Long time - no see...

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

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

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

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?

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

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: 

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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?

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.