developing countries. Watch the video clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Nc18O4E38&feature=player_embedded

Event 2: Back to work
United Nations talks on fighting climate change finally turned to the details of how to combat global warming on Thursday after 36 hours of wrangling over procedural issues. Officials expressed relief that the procedural row had ended at last, but warned that the dispute had wasted precious time just a day away from the end of the conference.

"I would say: hold tight and mind the doors, the cable-car is moving again," the UN's chief climate negotiator, Yvo de Boer, told journalists in Copenhagen.

Progress:
Today they finally installed the connection between the pipe with heated air from the heatpump (the pipe in the lower right side of the picture) and the pipe that blows fresh air from the aggregate to the distribution network in the house (the pipe in the upper left corner of the picture). The new setup is exactly what I asked for in an earlier blog post (and in discussions with the subcontractor). The design is also illustrated in my technical sketch which is attached below.

As shown in the picture above, the new setup includes a fan (the lump on the connection between the two pipes) - and because the electrician hasn't connected the fan to the electrical grid in the house, the functionality can not yet be verified. I hope that we can test it for the first time tomorrow and publish some results during the weekend.

Tomorrow the carpenter has promised to move/adjust the "doghouse" that was built around the heatpump (outside). We believe the current construction is causing more noice than normal from the heatpump - because the "doghouse" is attached to the outside wall and probably transmits vibrations to the house.

It is -10C in Kolbotn now and the exhaust air is therefore below zero (C). As I expected, there is condensated water building on the un-isolated pipe as shown in the next picture. I have forwarded this picture to the ventilation experts and told them that I believe that this particular pipe should be isolated. The last picture was included to illustrate how cold one of the valves is under such conditions.

Interest rates and global warming?

2009-12-16T17:39:00.005+01:00

Comments:
Strong domestic economy caused the norwegian central bank to increase interest rates by 0,25% today, dispite the fact that a stronger local currency will make it even harder for the export industry to compete in the global market.

So, why do I talk about a relationship between interest rate policies and global warming? When you need to tighten the domestic economy to prevent inflation - isn't adding more tax to the cost of electricity a good alternative (or supplement) to the frequent increases in interest rates ? Increasing taxes on electricity will not only curb inflation, but it will speed up the adoption of energy saving projects - and it will also have an element of distributive politics (people who own the biggest houses pay the most). Such a measure will not strengthen the exchange rate in the same way, and hence will not aggravate the situation for the export industry.

Should energy saving measures provide some environmental benefit, Norway must also increase the export capacity of the power grid (multiple cables to Europe). If no excess power can be sold to Europe, supply of electricity will exceed demand and prices will plunge.

Many people have recently argued that we must avoid adding to the capacity of the transmission of electricity between Norway and the rest of Europe. They say that synchronizing the prices of electricity with the rest of Europe is a bad thing - and is only being pushed by profit-hungry power companies. Electricity prices that Norwegian industry must pay is currently below the level their competitors out there pay. They should be able to make a profit with European electricity prices (or move production to where it can be produced at competitive prices). Private households will have less money to spend (and drive inflation) either way - tax on electricity or higher interest rates. As a reminder, look to the United States and what artificially low gasoline prices did to the use of cars. At the other end of the spectrum, look to Europe to see what high energy prices have done to the daily routines like switching off the lights when you leave a room (if you don't move quickly up the stairs, the lights are switched off automatically before you get to the next level).

In addition, there are other more technical arguments why we need to add more cables between us and Europe. This fall, we had two examples of large quantities of clean energy that was lost because we lacked the capacity for the exchange of energy between Denmark and Norway. In Denmark there was a storm and since this happened over a weekend, it was not enough demand for power in the grid - and they simply had to disconnect the wind turbines from the power grid (a grid that does not have the ability to store energy). That same week, there was a story on the TV2 News that the local power company (BKK) had to let the water in reservoirs flow outside the turbines - because they produced too much power and magazines could not be filled more.

When there is no wind in Europe, they should be able to draw on hydropower from Norway (which we can save and "let go" when it suits us). Similarly, they should be able to export energy to us when the wind generates "too much" power - because we can use this energy to pump water up to the reservoirs (where the energy can be saved and released again when there is no wind in Denmark or overcast in Spain - so that the solar powerplants do not produce electricity).
Events:
More than a 100 world leaders have now arrived in Copenhagen and take over for the environment ministers.

The demonstrations outside continue and so does the talk of police brutality.

Inside the COP15 building, there seems to be a bigger gap between the developed- and the developing countries than when they started the negotiations a week ago. There are still many challenges that the delegations must face before they can leave on Friday - with the results we all hope for.

Progress:
Only 2 days until they promised to have all the extra ventilation work done (new fan, adding the heated air after the aggregate, reducing noice) - but nothing was done today either.

There is light at the end of the tunnel - is it a train?

2009-12-15T08:52:00.012+01:00

Event 1: Walkout heightens failure fears for climate marathon
Negotiators worked through the night Tuesday to prevent a UN climate summit from ending in catastrophic failure after developing nations staged a five-hour walkout and China accused the West of trickery.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20091214/twl-walkout-heightens-failure-fears-for-6d10327.html

Event 2: More specifically China versus USA
China, which last month for the first time publicly announced a target for reducing the rate of growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, is refusing to accept any kind of international monitoring of its emissions levels, according to negotiators and observers. The United States is insisting that without stringent verification of China’s actions, it cannot support any deal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/science/earth/15climate.html?_r=1&ref=energy-environment

Event 3: Green protest on Sydney Opera House
Greenpeace activists climb the Sydney Opera House to get their message across to the world leaders - only a short week away from the closing of the conference.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091215/video/vwl-green-protest-on-sydney-opera-house-d7f4ae7.html

Progress:
The ventilation subcontractor said: "I am waiting for the delivery of sound absorbers. These will help significantly on the noise. I'll check with the refrigeration engineer - there may be something to do with the noise from the heat pump. We should be fully assembled during this week".

The electrician is in the house today and will install the regulator for the fan that drives the "extra loop" (supply of cooler air to the bedrooms). Hopefully he will also make it easy for the ventilation team to install the extra fan downstairs. That fan will pull heated/cooled air from the area near our heatpump and blow it into the stream of fresh air (after the aggregate). This air-mixture is then distributed around the house from the attic.

Developing = poor?

2009-12-14T08:39:00.015+01:00

Comments: Developing = Poor?
At the COP15 the press is constantly referring to a fight between the developed countries and the developing countries. Developed countries have caused the problem by occupying most of the available "CO2 space" and should therefore pay for most of the efforts to reduce CO2 emissions in developed and developing countries.

People seems to think of developing countries as poor countries - but is this always true? Today there seems to be only one nation with huge amounts of cash, China (categorized as a developing country). A leading developed country USA borrows money from China to finance its budget deficit. When USA is going to pay big bucks to developing countries for CO2 reduction programs - it will be with borrowed money from China.

If you play with this thought, it might get scary... If you get into trouble financially (or otherwise) and live in Sicily or in New York -the Mafia is more than happy to help you. There is a catch, however, they will some day "ask" for a favour in return. The more you owe them, the harder it will be for you to pay them back.

The blue-suits know more about this dilemma, but through history we have seen many South American countries with huge debts - and at that time they borrowed from USA. Hyperinflation and frequent devaluations reduced the debt - how will USA be able to pay China back? My guess is that we'll either see inflation or big budget cuts (or both).

Event 1: More than 200 activists detained Sunday.
Danish police stopped an unauthorized demonstration on a second day of street protests over climate change as environment ministers met for informal talks to advance negotiations on a new pact.

These arrests follow the 968 people detained during and after a mass rally Saturday in Copenhagen. (Police said only 13 of them remained in custody Sunday. Of those, three were set to be arraigned in court on preliminary charges of fighting with police).

Event 2: Gahr and Gore
Former American Vice President Al Gore and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will present their global report on melting ice during a side event of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) today - "Melting of the polar regions occurs much faster than experts previously thought. Sea may rise two feet over this century."

Progress:

Nobody showed up to finish the work today either.

The price tag on CO2 cuts

2009-12-12T15:15:00.008+01:00

Event 1:
In connection with the Nobel Peace Prize concert, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Unni Steinsmo (CEO SINTEF) and Torbjørn Digernes (Rector of NTNU). They represent some of the best climate-related research in Norway and title on the the lecture was "How to meet Norways challenges and opportunities in the climate crisis?".

They presented numbers which showed that Norway has to reduce our CO2 emissions by 16 million tonnes per year by 2020 - and the price tag for this is estimated at 7 billion NOK per year. This puts the price tag on CO2 cuts to NOK 4.500 per tonne of CO2.
(Note: 1 USD = 5.5 NOK)

They also presented areas we should focus on to achieve this goal - energy efficiency, renewable energy and CO2 capture (and storage). The greatest potential lies on energy efficiency they say, and have estimated that the potential is 12TWh per year. With sufficient capacity for the transfer of power to Europe, one can argue that 1TWh saved in Norway, means 1 TWh less from coal fired power plants in Europe. In this scenario 12 TWh will equal 12 tons of CO2 per year. Even though most of our electricity is produced without CO2 emissions (hydroelectric power) - they estimate that 12 TWh equals 6 tons of CO2.

If the potential is at 6 million tons of CO2 the politicians should, in the next 10 years, channel approximately 27 billion NOK to increase the energy efficiency in buildings (private, public and commercial buildings). A large part of the potential lies in the approximately 1.5 million private homes in Norway, which are not yet compliant with the low-energy standard (100 KWh/m2 per year). What do the politicians do to realize this potential?

We have converted our house to a "jahus" with the replacement of windows, extra insulation, ventilation with heat recovery and heat pump. Projected savings are approximately NOK 15.000 a year with the current level of electricity prices. With a total cost of about NOK 280,000, it is as much as 19-year repayment period.

If, however, the government helped make the package 135,000 NOK cheaper the repayment period would be halved (10 years). The estimated cuts in our house are 30 tons of CO2 per year and multiplied by the price tag at 4.500 NOK per tonne you get 135,000 NOK.

Unni Steinsmo and Torbjørn Digernes addressed the politicians with a "call to action" (ref Obama) and called for a strategy for industrialization of these technologies - both the results of research in renewable energy and technology for energy efficiency.

My specific request is a combination of interest-free loans over 10 years - as they have in France (for example from the Norwegian State Housing Bank), and tax exemption on products included in "jahus" projects. Both of these suggestions can be done within the 4.500 NOK per tonne of CO2 and I believe many families would initiate such projects if the hurdle of upfront payment was removed and the repayment period was reduced to 10 years.

A whole industry would be busy improving our houses over the next 10 years - giving us both lower unemployment and lower CO2 emissions. I agree with Unni Steinsmo and Torbjørn Digernes - what are the politicians waiting for?

Event 2:

Participants to the Global Day of Action try to prevent an inflatable globe from falling to the ground to dramatize their call to act now coinciding with the ongoing climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 in suburban Quezon City north of Manila, Phililppines. The activity coincided with activities from other countries calling on the world leaders for a fair, ambitious and binding deal to combat climate change. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Progress:
1 week from Christmas and we haven't seen the ventilation team since the hand-over metting. They promised to fix both functionality and noice issues as soon as possible....

Obama is in town

2009-12-10T09:52:00.015+01:00

Event 1:
Barack Obama, and the "circus" that always follows the american President, arrived in Oslo this morning. After a brief meeting at the Nobel Institute, the Obama group moved on to talks with the norwegian government (he also brought his Energy Secretary to the talks).

This week has been very busy for Obama with the US health reform, unemployment, and the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.

He has also started preparations for the UN conference on climate change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen. Part of those preparations was to meet with Al Gore - a previous Nobel Peace Prize winner for his (and UNFCCs) efforts to put global warming on the agenda.

The day’s events culminate in the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, where Obama will accept the 2009 award and deliver a speech before an audience of about 1,000 people at Oslo City Hall. He will address members of the Nobel committee, who stunned the world and Obama himself on Oct. 9 by presenting him with the award only nine months into his presidency.

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee wrote in explaining its decision.

The president’s speech on Thursday, which aides said he was still writing and editing during the seven-hour flight from Washington, will focus directly on the paradox of the moment for Obama as he accepts a prize for peace nine days after announcing that he would escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 new American troops.

Other Events:
In his Nobel Peace Prize speach Obama did, as predicted, talk about the paradox of the moment and the concept of "just war". He did not say much about the climate challenge (it was after all a speach in the setting of the Nobel Peace prize). He did, however, say that solving this issue is a prerequisite not only to good and sustainable living conditions, but actually to peace as well. "...It is also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades." Failure to prevent dramatic climate changes will fuel new wars over water, farming land etc. - and as such a strong signal to the UN conference in Copenhagen.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/10/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5961370.shtml

China on Wednesday criticised the lack of action by developed nations in fulfilling their commitments on carbon emissions reduction and financial support to developing nations in coping with climate change. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article62882.ece?homepage=true

Action Jackson: U.S. EPA Boss Gets Warm Welcome in Copenhagen. Jackson said she has emphasized in her meetings that while the Obama administration will push Congress to enact legislation next year curbing greenhouse gas emissions, EPA will move ahead with plans to both finalize greenhouse gas rules for vehicles in March, and then curb the carbon output from large emitters like coal-fired power plants.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34311724/ns/us_news-environment/

Green fund to be proposed by Norway, UK, Australia and Mexico at U.N. climate talks.

http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100214303-1-green-fund-proposed-u.n.-climate.html

Progress:
During the renovation project, including the JAHUS part discussed here on this blog, we had to move a lot of "stuff" around in the house - from the attic to the basement living room (now a storage room) etc. Even though there is still work to be done before the ventilation project is finished, we're now busy getting all our "stuff" back were it belongs (and in this process sending quite a lot to recycling).

On Tuesday the ventilation subcontractor promised to fix the noice problem (most urgently needed outside - where the exhaust air leaves the house). With all the delays earlier on in the project, it is no surprise that this last relay leg has not yet begun. It is probably because the guy doing the work in our house was injured last week. He cut him self with a knife during work at a different location (but this injury was known when they promised to finish the delivery within a week).

Until the JAHUS solution has been delivered 100%, I'll keep the "Progress" heading - but then I have to think of new heading that better describes this section of the blog (detailing the economics of this JAHUS project,

Blog changes:
There are a lot of useful websites out there with a focus on global warming and related topics, but I have found that the www.350.org site complements in a nice way the other listed favorite websites (thanks to the reader who suggested this). I have therefore added the link in my "favorite links" shown on the blog's righthand side.

The videoclip on youtube.com illustrates nicely why the organization is called 350.org: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kg1oOq9tY

The JAHUS hand-over meeting

2009-12-08T12:10:00.010+01:00

Event 1:
On the second day of the COP15 in Copenhagen, I found 2 news articles that illustrate the challenges we're facing:

Virgin Galactic (http://www.virgingalactic.com/) showed their new spaceship to the press. The goal is to take rich people for a 2.5hour trip to space and back (6 passengers on each trip will experience 5 minutes of weightlessness and a magnificent view for 200.000 USD). As if intercontinental flights didn't generate enough CO2. Yes, part of the emissions will take place outside the earths atmosphere, but some of it will be released exactly were it makes the most damage....

China released salesnumbers for new cars. The chinese people bought more than 1 million cars in November - a 98% increase over November 2008! The total number of cars sold in China will for 2009 outnumber that of USA. India also reports a 61% increase in car sales for November. The total of 133.687 is still far behind China, but these numbers illustrate two economies in which the middleclass now can afford cars and want a more "western" lifestyle. At 0,5 tons of CO2 per year per capita in India they are still way behind USA at over 20 million tons per year - but the number of new cars on the road indicate that the gap is closing.

While 15000 people are gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the urgent need to limit and reduce the CO2 emissions, the "real world" outside the conference buildings pushes on like never before (filling up the available CO2 space).

Progress:

Today we had the "handover meeting". The project leader showed up half an hour earlier than the ventilation subcontractor, so we decided to push the "hot potato" to the end. We took a tour around the house (both outside and inside). I pointed out the things that I had put on my "follow-up" list and we stopped at some locations to listen to the noice level from the ventilationsystem and the heatpump. Some of the "issues" were solved by explaining how it should work/be, and others were put on their "to do list".

The first part of the meeting was done really quickly, and we had just finished that part when the "ventilation guy" showed up. We then started discussing the JAHUS (energy saving) part of the project. At first I only listened to the guy explaining how it should work. Because the clock turned 3 pm - the system switched automatically to normal mode (from low effect during the day) and everybody could observe the change in noice level.

They agreed that the noice level outside and inside the building still isn't acceptable and promised to fix it (as soon as possible).

I then explained that the temperature of the air leaving the house is way to high. As mentioned in a previous blogpost a 10C increase in the exhaust air equals a loss of approximately 1.8KW He agreed that exhaust air at 16.7C was too high, but no matter how they tried to manipulate/adjust the valves and settings on the aggregate - they didn't manage to increase the temperature of the air flow to the livingroom while decreasing the exhaust air.

They (finally) agreed to add the heated air after the aggregate like I suggested some time ago - and with an extra fan on that new pipe, we can very accurately adjust the temperature to the other rooms.

When these two changes have been implemented - I believe the system will work as planned and I am really looking forward to that day. On that day, we will also be given the instructions on how to operate and maintain the system. This will include:

How we can adjust the weekly program (scheduler) for the aggregate and the heatpump

What to do if the house looses power (when it comes back on)

What we need to do when going from winter to spring/summer (and vice versa)

Even though the system is not working as planned on the day of hand-over, I am happy because they agree with all my comments and have promised to fix everything within a week or so.

Virtual Participation in COP 15

2009-12-07T20:50:00.007+01:00

Event 1:
The long awaited UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) has finally begun.

Rising hopes for a meaningful outcome at the Copenhagen climate talks have received a further boost with the news that Barack Obama and Indian leader Manmohan Singh will attend the 192-nation conference in its vital last days.
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1768

If you, like me, would have liked to be there to follow the discussions and all the surrounding activity - there is a an offering that will be welcome: "virtual Participation in COP 15".
Check out this official portal:
http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_15/virtual_participation/items/5092.php

Progress:
The hand-over meeting is less than one day away and there is still work to be done, but nobody showed up today.

During the weekend I found out that there was a 10C increase in the "used air" that the ventilation system sends out of the house - when we mix the heated air and the fresh air before the aggregate (versus only sending cold fresh air into the aggregate = the baseline case).

Today I wanted to estimate how much energy we waste when we send out 500 m3 (per hour) of air with a temperature that is 10C higher than the baseline case. Pulling the volumetric heat capacity (VHC) for air from the table below - I found that the loss is equal to 1,8KW for 10C (or 180KW per 1C increase in the exhaust air). This value will of course be higher when the outside air falls below zero (because the 10C temperature difference will be higher).

First testresults from the JAHUS

2009-12-06T17:22:00.006+01:00

Progress:
Now that the ventilation system should be finished according to the subcontractor who is responsible for the this part of the project - I have run some tests on the system during the weekend (in preparation for the handover meeting on Tuesday).

The scenarios were as follows:

1) The system was running as the ventilation team had left it on Friday afternoon. This means pulling some hot air from the area near our heatpump - and mixing it with fresh/cold outside air before the "preheated" air entered the ventilation aggregate.

2) I then closed the supply of preheated air and let only the cold outside air enter the aggregate.

The testresults presented above are shown in degrees Celsius and show that switching off the supply of pre-heated air had a dramatic effect on the temperature of the air leaving the house, while only minimal effect on the temperature in the livingroom (and other parts of the house).

With the last setup the exchange of energy is more effective because there is a much bigger difference in temperature between the cold outside air and the hot exhaust air. To me this confirms my view - that the heated air should be mixed with the fresh air after the aggregate (with its rotating heat exchanger). We'll have to wait for Tuesday to hear why they insist on the design we have now.

Moving slowly forward

2009-12-05T11:44:00.011+01:00

Event 1:

President Barack Obama has changed his travelplans. They now say that he will join the other heads of state at the end of the climate summit in Copenhagen. The planned one-day visit on November 9th has therefore been dropped.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-united-nations-climate-change-conference

Event 2:
Green Entrepeneur Shai Agassi talks about the climate challenges just days before Copenhagen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM18BqlGyWI&feature=player_embedded

Progress:
The ventilation team sent a guy on Friday afternoon, and he worked on the system that will remove condensated water from the heatpump (in the hallway). He also spent some time on the ventilation aggregate (it now seems to automatically switch between the lowest effect and the "normal" setting).

I have asked them to bring a decibel meter on Tuesday - so that we can document the noicelevels when the system running in "normal mode". They know that I cannot accept the solution if it can't be run in "normal mode" with acceptable noicelevels outside and/or inside the house.

A week ago I also bought a CO2 meter (UPS says it will arrive on Monday). I hope that this meter can tell us when we have sufficient supply of fresh air in the house. According to the sales material it will show the CO2 level (range: 0 – 9,999 ppm) and we can set a threshold that will warn us if there is too much CO2 in the house.

http://www.co2meter.com/products/co2-temperature-humidity-meter

Why set the target at 2C ?

2009-12-03T16:26:00.014+01:00

Event 1: the world is headed for a global warming of well over 3°C
A sobering new assessment by the "Climate Action Tracker" of the emission commitments and pledges put forward by industrialized and developing countries for the Copenhagen climate negotiations shows that the world is headed for a global warming of well over 3°C by 2100.

Carbon dioxide concentrations are projected to be over 650 ppm, with total GHG concentrations close to 800 ppm CO2 equivalent. From these numbers, there is at least a one in four chance of exceeding a warming of 4°C. This "Climate Action Tracker" is an independent science-based assessment, which tracks the emission commitments and actions of countries. The website provides an up-to-date assessment of individual national pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Event 2: Why is 3C warmer so much worse than 2C ?

"As honest curiosity: If we have seen a temperature increase of 0.57deg C over the past 100 years, when the CO2 levels went from 288 ppm to 365 ppm, how are current climate models managing to bring in temperature increases of up to (?) 6 degrees?"

After a temperature increase of 2 degrees above preindustrial levels the Earth reaches one of its natural 'tipping points'.

This basically means that various eco/climate systems operating within our planet begin to 'change gear', should this happen then we have 'run-away' climate change over which we have no control.

For example:

i) The tundra stretching across Russia,Siberia,Canada & the Arctic is ancient swamp land; previously frozen for millenia these swamps begin to release huge amounts of CO2 & methane as they deforst, (try Googling 'drunken trees' - its happening already).

ii) As the oceans heat up they begin to emit CO2 rather than retain it.

iii) Coral reefs bleach in hotter water, as they die they release CO2; once the reefs are dead the ocean ecosystems begin to collapse, with millions of tons of rotting vegetable matter, (dead fish) releasing yet more CO2.

iv) With less sea ice the dark waters of the ocean attract more sunlight increasing the temperature further.

It is the prevention of these and other 'positive feedbacks' which have the scientists so worried. Essentially once positive feedback loops begin, we completely lose control and it could take tens of thousands of years for the Earth's climate to return to its current state, if ever.

(Thanks to Clint Boon for his insights).

Progress:

They have encapsulated the outside-part of our heatpump today (see the attached picture). This "doghouse" has three purposes:

Protect the heatpump

Capture and maximize the effect of the exhaust air from the ventilation system (5-10C warmer than the surrounding air)

Reduce the negative visual effect of a heatpump mounted on to the northfacing wall

Yes, we are still waiting for the team to reduce the noice level (inside and from the outside) - and hopefully they will change the point of entry for the heated air (from the heatpump). No progress to report today, but they have confirmed that the hand-over will take place on Tuesday next week.

The pictures below, shows the condense on the piping containing around 0C exhaust air.

Higher energy prices - yes please

2009-12-02T17:38:00.001+01:00

Sorry - blog editing problem. Please see my last blog post here:

http://thejahusblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/higher-energy-prices-yes-please.html

Next week is the big week

2009-11-30T20:20:00.008+01:00

Events next week:

The UN Climate Change Conference kicks off in Copenhagen (COP 15) and Leaders of the Commonwealth countries called Saturday for a legally binding international agreement on climate change and a global fund with billions of dollars to help poor countries meet its mandates. The 53-nation meeting was the largest gathering of international leaders before next month's global climate summit in Copenhagen.
Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

....and an important step for us: the JAHUS project will finally be completed

You may also want to see this video-clip on glaciers disappearing in China http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=16886820&ch=4226714&src=news

Progress:

As mentioned above, they have promised to finish the JAHUS project this week. Tuesday next week we have agreed to meet here and they will formally hand over the project to us - and give us instructions on how to operate the new ventilation system (and the heatpump).

Until then, I'm afraid there will be very little to report from our project. (Nobody showed up today either - so I guess they're planning a busy end to this week).

The attached picture shows one page from the Users Guide that follows our new ventilation aggregate. In the middle of the picture there is something standing up like a factory chimney with a mysterious thing at the end (marked 5). This is the discharge of extract ("used") air. I have pointed out that the discharge of extract air from our house is creating too much noice - and reminded them of the fact that there should be a silencer at the end (it's not here now).

The picture also shows noice-traps on the pipes coming in to- and when the air is leaving the aggregate (for distribution in the house). These noice traps are also missing, but I hope they will fix this before hand-over next Tuesday.

The most critical point except for the noice level, is the ventilation system's ability to both effectively capture the energy in the exhaust air - and to distribute the heat from the heatpump. In my last blog post I mentioned that I believe they have to alter the solution to make this work (adding the heated air AFTER the heat-exchanger in the aggregate). We'll see one week from now....

A day in between

2009-11-27T11:27:00.007+01:00

Event 1: China sets emissions target
China has announced a target to cut the greenhouse intensity of its economy by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, its contribution to the Copenhagen climate treaty negotiations. The target means a lowering of carbon emissions per unit of GDP only – not making absolute cuts to emissions nor cutting emissions by a set amount below business-as-usual levels. The government also announced that Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the conference in person next month.

http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1750

Comment> While China and other developing countries have never been expected to set targets for absolute emission cuts, analysis of China’s carbon footprint suggests that the target is not particularly ambitious. See more comments on the CO2 emissions from China vs USA below (under Event 2).

Event 2: Climate change - Copenhagen in graphics
As the UN summit in Copenhagen approaches, BBC looks at the past, present and possible futures of climate change. This article provides a good summary of the situation we are in - and it contains interesting graphs.

The graph I have included here shows where we need to be in 2030 in terms of gigatonnes of CO2 emissions - to stay below 2C global warming. It shows that even with the current best case scenario for the Copenhagen summit - we'll miss the target by approximately 6 Gt.

One of the other graphs from BBC (not included here) illustrates that in the first years of the new century, China's emissions overtook those of the US.

We should keep in mind, however, that China and India produce a much smaller amount per capita than counterparts in regions such as North America or Western Europe. Countries that industrialised early and grew rich early because of that industrialisation, such as the UK, Germany and the US, have a higher "historical footprint". In some peoples' eyes, this gives them a higher responsibility for curbing the problem (ref my previous comments on "the CO2 Space").

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8359629.stm

Progress report:
Nobody showed up to finish the work yesterday - and it doesn't look like they will do any work here today either. I hope and believe that many new families will convert their houses to a JAHUS-standard in the next few years, but hopefully they get an easier ride than what we have had. The good news, however, is that I now feel quite confident that (with a few small adjustments) - our JAHUS will be as comfortable and energy efficient as we had hoped for.

To verify that the heat exchange inside the ventilation aggregate works as expected, I closed the valve that regulates the amount of heated air from the heatpump that is currently being mixed with the fresh air BEFORE the aggregate. This means that it now gets cold fresh air at 5C as input and it exchanges energy with the outgoing exhaust air which holds ca 20C.

The test shows that the aggregate works nicely (and as expected) when there is no heated air mixed in with the cold outside air. The air that flows out of the aggregate and into the house goes from 5C to 17C and the air leaving the house comes in at 20C and leaves the house at 10C.

I have created a flow chart that illustrates how the system would look like if they move the point of entry for the heated air - to after the aggregate. I still haven't received an answer from the ventilation team regarding this suggestion.

Higher energy prices? Yes please

2009-11-26T23:51:00.008+01:00

Event 1: A global energy market?

Many contributions to the local debate here in Norway has argued that we should avoid adding to the transmission capacity of electricity between Norway and the rest of Europe. There are talks about this initiative being driven by profit-hunger from the already rich energy companies (and bonus/salary payments to management in these companies). This is quite possibly one of the driving forces, but I believe there are far more important considerations.

Our time's biggest challenge is global warming, and in the background there is a looming energy crisis. How much energy saving- (and hence CO2 reduction-) projects will be initiated if electricity prices in Norway are totally out of sync with the rest of Europe? Look to the USA and what low gasoline prices have done to the the use- and size of of cars, and how high energy prices have changed the daily routines to the better in Europe (if you don't walk up the stairs fast enough, the lights will be switched off).

Does Norway want to be the scapegoat in environmental issues, and countries such as France is considered one of the leaders in CO2 reductions? France has had energy-conscious people for years, and now they also have extra incentives for implementing energy-saving measures in the house (interestfree loans up to 30,000 Euros over 10 years) which, together with high electricity prices make it financially attractive for private households to order "jahus" projects (extra insulation, heatpumps etc). The government in France achieves not only increased economic activity, but is also reducing the unemployment problem and the ability to fulfill their part of the CO2-cutting task that we all have to deal with the (all people to the oars - for we are all in the same boat).

There are also more technical arguments why we need to add more cables between Norway and Europe. This fall, we had two examples of large quantities of clean energy being lost because we lacked the capacity for the exchange of energy between Denmark and Norway.

In Denmark there was a storm and since it was weekend, it was not enough demand for power from the grid - so they had to simply disconnect the wind turbines (the power grid has no function to store energy).

That same week, there was a headline story on teh TV2 news that the BKK had to let the water in their reservoirs flow down the mountainside - outside the turbines because the electricity generated was more than the demand in the powergrid.

When there is no wind in Europe, they should be able to use hydropower from Norway (which we can save and "let go" when it suits us). Similarly, they should be able to export energy to us when there is plenty of wind - we can use this energy to pump water into reservoirs in the mountains. Norway then stores excess energy until some time in the future when there is no wind in Denmark (or clouds in Spain - so that solar plants do not produce electricity).

It can be repeated until it becomes tedious, we are all in the same boat and 1 ton of CO2 not emitted from a coal fired power plant in Europe (because they have access to clean energy from Norway) is equally important to our planet as 1 tonne of reduced CO2 emissions from rush hour traffic in Oslo, if we all use or bikes to work. Wouldn't everyone in Norway rather have Europe buy electricity from Norway (the majority goes straight to the Treasury = us) than to have BKK sending water outside the turbines while at the same time there are power plants in Europe fueled by coal (sending one kilogram of CO2 into the atmosphere for every 1KWh produced)?

I therefore strongly believe that we must (as soon as possible):

Get the current electricity prices of our synchronized with the rest of Europe

Increase the capacity of power transmissions between Europe and Norway

The government should, through the Norwegian State Housing Bank, channel some of the extra revenue (higher electricity prices/increased exports) to measures that further incentivates private households to start "jahus" projects (interest-free loans as in France and VAT / tax exemption as in Germany and the USA).

Progress:

Yesterday, I called the technical director at a norwegian manufacturer of ventilation systems (Flexit). We discussed the solution being implemented here and he fully supported my claim - that the heated air from the heatpump should be mixed with the fresh outside air AFTER the heat-exchanger.

There has been no progress to report all week, and the team has refused to comment on the issue of "point of entry" for the heated air. Next Tuesday is the hand-over day and as far as I can see there is quite a lot of work remaining (pump, noice, point-of-entry etc.)....

Silence is golden

2009-11-25T20:20:00.001+01:00

Event 1:

President Obama to Attend Copenhagen Climate Talks:
http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/25/president-obamas-copenhagen-pitch/

Comment> The fact that he is coming is good, but he arrives a week before the other heads of state - and most people had expected much more comittment than CO2 cuts in the range of 17% below 2005 (which equals no more than the 3-4% from the 1990 level). This also well below what IPCC says is required to avoid dramatic climate changes.

Event 2:
The weather here in Norway is really bad these days and the newspapers today included such headlines as "It's raining - but the price of electricity drops". In the same newspapers, the discussions continue on whether or not we should increase the capacity of power cables between Norway and the rest of Europe.

Comment> How can the government expect people to invest in energy saving measures at home (like JAHUS) if the price of electricity keeps falling - rather than to synch with the rest of Europe? If the price came up to its proper level - not only would more people save more energy at home, but the mostly state-owned power companies would make more money that the government could use for incentives that will drive more energy saving projects.

Progress:
The title "silence is golden" was chosen since much of the focus now is on reducing the noice from the ventilation system. When we came home from work today, the system was running on medium effect (normal) - so it seems as though they agree that we need "normal" effect to get the required supply of fresh air.

During the day they have added a noice-trap to reduce the noice in our guestroom (see the attached picture of the noice trap).

Directly in front of the noice trap is something that looks like a valve.

If it is, I think it is a good idea - because I was afraid that the room next to the ventilation room gets much more than it's fair share of the fresh "supply air" (both the noice level and holding your hand up to the outlet gave an impression of much more airflow than in the livingroom upstairs). I guess we'll have to wait for the handover to find out what their plan is...

According to the users guide from the manufacturer of the aggregate there should be noice traps all the piping going in and out of the aggregate - and on the outlet (where the exhaust air is blown out of the house). All these noicetraps are still missing.

I also think they finished the extra loop today. It will provide cool air from the basement to the bedrooms upstairs on hot summer nights (to keep the bedrooms cooler than the rest of the house).

I have created a flowchart that illustrates the flow of air through our ventilation system - and I attached it below for those who are interested. If you have comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to use the comment input field (at the bottom of this blog).

Behind the scenes of climate negotiations

2009-11-24T16:30:00.001+01:00

FORMAT CHANGE:
Now that the pressure is building up for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15 in 12 days), there are many events that I want to share with you, and discuss. At the same time, our JAHUS project goes into a phase with smaller changes/steps and hence little to report from day to day. I will therefore start the blog-entries with comments to recent events, and I will end the blog posts with a report from our own JAHUS project.

EVENT 1: MIXING WATER TO GET ELECTRICITY
The Norwegian company Statkraft opened the world’s first osmotic power prototype today.“This new technology generates electricity simply by mixing water. New solutions to meet the climate challenges might be closer than we expect, which makes me confident that the future looks bright,” says Statkraft CEO and President, Baard Mikkelsen.

The global potential of osmotic power is estimated to be 1,600-1,700 TWh per annum, equivalent to 50 percent of the EU’s total power production. Osmotic power plants can, in principle, be located wherever fresh water runs into the sea; they produce no noise or polluting emissions and they can be integrated into existing industrial zones, for example, in the basements of industrial buildings.

http://www.statkraft.com/presscentre/press-releases/the-worlds-first-osmotic-power-prototype-opens-today.aspx

EVENT 2: BEHIND THE SCENES OF CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS
What will happen in Copenhagen? Can the world be saved by this summit? This was the agenda when the think tank Civita hosted a breakfast meeting this morning.

Keynote speaker was Norway's chief negotiator Hanne Bjurstrøm (and she will be Minister of Labor after the Copenhagen summit). Terje Osmundsen, director of strategies and business development in the norwegian solar energy company Scatec Solar, then commented on the keynote.

I found the session very interesting and want to share some of the highlights with you.

The target for climate negotiations
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/) is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences. In 2007 they received the Nobel Peace Prize (sharing it with Al Gore).

IPCC says that industrialized countries must reduce CO2 emissions by 25-40% by 2020 (compared to 1990) if we should have a hope of keeping the global warming from increasing beyond 2C. According to IPCC this is a level at which we can avoid the most dramatic scenarios of global warming - and is now accepted by most countries as the target for all climate talks.

IPCC also say that CO2 must be cut by 50% by 2050, but more than 40 years ahead - there is no real discussion or negotiations about this target. All emphasis is on getting sufficient cuts by 2020.

Terje Osmundsen said that it is no longer a game of numbers, but a more fundamental issue that requires the mobilization of all people (like the rest of Europe must have felt when they were fighting "the Third Reich" from 1940-45). It is either win this war or face certain catastrophy.

One other way to look at it is: you can not afford to wait and see, and then try to compensate for what you see (control engineering). With the threat of dramatic climate changes it is too late "to turn the ship" in 2020 when the first actual dramatic changes can be observed - we must act now. It is a fact that cutting 1% CO2 in 2010 is worth a lot more than the same amount in 2030.

Current assessment
The average committment from industrialized countries is currently at approximately 17% now - so according to IPCC these committments must be raised to at least 25% for the world to stay below 2C global warming.

Not only should industrialized countries (who stands for most of the CO2 emissions) stand for 80% of the CO2 cuts - but we will not reach our target unless even the developing countries cut 20% (compared to 1990).

How to achieve these cuts
Developing counties: There will be transfer of funds from industrialized countries to developing countries upfront to help them build systems and reporting on CO2 emissions. Later there will be payments for achieved tasks (they will commit to specific lists of tasks and not a specific % reduction in CO2 emissions). If we get a working market for CO2 quotas, the markets will also take care of a transfer of funds from industrialized countries to the developing countries.

Industrialized countries: the realistic target for COP15 is a binding political agreement and industrial countries must quickly come up with plans (and milestones) to implement the cuts they have comitted to. The participants in todays session criticized the Norwegian government for being good at setting high targets - but not so good at producing plans or taking actions (like introducing incentives for improving the energy efficiency of the many old homes - ref the JAHUS project).

Challenges:
There are of course many challenges they face when they meet in Copenhagen. I will list some of them here.

One question from the audience: "only 80% cuts in the industrialized countries? Shouldn't it have been 120%?" The answer....

When China talks about "the CO2 space" they mean that there is a limited CO2 space in the world and the industrialized countries have used (or taken up) a majority of this space. Now when China, India and other developing countries are being industrialized too - their growth will be curbed because the CO2 space is almost "sold out". Most countries agree that this is a correct description of the situation. Industrialized countries will be responsible for 80% of the cuts (from higher levels), but as mentioned above even the developing countries need to cut CO2 by ca 20%. It may seem unfair to most of us, and India can safely claim that they will never be responsible for as much CO2 emissions as the best performing industrialized country - but nevertheless it is an unfortunate fact that we must all pull together to reach the 2C target.

Russia was given CO2 emission quotas in Kyoto, that were higher than they actually need now - because of more problematic business development than expected during the Kyoto negotiations. They have therefore accumulated considerable amounts of CO2 quotas that they of course will insist on pulling forward into the new agreement. Even if Russia commits to 25% cuts it will not be enough because they can actually increase CO2 emissions and still be compliant (because of the unused CO2 quotas pulled forward). EU will similarly get "a free ride" from the membership countries who also have accumulated CO2 quotas.

We live in a global world, and if we produce goods in our own country - the CO2 emissions increase here. If we, however, move the production to another country - we look like a compliant country and the CO2 effect of the goods we import adds to the CO2 emission reports in the country where the products were produced. USA has suggested a special CO2 import tax - but India is clearly against such a move. Understandably so - because this would be like introducing new trade barriers and it would be more expensive for consumers in USA to buy products from China or India (World Trade Organization is fighting all such trade barriers).

PROGRESS IN OUR JAHUS PROJECT:
As mentioned yesterday, we have doubts about some of the solutions that have been implemented by the ventilation team. These issues were described in an email to the company yesterday, and today we received a brief response.

They will answer all the questions/comments when they hand over the project to us (when they have finished everything and feel they can be proud of the result).

At least they agreed to my suggested location for pulling the cool air into the separate ventilation loop that will provide the 4 bedrooms with colder air than the other rooms in the house). Not sure what they plan for the extra supply of air to this room (as they will be pulling air out of a quite small room). It does not seem like they liked the idea of using some of the air from above the heatpump on the other side of the wall (colder than the outside air in the summer months). The other question about the air being pulled into the aggregate is too warm was not answered - so I guess we'll have to wait for the handover to see what they actually did about that problem.

I read the instruction manual for the aggregate today and found out that it must be running on the medium setting (what they call "NORMAL") to provide the house with enough fresh air (500 cubic meters per hour). This setting means much more noice - and when I mentioned this, the ventilation team said that it should be sufficient air supply if we use the lowest setting (the manufacturer call this setting "Going Away"). My response to the team was that I expect the solution to deliver 500 cubic meters per hour as it is stated in the contract - and they can do (almost) whatever they like to achieve this. If this means running the aggregate at medium/normal effect, then they will have to add more silencers on the ducts/piping and in the cabinet they use for the transport of air to- and from- the rooms on the first floor (via the attic).

We are waiting in cautious optimism for the actual handover day.

Even though they had promised to come here today - it seemed to me that nothing had been done when I arrived early from work at 2pm (planned to work from home the rest of the day and answer any questions they may have). One hour later one guy showed up with some supplies, but because he had been injured by a knife in a workrelated accident earlier today (two fingers had been stitched) - he was in too much pain to do any work today. He left after 15 minutes. I later found out that he had actually started the project of adding an extra loop to the bedroom (adding another pipe from the attic through the cabinet to the basement).

Waiting, waiting....

2009-11-23T20:04:00.000+01:00

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.

First day in our "new home"

2009-11-21T10:12:00.000+01:00

Status:
For the first time in years we slept without opening the door (from our bedroom) to the small veranda outside. We used to open the door to get the desired supply of fresh air through the night, but hoped that the ventilation system would take care of this now that we live in a "JAHUS"...and the jury says:

Nice. We had enough fresh air, and because the door had been closed there was:

no noice from people passing the house on their way home from a party/nachspiel. The new door not only keeps the energy inside the house, but it is very effective in shielding us from noice from outside the house
higher room temperature (but not too high) compared to the "open door scenario"

Now that the ventilation system was running, we were ready for the inauguration of the refurbished bathroom - including the new shower (picture attached below).

This morning I got up early for a nice 1hour bicycle ride under clear blue skies (with the nice colours you see when the sun is rising). When I came back I used the shower upstairs for the first time - and it was as nice as I had hoped for. As I came out of the shower, my daughters called and said the breakfast was ready - what a nice day to start a Saturday :-)

The point of sharing this with you? There was no noice from the ventilation system, but the "fog" in the bathroom did not clear as fast as I had hoped for. We'll have to ask the specialists for advise on how to increase the effect on the ventilation from this room (from this room the system only pulls air out - the air is "refilled" from nearby rooms, under the door etc.)

One pleasant surprise this morning was that the heatpump had adjusted it self down to a very low noice-level. The excessive noice we experienced yesterday was probably the result of some start-up sequence.

I have now adjusted the different valves of the ventilation system to maximise the circulation of the heated air from the heatpump - and it seems to work fine. All rooms in the house is on approximately 21C and without the help of other heating than the heatpump.

I purchased a bunch of cheap thermometers and placed them in different locations throughout the house to monitor the effects of different settings in the ventilation system. Yes, the specialists will do this for us on Monday - but the readers who know me, know that I like to find out how these things work without reading the manual or getting help from specialists......

When I have had the "beginners crash-course" in our JAHUS solution, I will provide you with a more detailed description of the solution and how we achieve cooler temperature in the bedrooms etc. (using the valves and settings on the heatpump, the ventilation aggregate and the new fan).

For the readers who know us and have been to our house before, I have also included a picture from the new restroom (WC):

Events:
In a local newspaper today (Dagens Naeringsliv), a key article on page 2 was written by a senior journalist who is very sceptical to the actual environment value of migrating from fossil fuels to biodiesel/bioethanol. As mentioned in earlier blog-posts, there is a very heated debate in Norway these days about removing the taxes benefits for cars running on biodiesel. The journalist refers to recently published scientific report that questions the CO2 benefit:

Newly agreed EU legislation on biofuels and fuel quality are highly unlikely to reduce CO2 emissions from transport fuel used in Europe. T&E and other environmental organisations are proposing substantial changes, in particular to address the environmental impact of indirect land use change (ILUC) caused by increased biofuel production. Download the report Biofuels: Handle with care and summary in English, French and German

He says that not only are the benefits of biodiesel projects questionable and at best very ineffective, but keeping the lower taxlevel on these cars only encourages a migration from thirsty diesel SUVs to thirsty biodiesel SUVs.

Comments: As if I should have said it myself :-) Compare 180 USD per ton of CO2 estimated for biodiesel efforts versus the reduction 5 tons of CO2 per USD invested in JAHUS projects..... (http://thejahusblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/for-nerds-or-you-and-me.html)

Look to the Netherlands where they are changing from taxing the cars to taxing the use of cars. They will be paying for kilometers driven per year regardless of the type of fuel used (except, I guess, for elcars - and I hope with higher taxlevels for SUVs than small cars).
In Norway we're also talking about a special rush-hour tax during rush-hour in the big cities (to get people over on public transportation)

We now live in a JAHUS

2009-11-20T20:18:00.001+01:00

Progress:
We are sitting in our livingroom watching TV. The temperature is a comfortable 22-23C and there is fresh air coming from the ventilation system (without a sound). I have checked and the heat provided by the heatpump (and distributed by the ventilation system) is more than enough to hold the desired roomtemperature, without the help of our wall-mounted panel heaters (with thermostats). We have waited quite a long time for this moment, but I can already say thet our first JAHUS experience is definitely a pleasant one.

Let me first turn the clock back to ca 4pm when we arrived home from work. Expectations were high, but unfortunately there was disappointment - again. Yes, the heatpump was running - but also making quite a lot of noice. I left it like that, and "rushed" in to the ventilationroom to verify that the ventilation system was running. From my intro you understand that nothing had been done in the ventilationroom today.

I called the project leader and asked him why the electrician had done nothing in the ventilation room. He promised to check and call me back. Few minutes later he called back and said that he wasn't able to get in contact with the electrician. I asked him if we could use a power cord extension from the nearest outlet to be able to start the ventilation aggregate. He promised to check with the ventilation specialists, and after a while he called back and said that the specialist would return to Kolbotn and start the system for us.

Then, when the specialist arrived - he only used a few minutes to get the system initialized and started. They still have to program the system (different effect during daytime versus night) and calibrate the system (heatpump and ventilation system working together), but finally the JAHUS system is running :-)

After some testing I found a program that seems to work quite well without the extreme noice and variations we experienced initally. The heatpump needs more adjustments, but that can wait for the experts to take care of on Monday.

Events:
Following the biodiesel discussions in Norway.....

"Dutch first in Europe to adopt green tax for cars"
Drivers will have to pay per kilometer driven in a bid to end chronic traffic jams and cut carbon emissions. The system, which will use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to monitor cars, could be used as a test case for other countries weighing options for easing crowded roads. Singapore has a similar scheme for charging according to the amount of travel.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-first-in-europe-to-adopt-green-tax-for-cars-1821268.html

Comment: A bold and positive move that I hope other countries will follow. It is a pity, however, that this tax doesn't favor small and energyefficient cars. They will probably find a solution that a "SUV-km" is more expensive than other "small-car kilometers".

"Yes-house (jahus) or no house"

2009-11-19T08:07:00.000+01:00

Are you living in a "no-house" (poor isolation and old windows) and are wondering how to bring your house from where it is today - to a "JAHUS" standard? We have spent a lot of time and discussed with many vendors before we ended up with our jahus design. I hope that my previous blog-posts have been helpful, and that in the next few days - I can share with you the actual results of this project (and some more details on cost versus benefits).

Key take-aways can of course be that projects hardly ever finish on time, or that ventilation requires more space than you had expected - but I do hope you will see that it is worth it and start planning for a jahus project as well.

Progress:
One heatpump specialist actually showed up today and now the outdoor part of the heatpump is connected to the rest of the system - including the special heat pump refrigerant that flows between the outdoor- and the indoor part of the heatpump.

The electrician, however, did not show up - so the ventilation system and heat pump can not be switched on yet. He has promised to show up tomorrow, so maybe - if the ventilation team also shows up (they are not here today), then we can start the whole system?

If you live in California or Spain you are probably more concerned about the effects during the summer - and theoretically you should do more or less the same things that we have described in our JAHUS projects:

Isolate: to keep the heat out during the summer months, but also to keep the cold out during a few winter months. I once stayed in a draughty appartment in Spain (Costa del Sol) over Christmas and it was the coldest Christmas I can remember. There is a lot to gain from isolation in these parts of the world too - winter and summer.

Ventilate: to get the appropriate level of fresh air supplied to all rooms. In the summer the energy exchanger makes sure the cool "used air" cools down the fresh outdoor air before this "used air" is sent out of the building (now almost the same as the outside temperature)

A/C (heatpump): cools down the air coming out of the energy-exchanger an extra 5C (to comfort temperature at 22C). The ventilation system mentioned above is responsible for the distribution of this "ready for use" air to all the rooms in the house.

The pictures below show:

the indoor part of the heatpump: and in the lower right part of the picture you see a small piece of the unfinished piping that eventually will take the condensate away from the heatpump (when cooling air in the summer months)
the piping inside the heatpump: including the new piping with the gray sound trap surrounding the piping on the left hand side of the picture.

Event 1:
There is also a heated discussion in Norway about the need for more power cables between Norway and the continent.

The opponents say that:

the price of electricity will increase: the utility companies will make huge profits and the average consumer will be paying the price
loss of jobs: industries who survive because of low energy prices will not be competitive with energy prices that are in synch with the rest of Europe

Proponents say:

Global: Europe needs the buffer that norwegian hydropower represents. When windmills produce more power than the grid takes out, Norway can use this excess power to pump water up to the mountain dams (storing the excess energy). When the windmills stop because there is no wind, the grid can buy back hydroelectric power from Norway (produced by releasing some of the water from the dams (through the turbines in the powerstations below).
Businesses: To deliver electricity to the industry at prices well below marketprice is subsidies - and most people agree that this protectionism is a bad thing. If the can't make a profit with the marketprice on power then they must be closed down (or be given a grace period to change their processes).
Consumers: to deliver cheaper than marketprice electricity to consumers delays the already overdue process of improving the isolation of houses and the deployment of other energy-saving tasks such as heatpumps and smart ventilation systems.

On a smaller scale there is also issues regarding the availability of a powergrid that offshore windmills can use to send their "product" to the consumers. Today there are many offshore windmills in the UK which are not connected to a grid and therefore are not being used...

Who should pay for these infrastructure projects?

sending or receiving countries ?
the power companies who have the most to gain if the market expands and they get a higher price for their product (both internationally and locally).
the users (extra infrastructure fee)?

When do we need these new cables? Yesterday!

It's not like we don't have internationally connected powergrids today, but the capacity is way too low. Two very real examples are from the news this fall: first we had a weekend with quite a lot of wind in Denmark and they reported that the windmills had to be decoupled because the grid could not take all the energy produced (and there is no way to store unused energy in the powergrid). A week later there was reports of dams (owned by BKK) on the west cost of Norway where they deliberately let water pass outside the turbines because the dams were too full and there were nowhere to send the excess power.

My comments:

The high mountains and ability to build dams and create hydroelectric power is a gift from nature to Norway - and we have an obligation to share this with the other "less fortunate" countries. Similarly - it makes more sense to build solar powerplants closer to the equator. The only low-carbon alternative to this symbiosis between dams in Norway and windmills in Denmark and UK - is the roll out of more nuclear powerplants and I don't think the opponents want that....

Summary: Pull more powercables between Norway and continental Europe - now.

Event 2:

California regulators on Wednesday passed new regulations to ban power-hungry flat screen televisions from store shelves.

Why propose energy efficiency standards for televisions now?
In California, televisions (along with DVRs, DVD players, and cable boxes) now consume 10 percent of a home's electricity. Increasing sales of flat screen televisions, larger screen sizes, the growing number of TVs per household, and increased daily use of televisions all contribute to greater electricity consumption.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/appliances/tv_faqs.html

My comments:

One could argue that the energy/electricity used in a TV does not just disappear, it is transformed to heat. In the winter, this heat is required to keep the houses warm (for example here in Norway). The heat generated by the TV therefore replaces heat that would otherwise be produced by a heatpump or wall-mounted panel heaters with thermostats. (Keep in mind that 1KWh used in a heatpump generates 3 times as much heat as 1 KWh used in a TV).

In the summer months, however, heat generated by our electrical appliances and lights mean double trouble - they use electricity to work and we need electricity to "fight the heat" (for those homes and businesses which use airconditioning units to keep cool).

Summarized: more energyefficient TVs will have a positive affect too ("many small streams make a big river").

Soon we're ready for "launch"

2009-11-18T19:17:00.000+01:00

Progress:
Finally the team has agreed to install a separate ventilation loop that will send cooler air from the cellar to the 4 bedrooms (as we originally planned). I expect this solution to make our bedrooms cooler than the other rooms all year long. This is how we want it, and at the same time the lower temperature in the bedrooms will give us reduced energy for heating as a bonus.

Yesterday, I also pointed out that they had forgotten to ventilate the ventilation room. Yes, there is a lot of piping and equipment there, but no ventilation of the room itself (adding fresh air and pulling out "used air"). They have agreed to fix this tomorrow.

They have also promised to connect the outdoor part of the heatpump to the rest of the system tomorrow morning. Hopefully the electrician will also show up and provide them with the hook-up they need to start the ventilation system and the heatpump. We should then be able to start the system (even if they'll still be installing the extra loop to the bedroom).

My hope is that everything is finished by the end of this week - but I have been disappointed before, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Events:
In Norway there is currently a heated debate about biodiesel. Because it seemed like a good idea at the time, the government adopted a new law that says all diesel sold in norwegian gas stations must include at least 2.5% biodiesel (later this will be raised to 5%). Today they added an extra tax on bio-diesel.

I guess the reason for the new tax is that they now see that biodiesel, while CO2 neutral, have serious negative effects that politicians were not aware of at the time (?):

CO2: Rainforests have to yield to plantations that will grow biological material for the production of biodiesel. A lot of CO2 is going up into the atmosphere as a result of burning the trees, and in the future these trees will no longer slurp CO2 from the surrounding air and produce O2 (as part of the photosynthesis)
Food: Farmland is transformed from growing food to "grow biodiesel". Many people worry about the planet's ability to feed all the people living here - and we don't need this effect !

The thing many people don't understand (myself included) is that they're not removing the 2.5% rule. The tax will therefore not affect the amount of biodisel used in Norway - just adding more tax. The only positive thing you can say about this move is that all tax on fuel could theoretically reduce the use of cars running on fossil fuel.

"To ventilate or not to ventilate - that is the question"

2009-11-17T21:47:00.000+01:00

Progress:
Today when I came home from work, the original renovation of a bedroom, the bathroom and a guest restroom had been completed. The last part they finished today was to install the 2 mirrors with the integrated lights and associated light-switches. We are looking forward to try the new shower/bathroom, but we still have to wait for the ventilation system to be started (to pull the warm/humid air out of the bathroom) .

The ventilation team did not show up today and the remaining installation tasks are listed below:

The internal piping is nearly finished - unless we end up with the original design which includes a separate loop of ventilation pipes (see comments below)
The outdoor part of the heatpump has now been delivered, but they still have to connect it to the indoor part of the heatpump
They still haven't put in place the mechanism for transportation of water from the indoor-part of the heatpump to the drainage point in the restroom (WC). This water comes from the humidity in the air that condenses when the air is being cooled down in the summer.

In my previous blog-post I mentioned that the ventilation team had changed the solution without discussing this change with me. I was upset, but politely asked for an explanation. In their response yesterday they tried to convince me that a single pipe from the hallway to the ventilation aggregate was a better solution than the original design that included a completely separate loop (with a separate fan) from the cellar to the 4 bedrooms above on the first floor.

I have explained to them that I must be convinced that the solution can provide us with cooler air in the bedrooms than the rest of the house – and the new design doesn’t seem to deliver this as well as the original design. Last night I sent an email response saying that, unless they can come up with a better answer, I want the original design.

The response came this afternoon, but I still don't see how a system that sends the same fresh and heated/cooled air to all the rooms (including bedrooms) - can be better and more flexible than the original design that was based on two entirely separated systems. I have again told them what is important to us and asked for a detailed explanation.

Events:
USA and China talks spark new hope for results in Copenhagen:

"Obama, Hu seek to reinvigorate Copenhagen climate talks"

On climate, Obama said the United States and China are looking for a comprehensive deal during next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen that will "rally the world". Obama said the goal at the December meeting should be an agreement that has "immediate operational effect", not just a political declaration.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, speaking on the sidelines of the two-day meeting, lauded China and the United States' support for his country's push to reach a politically binding agreement at the conference to take "immediate operational effect."
"I am glad that the Danish strategy was supported today in Beijing at the Chinese-American summit ... it confirms that we have taken the right stance," Rasmussen told reporters.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/11/17/09/denmark-lauds-us-china-support-climate-talks

"Faith leaders present to U.N. 60 plans to help fight climate change"

Leaders of nine major faiths have presented 60 ideas for lessening carbon emissions to the United Nations after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon singled out the religious community as key in fighting climate change.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-11-10-faith-climate-change_N.htm

Electric appliances such as cooker, washing machine, TV, computers and coffee machines account for 41 percent of electricity consumption in norwegian homes, according to figures from Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyraa). Back in 1990 these products were responsible for "only" 28 percent of private household electricity consumption.

People do not necessarily throw the old components, but re-use them in the summer house. Or they end up in the basement, where for example the old refrigerator gets a new role as a wine cooler. We have more money to spend and a different lifestyle, and technological developments have also provided us with multiple devices, said Arne Morten Johnsen in Enova to the newspaper "Vaart Land" (Our Country).

When Christmas is approaching, we will see increasing sales of electrical goods that we perhaps could have managed without, he believes. People have different perceptions of what constitutes a good life and good comfort, but maybe we could drop some of the "nice to have" stuff and stick to the things we really need, said Johnsen.

Back from a weekend in Paris

2009-11-16T08:14:00.000+01:00

Comments:
A few days of silence was caused by a weekend trip to Paris (not something you want to announce publicly on the Internet before you go). Now that we're back I want to share with you some comments...

As we drove back frome the airport last night the top story on the local news was: "the norwegian delegation to the UN conference on climate changes in Copenhagen says that dramatic changes have to take place to limit the global warming to 2C. We should not shower for a few minutes less or drop our trip Paris, but isolate our houses and get fossil-fuel cars off the roads."

This was my point exactly in an earlier blog-post and I was pleased to hear that even the governments speaks of JAHUS projects as one very obvious and achivable route to the numbers we need. We will only get the "big numbers" if houses are brought up to the low energy house standard (less than 100KWh/sq m per year) - and the good news is that such JAHUS projects also improve the standard of living and most of the cost is paid for by savings on the electricity bill. So, we don't feel guilty for flying to Paris even though our friends make fun (in a nice way) of the commitment and energy we put into the JAHUS project. They too are beginning to see that it is not ajusting the travel plans or reduced shower time that will get us were we need to be.

Progress:
While in Paris I emailed with the team back in our house. Not much happened in the house, but there was a heated discussion about the ventilation system.

I have been asking them again and again when they plan to finish and used as an example the fact that I don't see the fan that we had ordered or the 3 big pipes (I see only 2) going from the ground floor up to the first floor and onwards up ot the attic for distribution to the different rooms. On Friday they tried to "pull a quick one" and said that there had been a change of plans and the separate loop for colder air from the gound floor to the bedrooms - had been replaced by a pipe from the hall to the ventilation room.

I explained that we had agreed to the original solution (suggested by them) because it will give us cooler temperature in the bedrooms than the other areas of the house. Even without the heatpump running as A/C on hot summer nights, we will get cool air from the cellar/ground floor delivered to our bedrooms on the first floor. The price for the total solution including the extra fan had been agreed to and we placed the order in September. I therefore told them that they either deliver what we have agreed to - or they explain to me how this new design will be better than the original design (and if so, how much will the price go down).

I somehow feel like a difficult customer, but shouldn't they have discussed this with me prior to totally changing the solution that we have agreed to? It feels like they have taken over the house and do with it what they please, but I can't have it that way...

The construction entrepreneur responsible for the project agrees with me and is meeting with the subcontractor (ventilation) later today to discuss this issue. Meanwhile the house is now so well isolated, but without supply of fresh air - that we have to open windows briefly every now and then until the ventilation system is finished.

Global and national events:
On Saturday the local newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv ("Daily Business") included a story about a state owned property company (ROM) who had found the process of applying for the extra funds allocated for energysaving measures in public buildings (from Enova) too bureaucratic - so they gave up.

The director of Byggenaeringens Landsforening (the organization for the construction industry) says in a comment that the program is not good enough for small size projects and private homes - this is where 40% of all energy for lights and heating is being used. If reductions are needed - they have to do better here.

I couldn't agree more.

On deforestation:
By the year 2020, the Lula government (Brazil) has vowed to cut deforestation by 80 percent from a base of 19,500 sq. km. Such reductions are vital because a large part of Brazil’s CO2 emissions come from burning land in order to use it for agriculture. Worldwide, tropical deforestation in nations such as Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounts for more CO2 emissions than all the exhaust from cars, boats, and planes combined. As we all know, these trees would otherwise continue to slurpe CO2 (as part of the photosynthesis) - making deforestation a "double trouble" issue.

Personal:
The trip to Paris was a huge success :-) My wife and I left for Paris on Friday morning and stayed in a nice hotel not far from the Opera and Galleries Lafayette (shopping paradise). For the first time we found that the concierge in the hotel actually was very helpful in finding nice restaurants for us. The highlight, though, was a restaurant we read about in the free tourist magazine Where Paris (November edition) "The New Stars in the Kitchens of Paris". They were so newly established that the concierge had not heard of them, but he called the restaurant Jardin d'Ampère on Friday afternoon and managed to get us a reservation for Saturday night (8 pm).

It was 10 minutes by taxi (to 17th arondissement), but it was definitely worth the effort because this turned out to be one of the best gourmet dinners we have ever had. The restaurant is located in a newly renowated designer-hotel and while you're eating you are overlooking the nice garden. The service was perfect and the 3-course meal was heavenly (it actually turned out to be a 7-course meal with all the in-betweens).
Never tasted better scallops (or seen a nicer way to present it), never tasted better and more tender veal - and to top it all the art they created from chocolate is just amazing. The price - 79 Euros per person for the meal - not bad considering the price included all the wines that the chef selected for each of the 7-courses.

If you ever get a chance - I recommend a vistit to this talented young chef Yannick Tessier (33). Find out more at the http://www.parishotelampere.com/

Yesterday we had breakfast in a nearby street cafè, spent a few hours at the Louvre and had a nice long lunch at Cafè Cappucine (near the Opera) - before we collected our luggage at the hotel and headed for the airport. Paris in the spring is nice - but it sure is nice in the fall too.

Energy crisis + Global Warming ?

2009-11-11T19:46:00.000+01:00

Progress:
The ventilation team never showed up today, so we have nothing to report :-(

Events:
In its annual World Energy Outlook released this week the IEA says that unless there is an "energy revolution," the planet will heat up by about 6°C by 2030 — about three times the rate of global warming that is considered manageable by most scientists. That, says the normally sober IEA, "would lead almost certainly to massive climatic change and irreparable damage to the planet." The agency’s chief economist Faith Birol said pre-requisites for such a energy revolution are a strong climate agreement to curtail global emissions up to 2020, and a doubling of carbon prices from current EU levels.

Even after a series of statements like these, some people are still “global warming skeptics” who claim that: “this planet’s natural temperature fluctuations lead to higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere – not the other way around”. Should they be correct in their view on CO2 – there is still a need to act now....

The global recession has brought the first significant yearly drop in energy demand since 1981, giving the planet a rare breather from carbon emissions. But this is a "unique" moment, the report says, whose gains will be quickly obliterated without a significant move toward alternative energies. The impending energy crisis is "far greater than many people realize," it says. (Read "Russia and China: An Old Alliance Hinges on Energy.")

Energy demand will rebound sharply once the recession ends and rise about 40% by 2030. Fossil fuels — oil, coal and gas — will make up about three-quarters of the global increase in energy consumption. One example of the recession’s effect on CO2 emissions is Japan – see article “Japan greenhouse gas emissions fell 6.2% last year”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1937160,00.html#ixzz0WXeEw4d4

Copenhagen delay to cost $500bn a year

The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that holding up a new global climate agreement will add $500 billion for each year of delay to the total cost of measures needed to keep global warming to plus-2 degrees Celsius.
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1727

Finally there is progress to report

2009-11-10T13:36:00.001+01:00

Progress:
We used to have steady cold breeze coming from the loft hatch in the winter, but yesterday the carpenter replaced it with a new and better isolated hatch (as illustrated in the picture below).

Today when we came home from work the carpenters had closed and filled in all the old air hatches in the house - so from this day on the house is at "low energy house" standard (requiring less than 100 KWh/m2 per year).

Now that the aircirculation is minimal, it was good news that the ventilation team finally reported some progress. They had finalized all the in- and output holes for the fresh and "used air" (see picture from the livingroom below)

They had also installed the last two pipes in the ventilation room (see the lower two pipes in the pictures below)

They had also started on the piping behind the indoor-part of the heatpump, in the room next to the ventilationroom (this is where the 4 pipes end up after passing through the wall). See the last two pictures.

Backlog:
The ventilation team still needs to finish the piping that will suck heated air from the area around the heatpump - and then redistribute it around the house (and the same for cool air in the summer). They also have to install an extra fan for a separate loop that distributes cooler air from the ground floor to the bedrooms on the first floor. Last box to be installed is the outside-part of the heatpump (and the wooden cover around it - to make it look better on the outside of the house). Then after some calibration work - the complete system should be ready for handover (and then normal operations).

Recents events:
Brazil urges world leaders to attend UN climate meet:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/11/09/09/brazil-urges-world-leaders-attend-un-climate-meet

Obama set to attend Copenhagen:
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1723
> The fact that Obama and other important leaders intent to participate is probably good news
> I also added the CarbonPositive website to the useful links section (on the right side of this blog) after having found quite a lot of useful background information, facts and a useful FAQ section.

How drastic do the CO2 reductions have to be?

2009-11-06T14:41:00.000+01:00

Progress:

On Friday afternoon when we came home from work the only progress to report was that the old patio door had been replaced with a new patio door. Finally all the windows and doors included in the project have been replaced, and given that the extra isolation was added to the attic some weeks ago - the house should now be fairly well isolated.

Next week they will block all the current air hatches in the house (where the warm inside air has been flowing freely out from the house). When this last part of the "keep the heat inside" project has been completed - it will hopefully be time for switching on the ventilation system (or else there will not be enough circulation of air in our house, and we have to open windows regularly until the ventilation team is ready).

The ventilation team originally promised to have the project finished one week ago, so on Friday morning I asked them (by email) for a new target date - but so far I have not received a response. To me it looks like we are 2 weeks away from the finishing line (if they send their people here and not to other delayed projects).

Comments on global events:

Climate-Accord Deadline May Slip a Year as Nations ‘Play Games’ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTFXPFqcsfbc

> I'm not happy to see this type of news - but I'm not very surprised...
> There will be more of these statements in the press to put pressure on the delegates meeting in Copenhagen on December 7th.

U.S. unemployment rate hits 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate since April, 1983. Job losses total 190,000.
> More depressing news.... There is, however, some effects of the financial crisis that can have positive impact on the CO2 reductions we all want. Reduced activity means less CO2 emissions from the industry and transportation sector (in Russia, this effect has been dramatic) - and more importantly this gives governments an extra incentive to initiate projects that will create jobs and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions (like JAHUS projects).

More on current CO2 emissons and targets for 2020:

In 1990 Norways total emissions of CO2 was ca 50 million tons (or ca 12 tons per capita). The CO2 emissions are expected to increase to 59 million tons of CO2 by 2020 (if nothing is done to reduce the growth in CO2 emissions).

The norwegian government recently stated that by 2020 we will have cut the CO2 emissions by 40% compared to the level in 1990 (50 million tons) - see more on the website below:

"Norway takes over the yellow climate jersey"
http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2319

The reduction per capita should according to this target be 12 tons *40%= ca 5 tons CO2 per capita per year. If my estimates for our JAHUS project we will reduce emissions of CO2 by as much as 30 tons CO2 per year - or 6 tons per person living in the house (5).

How does norwegian numbers compare to for example USA?

In 1990 USAs total emissions of CO2 was ca 5000 million tons (or ca 20 million tons per capita). The CO2 emissions had increased to 6000 million tons of CO2 by 2004 (and stayed on that level since then)

I can recommend this website if you want more details on emissions of green house gases:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/

> Comment: I understand that there are discussions about which year to refer to when I see that there has been only a small increase in CO2 emissions since 1990 in Norway (and the rest of western Europe) - while in the USA the increase has been 20%.

>If all countries were to reduce the CO2 emissions by 30% compared to 1990 - americans would have to reduce CO2 emissions by 20%+30%=50% compared with todays level, while we here in Europe would be compliant at levels of slightly more than 30%.

Scientists think that we need to cut global CO2 emissions with as much as 30% (from the 1990 level)
Developing countries must be allowed some growth in CO2 emissions. Who shall "pay the price"?
Even if there were no global warming and CO2 problem, there is also a growing concern that there just isn't enough energy available when the supply of fossile fuel runs out (next 50 years).

I will follow up next week with more comments about the "fight" over CO2 reductions - leading up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December (Europe-USA-BRIC, developed vs developing countries etc.).

More on CO2 emissions

2009-11-05T16:46:00.000+01:00

Progress today:
The ventilation/heatpump team spent much of today drilling two more holes (ca 30 cm in diameter each) in the concrete wall into the ventilation room. The last two ventilation pipes will pass through much of the ventilation room and through these holes to other parts of the house. I don't know where they will go from there, but I observe that even more of the house gets occupied by the ventilation system.

More on CO2 emissions:
My understanding of the CO2 quotas is that each country gets a CO2 allowance under the Kyoto protocol, and that this "allowance" is split into CO2 quotas that can be traded globally. If a company generates 1000 tons of CO2 too much they pay 21.600 USD for CO2 quotas in the market (from a company/country that generates less CO2).

Compare the approximate 5 USD per ton CO2 performance of our JAHUS project with the 21.6 USD/ton companies have to pay for CO2 quotas. Looks like JAHUS projects are effective CO2 saving projects.

The price of these quotas are expected to rise to 60 USD by 2020 (medium probability - as shown in the graph - but in Euros).

Rather than these CO2 quotas, some countries have introduced green certificates (see additional comments below). The idea is that projects like our JAHUS project can get a green certificate that can be sold to finance (some of-) the project. The total value of the certificates correspond to the CO2 effect of the project - and there is a local marketplace for these certificates. (There is no such market in Norway at the moment - but it would be a good idea to grant green certificates to JAHUS projects. This would surely boost the number of JAHUS projects).

In Norway the government is now financially backing 8 separate initiatives called Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FMEs) - with approximately 145 MUSD. With a total over 8 years of approximately 18 MUSD the goal of the Bioenergy Innovation Centre (CenBio) is to produce renewable energy at a rate of 10TWh/year. The efficiency of this FME would then be approximately 556USD/ton of CO2. My point is not that these FMEs are too expensive considering their CO2 effect - but it illustrates clearly that these projects should be followed by support for projects with a much higher CO2 effect per invested USD like JAHUS projects (introducing cheap loans, making the products tax-free, introducing green certificates etc.).

I have copied some backgroud info below - to help readers get easy access to some of the background information I refer to in my discussions.

Carbon market overview:
Climate change is mainly caused by an accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. At the Rio Conference in 1992, there was a broad international recognition of the need for a common effort in order to mitigate climate change. This resulted in the first international legally binding agreement aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to the UNFCCC, industrialised countries, or Annex I countries, have the main responsibility to mitigate climate change.

In 1997, concrete targets for curbing GHG emissions were established in the Kyoto Protocol. Each Annex I country that has ratified the Kyoto Protocol is obliged to reach a domestic target for carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions, on average of 5.2 % below 1990 emission levels, by the first commitment period of 2008 to 2012. Annex 1 parties emitted around 64 % of total global GHGs in 1990. Non-Annex 1 countries (primarily developing countries) do not have binding targets under the Kyoto Protocol, but must ratify the Protocol in order to be hosting emission reduction projects under the flexible mechanisms (see below). As of 15 January 2008, 177 countries, plus the European Union, have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

A beginner’s guide to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol: http://unfccc.int/

Challenges of the CO2 market include the fact that countries that used to be behind the "iron curtain" (Russia etc.) are in the midst of a serious financial downturn - and as a result they have much more CO2 quotas than what they need (pushing the price of CO2 quotas in the marketplace down).

A Green Certificate: terminology used in Europe - also known as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in the USA, are a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents generation of 1 Megawatthour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varies from certificate trading scheme to trading scheme. Usually, at least the following sources are considered as renewable:

Wind: often further divided into onshore and offshore
Solar: often further divided into photovoltaic and thermal
Wave: often further divided into onshore and offshore
Tidal: often further divided into onshore and offshore
Geothermal
Hydro: often further divided into small - microhydro - and large
Biomass: mainly biofuels, often further divided by actual fuel used.

In contrast to CO2e-Reduction certificates, e.g. AAU's or CER's under the UNFCC, which can be exchanged worldwide, Green Certificates cannot be exchanged/traded between e.g. Belgium an Italy, let alone the USA and the EU member States.

CO2 calculations - part 2

2009-11-04T18:47:00.000+01:00

Blog contents: You may have noticed that I have added some references to other websites and blogs on the righthand side of the blog. I hope you too will find them interesting.

Progress:
Today it went from bad to near-disaster in what used to be our Biliard-room (now our ventilations room). The picture shows the new piping in the ceiling - and believe it or not, they still haven't finished installing stuff in this room (one more fan and two more pipes).

There was also some good news when I came home from work today - the heatpump had been put where we wanted it. We had to pay 500 USD extra for the pump (incl. the installation job) that moves the condensated humidity from the heatpump to the drainage point.

Your own CO2 emissions:
A Audi A4 car sends out 0,197 kg CO2 into the atomspere for every kilometer you drive (http://www.vegvesen.no/). Total emissions during a trip from Oslo to Trondheim and back = 1000km *0,197kg/km= 197 kg CO2

To save 30 tons of CO2 per year (the yearly savings of our JAHUS project, see the blog-post yesterday) - you would have to cut the driving by: 152.000 km !

Most people don't drive that much during a year. A reduction of 5000 km or approx 25% of a normal family cars yearly distance (by using bicycle to work and walking to the grocery store) is more realistic => ca 1 ton CO2

A traditional american diet results in almost 1,5 tons more CO2 emissions a year than a vegetarian diet (with the same number of calories). Converting to a vegetarian diet saves an additional 1.5tons of CO2 per person. With a household of 5 people the savings = 7.5 tons CO2

Drop the 2 trips we (parents only) fly each year to the southern part of Europe. Each person saves 2,6tons of CO2 by not flying to Rome/Italy and back to Oslo - so the total savings is ca 4 * 2,6 = 10,4 tons of CO2

Yes, you can (and should) also do minor things such as limiting the use of warm water for showering, replacing old light bulbs with energy-saver/LED light bulbs, and changing to light bulbs that automatically get switched on when it gets dark and off in the morning.

Add the effects of all the above mentioned measures and we'll still be 10 tons short of matching the estimated savings of 30 tons CO2 associated with our JAHUS project (with no negative effect on lifestyle or comfort). What would you rather do?

For nerds or you and me?

2009-11-03T22:48:00.002+01:00

Today we had lengthy discussions about where to put the indoor-part of the heatpump. The guys wanted to put it "right in your face" when entering the house through our frontdoor, but we want it to be placed somewere more discrete.

They told us there will some water coming out of the unit (condensated humidity from the air) so the unit has to be placed higher than the drainage point. This was new information for us - but found a solution where they put the heatpump where we want it and add a small pump that will make sure the water gets to the drainage point even from a lower point.

Except for the good news that much of the garabage in our garden now has been removed (have they read my blog?) - not much more to report from the project itself.

I also promised to share with you some numbers and calculations......

I have had a hard time putting all the CO2- and energy numbers I read about in the press into perspective. I believe that I'm finally begining to make sense of it all - and I hope that sharing my thoughts with you will be helpful.My objective is to help you compare the effects of different types of climate friendly efforts. Provided below is part 1 of this section - and some of the numbers will have to be added tomorrow (part 2).

Experts say a country like Norway has to spend 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year on efforts to limit/reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions. (Some even say 3%). For Norway spesifically this means approximately 10billion USD a year or 2.500 USD per person per year. To me this sounds like very high numbers - just think for a moment how much you could do in a house (with 5 people) for 12.500 USD/year.

When they see the amount of CO2 emissions saved in a JAHUS project, the governments should at least use some of the 12.500 USD per person to provide cheap loans for JAHUS-type projects (like in France) and make the JAHUS-type products taxfree. I'll get to that tomorrow when I compare the cost of different efforts for saving a ton of CO2 emissions.

I'll start by estimating the savings as a result of our JAHUS project. Last year we spent more on electricity than the average house of our size - but I'll use the standard number 200 KWh/square meter per year (for houses older than 10 years). After the JAHUS project we expect the house to meet the "low energy house" standard which means we're down to 100 KWh/sq meters per year - or a delta of 100KWh/sqm*300sq.meters= 30.000 KWh/year

How do we "translate" this to amounts of CO2 emissions? The norwegian authorities confirm that if we assume there is enough capacity to transfer excess clean electricity from Norway to the continent - then 1 KWh saved here means 1 KWH less of the most dirty electricity on the continent. 1 KWh produced on coal generates 1 kg of CO2. The savings in our house is expected to result in savings of 30 tons of CO2 per year !

If the total cost of the project should end up at a total of 60.000 USD and we expect it to last at least 10 years => 30tons * 10 years / 60.000 USD = 5 kg CO2/USD. This is the cost before we deduct the savings on the electricity bill. A fairly accurate estimate of the price for electricity on the European continent is 0,2USD per KWh and hence 30.000 KWh per year => 6000 USD per year. Multiply this with 10 years and you get .....yes, 60.000 USD (the price of the project).
Saving 30 tons of CO2 per year, getting better indoor climate and the electricity savings pay for "the party"? Sound like a "no-brainer" to me....

The CO2 effects and cost of other efforts we could do will be presented tomorrow.

introduce 3 meat-free days a week
bike to work and leave the car at home
drop the yearly vacation trip to sunny Spain (by air)
limit showers to 5 minutes
drop temperature inside by 1C

How many of these efforts would you have to do to match the effect of a JAHUS project? Join me tomorrow :-)

Delays, delays, delays…

2009-11-02T19:09:00.000+01:00

We hope, and believe, that there will be plenty of reasons for being excited when we finally finish this JAHUS project and can share with you information about the deep cuts in electricity bills and the improved indoor climate.

I feel, however, that it is important that I give you a balanced view of the project. As mentioned in an earlier blog-entry, we were surprised by the dimensions of the ventilation system and today I want to air some frustration regarding delays in the project.

Not only have we lived in a draughty and cold house for more than 2 months, but as you can see from the picture – the construction company has stopped using containers and our garden is now storage area for all the removed windows and other garbage from the construction work.

We have added more pictures of the half-finished ventilation system at the end of this blog-post.

There are two aspects to delays – the delay itself and how the expectations are set by the project leader. We have many times been promised that a milestone will be reached one week later – and then two weeks later, when we ask for status, they say (again) that it will be finished next week.

We don’t have a contract with given deadlines and penalties associated with delays. Such a contract would probably have helped – but I expect that the total price would have gone up, and I do understand the problem they face when personnel call in sick (the flue) and the delivery of windows is delayed from the subcontractor. I prefer to work with the team rather than against them (pointing at the contract all the time).

If the expectations had been set more correctly, I still believe that we would have initiated this project – but there would have been considerably less frustration on our part.

Like they say on commercial TV stations...."Don't go away! After the break we have all these goodies lined up for you.." What effect would you get from cancelling the charter-trip by plane to Spain or sell your thirsty SUV? Maybe the effect of a JAHUS project reduces CO2 emissions more - and much more pleasantly than “extreme actions” such as not eating meat or jumping on your bicycle to get to work rather than in the comfort of your car? In my next blog-post (tomorrow) I will include some thoughts and calculations on energy saved (and equivalent CO2 emissions) for different scenarios.

Some of the facts about the delays have been included below for reference.

Like most energy efficiency projects, this one started off as a renovation project (a bedroom, a bathroom and a restroom/WC). During the summer I read the book “Sustainable energy without the hot air” (http://www.withouthotair.com/) - and as a result we decided to add isolation, replace old windows, buy a heatpump and add a ventilation system (see proposal 2).

The initial proposal (1) was accepted July1st

The actual construction work started after the summer vacation on August 24th. (according to plan). 3 months later we believe they will have finished this project.
They said that 3-4 weeks from project start they would start to install the new bathroom furniture. Two months and two weeks later we hope that this work will be completed (by the end of this week).
The new shower cabinet was ordered on September 10th. Nobody said anything about delivery problems, but it will not be delivered until Friday November 13th (9 weeks later)
Tiles, bathroom furniture and the wardrobe cabinet were chosen “just in time” (when they asked us). There should have been no delays caused by late decision from us.

Proposal 2 included the actual JAHUS project - adding isolation, replacing old windows/doors, a heatpump and a ventilation system.

Add isolation to the attic: was accepted August 31st. Delivered on time.
Replacing windows/doors: was accepted August 20th. 11 weeks later we are still waiting for the patio door, but the windows have been replaced (and the “makup” work will be finalized this week).
Ventilation system and heatpump: was accepted the proposal on September 18th and is now (6 weeks later) still work-in-progress. 2 weeks ago they promised to have it completed last week, but we expect at least 2 more weeks.

Another day of surprises

2009-10-30T22:36:00.001+01:00

Our daughters were laughing when I came home after work today. "You've got to see this" they said and pulled me into the room where we used to play billiard.

The picture shows how the room had been turned into a ventilation room. The size of the piping is a lot bigger than what we had expected and occupies much of the room.

My wife is still in shock after having seen "this monster". The solution better work well when we push the "start-button". My daughters, however, keep on laughing and says it almost looks like art :-)

Even though there is a lot of piping in place, the team still has to install the heatpump and another fan - and more piping next week before we can push the start button.

Below are some more pictures from the ventilation system - in the attic, coming down to ground floor and different angles in the ventilation room.

More on ventilation

2009-10-29T21:14:00.000+01:00

The scaffolding outside our house was still there when we came home today as the picture to the left illustrates. Probably because they have to put back the awnings.

We had hoped that they would replace the patio-door today, but the carpenters have been busy inside the house - helping the ventilation team add piping from the attic via first floor to the ground floor. This is illustrated in the pictures below.

Piping from the attic via a cabinet on the first floor to the ground floor (first picture) - where the ventilation unit has been installed (second picture).

Notice the diameter on the piping (ca 40 cm each). They say this is to avoid noice in the ventilation system.

We used these cabinets for clothes, but we'll have to find somewhere else to hang them now.

Above the ventilation unit you can see two holes in the concrete wall. The were made today to connect to the outside part of the heatpump and to get air for the ventilation system.

The outside temperature is below zero these days and we're really looking forward to start the ventilation-system and heatpump - because in this construction phase it gets quite cold inside as well.

The last picture shows were the piping comes down to the ground floor and from here they have to drill 40cm holes in the concrete wall to get the piping in to the room were the ventilation unit is located.