Micro, Macro and Me

Two years has passed since my last annual update... This year, a lot of my focus has been escalation of the unjustifiable war against Ukraine.  Even if Sweden is not directly involved in the battles of the war, the aggressor has made explicit demands that Sweden (along with Finland, Moldova, Ukraine and several NATO and EU members) shall be subjugated to the aggressor. We are all affected by this war and we must do everything needed to help Ukraine stop the aggressions and make Europe a continent under the rule of law again.  My reaction to the war has focused on four areas: Energy efficiency - This year, I'm not the only one to be obsessed with energy efficiency. I have been reducing my electricity consumption to offload the power grid and to prevent blackouts. More about that below. Supporting refugees - I have re-joined a volunteer group in my area, that is giving support to refugees from Ukraine and other countries. I've also been a team leader in that group. Financial supp

 After 16 months, our solar plant has generated 18 000 kWh of electricity. I expect the savings to be more than €3 000 for 2022. As I'm obsessed with global heating and avoiding CO2e emissions, I'm interested in how much CO2e we have avoided. Let's dig into the numbers: According to Sungrow - 1 kg CO2e per kWh The Inverter producer (Sungrow) compares the electricity generation with coal-burning electricity. Combining 1 kg Coal gives ~3.7 kg carbon dioxide and gives up to 9 kWh. If the thermic energy is converted to electricity with 33% efficiency, one kWh will generate 1.2 kg CO2e.  That would cancel the emissions from my entire family's personal consumption, if that number would reflect our savings. But it doesn't. Averaging to the Swedish Electricity Mix ~13 g CO2e per kWh Luckily, the electricity production in Sweden is almost coal-free. Most of the electricity is generated from wind and water, and also extracted from nuclear nucular  power. What is the CO2e cos

Under sommaren installerade vi en solcellsanläggning i samband med en totalentreprenad. Anläggningen ger effekt som planerat, men en besiktning visade allvarliga brister i installationen. Efter sex månader av animerade diskussioner fick vi firman att rätta till anmärkningarna.  Avståndet i höjdled mellan solcellerna är nu en centimeter. Jag listar de tips som jag hade haft nytta av i denna post. Offert - innan ni skriver på Viktigast av allt är att förklara för solcellsfirman att detta inte är ett hobbyprojekt utan en starkströmsanläggning som monteras på ert hem - det måste göras enligt regler och anvisningar.  Solcellsfirman bör vara medlem i branchorganisationer som t ex Svensk Solenergi . Solcellsfirman ska vara listad hos Elsäkerhetsverket för Elproduktionsanläggningar (Lågspänning). Om företaget installerar på sin egna anläggning behöver de inte vara listade men då måste de ha egenkontrollprogram. Ring Elsäkerhetsverket om du har minsta frågetecken om Solcellsfirmans behörighet.

As a home and solar cell owner, I've seen two stupid incentives that will encourage some to waste electricity and encourage some other to turn off their solar systems. I'm not complaining about my electricity bill, the last one happened to be very low. Why It Is Sometimes a Good Idea to Turn Off Swedish Solar Systems Some Swedish houses with solar panels have only covered a part of the roof . Some other house owners turn them off during fall , or choose to waste energy the last months of the year. Why? They fear they will produce too much electricity, and doing so can be expensive. As a residential solar power owner, it is important not to produce more electricity than you consume. If that is the case, I qualify as a microproducer , and I don't need to pay Input Fees ( Inmatningsavgifter ) to the grid owner. If I have a surplus, the grid owner may charge me, and that may cost thousands of Swedish kronor. Fortunately, it seems that not all companies do so. This could easily

Summary : The idea behind offsetting carbon emissions is to pay someone else to reduce his/her emissions and to relate that reduction to ones own emissions. It can be a good thing - or a bad thing.  If the purpose is to keep polluting with a green-washed conscience, it is a bad thing.  If the purpose is to reduce your own pollution and help others to reduce theirs, it is a good thing. There are some ways to offset carbon as an individual. Some are credible and others seems to be scams and green-washing.  In this blog post, I'm trying to learn more about offsetting, when to use it and how to do it. Ester hoped that her younger cousin Grace would fall a sleep early this evening - in vain. Three days before the last year project in Chemistry was due and a "B" in STEM wasn't an option. Now, Grace was occupied with a jigsaw puzzle and Ester was able to focus on her project. The smell of kerosene from the lamp was a bit ironic - Ester's project was focusing

30-second summary: We emitted more CO2e than ever in 2018.  Heat waves in Europe with higher temperatures than the disastrous heat wave in 2003.  Heat wave and severe water shortage in India that will worsen the coming years.  Heat waves are predicted results of global heating. The Strait of Hormuz is essential for oil supply. Anyone who controls it will control the world economy. US are deploying troops and amphibious assault ships to that region. Is that a threat or preparations for war against Iran? 660k Swedish Facebook users are opposing high petrol prices. The group has addressed an urban-rural conflict area, and might defer politicians from tackling global heating. When I started this blog, I wanted to avoid discussing current events and focus on slower and more profound changes in the world we live in and the lives we will be able to live. This blog post will be an exception and I will discuss some recent events. Oil - BP's Statistical Review of Global Energy 201

When I digged into the numbers for this blog post, I found some of my misunderstandings about our relation to oil: Renewable energy is replacing fossile fuels: False Globally, the share of renewables increased by 14% between 2016 and 2017 (an increase of almost 70 Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalents). The global share of fossile fuels decreased slightly from 85,5% to 85,18%. But the total supply of fossile fuels increased by almost 180 MTOe. Fossile fuels is growing more than twice as much as renewables! This is a school-book example of why it is important to distinguish absolute increases from percent-wise increases. Sweden has phased out fossile fuels and is a role model for the world : False. Sweden imports some 10 million tonnes of oil per year - one tonne per person. The global consumption is 4.5 billion tonnes per year -  600 kg per year and person. Nope. Looking at the oil reserves, this is bad news. I'll start discussing why without mentioning Global Warming in th

A couple of months ago, I discussed how much land each of us would have, if the global land mass was distributed evenly. Now, I'll look at some important natural resources. Return of Investment When discussing resources and reserves, it is very important to distinguish them. I'll illustrate with an apple tree that provide me with apples to eat. The first apples that I pick are the big, juicy ones between one and two meters above the ground. Why those apples and not smaller, half rotten apples that lie on the ground or big apples five meters above the ground? The answer is Return of Investment . The effort (investment) of picking easily accessible, big and juicy apples is low and the returns are high. When all the low-hanging fruit is taken, I'll pick the slightly smaller and non-perfect apples. The returns are diminishing and thus the Return of Investment falls. Perhaps, I decide to go for the high-altitude apples, taking a risk of falling, buying a ladder or asking