Micro, Macro and Me

We have had a major renovation of the roof, with an installation of a 40-panel Solar Power system. There are still some corrections to be done by the installation company later this fall. We expect to convert some 13 MWh of solar energy to electricity per year. Some of my friends have asked me if I plan to save the energy for later usage. The short answer is "no - too expensive and too little storage capacity". Generally, it is cheaper to sell electricity to the power grid and buy when needed. Let's explore what it would mean to save energy and sell when it is more expensive: Normally, the productive hours are between 10:00 and 16:00. On a particular day (2021-09-16),  the price fell to 1.35 SEK/kWh at 2 PM. If I stored 10 kWh (13.5 SEK) at that time, I would have 9 kWh in the battery, assuming 10% heat loss for the battery. Later that evening, the price increased to 1.95 SEK per kWh. When selling that energy to the grid, I would get 17.55 SEK. That would make me 4 SEK.  ...

As I predicted, I increased my personal CO2e emissions this year to 3.8 tonnes.  This is mainly due to the relocation of me and my family to a house in Åkarp outside Malmö. We bought quite a lot of furniture, tools and services during the year. The pandemic reduced our travels and consumption, so this year wasn't as dirty as I feared. I compare my personal emissions with the average personal emissions in Sweden: In 2018, I emitted 4.7 tonnes, on par with the average of 4.8 tonnes. (98%) In 2019, I emitted 2.9 tonnes. The data from SCB isn't available yet, but if I extrapolate the falling trend, the average would be 4.6 tonnes. (~63%) In 2019, I emitted 3.8 tonnes. The data from SCB isn't available yet, but extrapolated values together with a pandemic makes a very rough guess at 4 tonnes (95%). It is clear that there will be some restrictions in 2021, so I expect to have quite low emissions this year. However, my family has relatives abroad, so there is some likelihood for l...

It is clear that our consumption leads to irreversible harm to our world. In this blog post I'll estimate the emissions for a person that lives on subsistence. Merriam-Webster defines subsistence as Another definition would be: The lowest standard of living any human being should have. For Sweden, I've found two sources: The Enforcement Agency (Kronofogden) and The National Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). For simplicity, I'll follow the calculator from Socialstyrelsen that indicates whether one can qualify for subsidence support. The subsistence consists of two parts: Personal expenses for the individual, for example food and clothes. Shared common expenses for the household, for example utility bills and newspapers. I'll calculate the levels for a single adult. Living: The guideline from Socialstyrelsen is one bedroom, one kitchen and one livingroom - roughly 60 square meters. Electricity 1500 kWh per year Monthly Personal Expenses...

I've seen some posts in my circles about concernds for 5G and negative health effects. In this blog post, I'll discuss some basic Radiation Physics and why I'm not worried about health effects from electromagnetic radiation in the frequency bands that will be used by 5G. Disclaimer: I'm working in the 5G industry. This means that I'm familiar with the radio technology and some of the standards of 5G. I also own stocks in ERICSSON B. Excecutive Summary: 5G is most likely safe. The frequencies that 5G will use are far below the dangeerous (Ionizing Radiation) frequencies. As long as one stays more than ten meters away from a base station, the total energy absorbed (heat) will be below the ICNIRP recommendations.- According to WHO, no harmful effects of wireless communications has been found. Lights from lamps will deliver more energy to you, with much more energetic photons. They are safe, too. Light from the sun will have much higher power and photon...

Promise One year ago, I promised to reduce my personal consumption based CO2e emissions from 4.7 tonnes to 3.8 tonnes. Result In 2019, my personal consumption based CO2e emissions was 2.9 tonnes - a reduction of 1.8 tonnes. Together with the public emissions of 3.8 tonnes, that gives a total of 6.6 tonnes of CO2e. I've honored my NYE resolution but my emission levels are far from sustainable. The average in Sweden is some 6 tonnes of personal consumption based CO2e emissions, so I'm a bit below the average but still higher than the one tonne target from IPCC. My emission levels are not OK! However, I've reached the conclusion that this issue is larger than the sum of individuals and their actions. While some individuals stop flying, others keep flying and governments build new airports and expand existing ones. Individuals buy electric bikes, while governments builds pipelines and can't decide whether to expand oil refineries or not. Get me right - the con...

I've been busy with our next home - papers are signed and relocation will happen next spring. The impact for this blog will be a slight shift of focus on this blog. I'll still have some discussions about resources on a macro and micro scale but I'll also investigate how to approach a sustainable life in suburbia. I won't move far though. We'll move to a community between Lund and Malmö, 8 km from our current home. During the summer, I've helped out with reviewing some sources for a publication by Extinction Rebellion that is distributed to political leaders around Sweden. I have reached the conclusion that reducing my own emissions won't be enough to stop the ongoing global heating. I need to speak louder and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help XR with the publication. I'll elaborate more on my thoughts in the next blog post. Side note:  My current prediction is 2.3 tonnes of CO2e of personal consumption based emissions for 2019. To...

I saw one infographic about the biomass of humans in relation to the wild and domesticated mammals. Note that the wild animals (mammals) include both marine mammals and land mammals. I couldn't believe that graph - do we outweigh all the wild lions, monkeys, bears, kangaroos, mice, elephants ... by a factor 9:1? The quoted  article  estimates the biomass in terms of GtC (billions of tonnes of carbon. A human being has roughly 8 kg of carbon (and ~60 kg of other elements) and mankind has a total biomass of 6 GtC, for example. See also the book The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics and Change  (I need to confess, that I haven't read that book). https://xkcd.com/1338/ The total biomass for humans outweigh the wild mammals by a factor 9:1. What does this mean for us? Let's return to the small island that I discussed before , where the land area of the world is divided evenly between all humans. You'll find it slightly smaller but don't worry a...