Houses can be small power stations. A Danish family is among one of the first in the world to test how it is to live in a house, which produces more eneregy than it uses.Sverre Simonsen shows a couple of journalists from the Danish home and lifestyle magazine ”Bo Bedre” around his house. At the same time, 20 journalists from all over the world are ringing the doorbell. All the visitors are the only drawback to being a test family in the plus energy house, says Sverre Simonsen.
He is the father in the test family of four, who have moved into the ”Home for life” house in the Aarhus suburb of Lystrup. They will spend the next year testing how it is to live in a house that produces more energy than the occupants consume.
The family have lived in the house for a few months and so far they have enjoyed their stay. The house, which is 195m 2 ,has a panoramic view of the sea, but that it not the only advantage.
”Our conscience is a little better living here compared to living in a normal house with greater energy consumption,” says Sverre Simonsen, who previously lived in a 1970s single-family house.
He is enthusiastic about showing people around the house, which uses solar cells, solar panels on the roof, heat pumps and special energy windows to produce all the energy for ventilation, heating and warm water and lighting.
The perspective for the plus energy house is very good, according to the Velfac company who have built the house in Lystrup. 40 percent of all European CO2 emissions come from buildings. Building new energy-friendly houses or energy renovating existing houses therefore has great potential.
The house in Lystrup costs approx 200.000 Euros more than an ordinary single-family house in the same area. On the other hand, the house will pay for itself within 40 years due to the energy savings. Velfac would, however, like to develop the concept further, so that the house can become a standard house, with a purchase price that is within the financial reach of middle class families.
gy than it uses
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Major companies are getting on board with electric cars
Denmark is aiming to be the leading country for electric cars. And major industrial enterprises, car manufacturers and energy companies are all helping. The most recent example is the German car rental company Sixt, who have decided to send 200-300 Citroen C1 electric cars onto the Danish market.
The company will both sell and hire out the C1 cars. If on a particular day you need to drive further than the 120 km that the car’s battery can manage, you can exchange the car for a petrol-driven car at Sixt.
Europeans very rarely drive more than 60 km a day and Sixt’ Danish Managing Director Kasper Gjedsted does not think that having to visit a Sixt rental location before driving a long way will stop car-owners being spontaneous.
- If you are driving 200 km, you already need to have talked to your aunt and have taken care of various things before leaving home. We have 24 hour service and by the end of the year we will have a total of 20 offices around Denmark, explains Kasper Gjedsted.
The car can be attached to a conventional 220 volt socket at home. There is very wide-ranging interest in electric cars – extending from individual motorists to municipalities and companies.
Major industrial enterprises are also keeping an eye on the electric car market. Danfoss has recently developed components for the cooling and management of the electricity in electric cars. And Danfoss say that they are in talks with just about all car manufacturers regarding components for electric cars.
- You won’t find a car manufacturer who does not have a project concerning electric cars or hybrid cars, but it is difficult to say when this will become mainstream, says Claus A. Petersen, Director of Danfoss Silicium Power in Germany, to the Danish magazine Ingeniøren.
The company will both sell and hire out the C1 cars. If on a particular day you need to drive further than the 120 km that the car’s battery can manage, you can exchange the car for a petrol-driven car at Sixt.
Europeans very rarely drive more than 60 km a day and Sixt’ Danish Managing Director Kasper Gjedsted does not think that having to visit a Sixt rental location before driving a long way will stop car-owners being spontaneous.
- If you are driving 200 km, you already need to have talked to your aunt and have taken care of various things before leaving home. We have 24 hour service and by the end of the year we will have a total of 20 offices around Denmark, explains Kasper Gjedsted.
The car can be attached to a conventional 220 volt socket at home. There is very wide-ranging interest in electric cars – extending from individual motorists to municipalities and companies.
Major industrial enterprises are also keeping an eye on the electric car market. Danfoss has recently developed components for the cooling and management of the electricity in electric cars. And Danfoss say that they are in talks with just about all car manufacturers regarding components for electric cars.
- You won’t find a car manufacturer who does not have a project concerning electric cars or hybrid cars, but it is difficult to say when this will become mainstream, says Claus A. Petersen, Director of Danfoss Silicium Power in Germany, to the Danish magazine Ingeniøren.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Greenland dialogue moves to New York
With only three months left before the climate conference COP15 in Copenhagen, the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard, has invited a number of influential climate and environment politicians to New York on September 19 and 20.
The purpose is to maintain momentum in the international climate negotiations. The meeting continues Hedegaard's annual, informal climate summit, known as the Greenland dialogue that provides an informal setting for ministers to debate openly the most pressing issues up to COP15 in Copenhagen.
”With less than 100 days left until we meet in Copenhagen, it is important to give further impetus to the negotiations. The ministerial meeting could be a major input into the negotiations on a global climate agreement. It is possible to achieve success in Copenhagen, and the time is right to achieve common understanding about key policy issues and how they can be resolved in a reasonable way,” says Connie Hedegaard.
The purpose is to maintain momentum in the international climate negotiations. The meeting continues Hedegaard's annual, informal climate summit, known as the Greenland dialogue that provides an informal setting for ministers to debate openly the most pressing issues up to COP15 in Copenhagen.
”With less than 100 days left until we meet in Copenhagen, it is important to give further impetus to the negotiations. The ministerial meeting could be a major input into the negotiations on a global climate agreement. It is possible to achieve success in Copenhagen, and the time is right to achieve common understanding about key policy issues and how they can be resolved in a reasonable way,” says Connie Hedegaard.
Miliband: Global deal on climate change at risk
Hopes for an agreement being reached at a United Nations summit in December "hang in the balance," undermined by a climate of suspicion between rich and poor countries, said Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking at a press conference with his brother, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.
Nations will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to attempt to strike a pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which bound 37 industrial countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012.
But David Miliband told reporters in London that the complexity of negotiations and disputes between industrialized and developing nations over cuts to emissions threaten to scupper a deal.
"The deal the world needs in Copenhagen is now in the balance," he said. "There's a real danger the talks scheduled for December will not reach a positive outcome, and an equal danger in the run-up to Copenhagen that people don't wake up to the danger of failure until it's too late."
The Kyoto accord placed no obligations on developing countries, but now industrialized nations want countries including India and China — seen by many as the world's largest polluter — to agree to stall, and eventually cut, their emissions.
David Miliband is due to travel this week to France, the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark to meet fellow foreign ministers and discuss how European nations can try to influence reluctant nations.
Nations will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to attempt to strike a pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which bound 37 industrial countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012.
But David Miliband told reporters in London that the complexity of negotiations and disputes between industrialized and developing nations over cuts to emissions threaten to scupper a deal.
"The deal the world needs in Copenhagen is now in the balance," he said. "There's a real danger the talks scheduled for December will not reach a positive outcome, and an equal danger in the run-up to Copenhagen that people don't wake up to the danger of failure until it's too late."
The Kyoto accord placed no obligations on developing countries, but now industrialized nations want countries including India and China — seen by many as the world's largest polluter — to agree to stall, and eventually cut, their emissions.
David Miliband is due to travel this week to France, the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark to meet fellow foreign ministers and discuss how European nations can try to influence reluctant nations.
EU welcomes Japan climate plan
The European Union is welcoming plans by Japan's incoming prime minister to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said Tuesday the proposal is "really very encouraging" for those trying to negotiate a new global climate change pact.
The Democratic Party of Japan, which won last month's national elections, promised during the campaign to reduce the country's emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels.
The EU has promised to cut its emissions 20 percent by 2020, but is willing to cut up to 30 percent if rich countries follow suit.
Japan's pledge comes before a United Nations conference in Copenhagen, where countries hope to forge a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said Tuesday the proposal is "really very encouraging" for those trying to negotiate a new global climate change pact.
The Democratic Party of Japan, which won last month's national elections, promised during the campaign to reduce the country's emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels.
The EU has promised to cut its emissions 20 percent by 2020, but is willing to cut up to 30 percent if rich countries follow suit.
Japan's pledge comes before a United Nations conference in Copenhagen, where countries hope to forge a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
UN: Ease patent protection of climate friendly technologies
Ease patent protection of climate-friendly equipment and goods that embed climate-friendly technology.
The proposal comes from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD. It aims at helping developing countries adapt to the consequences of climate change, but also to support their contribution to climate change mitigation.
“It is important that all developing countries, including the poorest, have the capacity to build these technologies themselves,” UN economist Detlef Kotte says in an interview before releasing a 217-page report on the issue, which he wrote with several colleagues, according to Bloomberg.
The proposal entails that companies like windmill maker General Electric Co. or hybrid-car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp. could be forced to unveil their technologies. Also at stake are technologies to genetically modify crops resistant to droughts brought on by global warming, writes London-based Chatham House Environment Director Bernice Lee in an e-mail, according to Bloomberg.
The proposal comes from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD. It aims at helping developing countries adapt to the consequences of climate change, but also to support their contribution to climate change mitigation.
“It is important that all developing countries, including the poorest, have the capacity to build these technologies themselves,” UN economist Detlef Kotte says in an interview before releasing a 217-page report on the issue, which he wrote with several colleagues, according to Bloomberg.
The proposal entails that companies like windmill maker General Electric Co. or hybrid-car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp. could be forced to unveil their technologies. Also at stake are technologies to genetically modify crops resistant to droughts brought on by global warming, writes London-based Chatham House Environment Director Bernice Lee in an e-mail, according to Bloomberg.
White House Advisor Van Jones Resigns, but Should Not Quit
White House environmental advisor Van Jones resigned late Saturday [September 5, 2009] amid escalating controversy over some of his past statements, actions and associations, citing a "vicious smear campaign against me" that threatened to disrupt President Obama's agenda.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in a statement announcing his resignation. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."
"I have been inundated with calls—from across the political spectrum—urging me to 'stay and fight,'" Jones continued. "But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."
Jones' decision to refocus attention on critical issues by removing himself as a target is a standard political maneuver, but it's likely to be only marginally successful. While Jones' resignation does take him out of the line of fire and provides one less distraction, it doesn't guarantee his detractors will stop trying to sideline major national issues by stirring up minor ones.
Ironically, Jones never sought nor expressed any desire for a high-level government job. From all reports, he was more surprised than anyone when President Obama asked him to join the White House Council on Environmental Quality as special advisor on green jobs, enterprise and innovation. He was waging an ongoing battle for civil rights and environmental justice, and outlining a vision for how a sustainable green economy could lift minority communities out of poverty, hopelessness and despair.
I'm not defending or denouncing the controversial things Jones may have said and done. So many things have been distorted, taken out of context, or offered as direct quotes when they are actually third-hand attributions that it's hard to get at the truth.
Frankly, I don't care that much. Most of the actual allegations leveled against Jones are pretty minor, despite the efforts of right-wing commentators and politicians to paint them as indicators of much bigger problems. I'm more interested in his ideas and his track record in turning those ideas into effective programs to fight poverty while helping the environment.
When President Obama invited Jones to join his "green team," a lot of people wondered whether, as a government employee, Jones could possibly remain the effective leader and advocate that got him the job in the first place. With the door to government service firmly closed for now, that question is moot. Yet, my guess is Jones will continue to work on the social and environmental problems that have engaged him for so long, to protest injustice, and to share his vision for a better world.
Government, and all of us, would be wise to listen.
"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in a statement announcing his resignation. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."
"I have been inundated with calls—from across the political spectrum—urging me to 'stay and fight,'" Jones continued. "But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."
Jones' decision to refocus attention on critical issues by removing himself as a target is a standard political maneuver, but it's likely to be only marginally successful. While Jones' resignation does take him out of the line of fire and provides one less distraction, it doesn't guarantee his detractors will stop trying to sideline major national issues by stirring up minor ones.
Ironically, Jones never sought nor expressed any desire for a high-level government job. From all reports, he was more surprised than anyone when President Obama asked him to join the White House Council on Environmental Quality as special advisor on green jobs, enterprise and innovation. He was waging an ongoing battle for civil rights and environmental justice, and outlining a vision for how a sustainable green economy could lift minority communities out of poverty, hopelessness and despair.
I'm not defending or denouncing the controversial things Jones may have said and done. So many things have been distorted, taken out of context, or offered as direct quotes when they are actually third-hand attributions that it's hard to get at the truth.
Frankly, I don't care that much. Most of the actual allegations leveled against Jones are pretty minor, despite the efforts of right-wing commentators and politicians to paint them as indicators of much bigger problems. I'm more interested in his ideas and his track record in turning those ideas into effective programs to fight poverty while helping the environment.
When President Obama invited Jones to join his "green team," a lot of people wondered whether, as a government employee, Jones could possibly remain the effective leader and advocate that got him the job in the first place. With the door to government service firmly closed for now, that question is moot. Yet, my guess is Jones will continue to work on the social and environmental problems that have engaged him for so long, to protest injustice, and to share his vision for a better world.
Government, and all of us, would be wise to listen.
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