Nature.is

Energy Use - Guidelines

There are several energy labels in the world today and the best known one is probably “Energy Star”, an energy label designed and supervised by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in America and the U.S. Ministry of Energy. As can be expected most energy labels concern electrical appliances. In general it can be said that only a small part of the energy that enters Earth’s atmosphere is being used to satisfy the needs of mankind and that therefore there is no energy crisis. However the problem is that we have not yet learned how to harness the energy in an ecological and efficient manner. Therefore we are still using fossil fuels and coal for electricity production, space heating and transport.

Fortunately, Icelanders have not been forced to use fossil fuels for space heating or electrical production except in a very few cases. Nevertheless the release of greenhouse gasses is similar in Iceland as in other European countries, and energy use per capita is one of the highest in Europe. This situation is mainly caused by a large fishing fleet and energy-intensive industry. Even though electricity in Iceland comes mainly from hydropower, this fact does not mean that we can just use energy as we please. In the first place energy is expensive and in the second place hydropower has a certain negative environmental impact. In fact if Icelanders were to save energy and use existing hydropower more effectively they could export more than they do. All energy-intensive industry is an indirect export of electricity and electricity is a local resource that can replace fossil fuels such as gasoline and oil. If I Icelanders were to reduce their energy use then it would be possible to use what was saved for hydrogen production which hopefully would replace gasoline and oil for transport within a few years. This is only a simple example showing that everything is connected; energy saving in the home or in the workplace saves not only money but also can benefit the environment.

Energy Use

The simplest way to buy the most efficient appliances is to check their energy use. Energy use is usually measured in watts, (W), kilowatts (kW), kilowatt-hours (kWst) or amount of fuel used.

The relation between W, kW and kWst

The energy use of electric appliances is usually measured in W, for instance a 60 watt light bulb. One kilowatt is 1000 W. It is therefore possible to write 60 W also as 0,06 kW. One kWhour corresponds to one kW used or produced in one hour. A 60W lightbulb shining for 16 hours and 40 minutes uses one kWhour of electricity.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency very rarely reaches 100%. Most of the energy in a 60W lightbulb is used to generate heat instead of light. It is possible to obtain a similar amount of lighting from an energy saving lightbulb which is only about 11W. A Kilowatthour (kWh) is the same as  watts x  the number of hours /1000. The  number of hours in one year is 8760 (36524). A 40 watt lightbulb which glows for one year, therefore, requires about 350 kWh  and costs about 3000 IKR. To have several lightbulbs glowing for no reason can be costly.

Energy Use

Energy use can be described and represented in several different ways. For electric appliances and lightbulbs it is most usual to describe energy use in watts.  For cars,   energy use is usually described as fuel use, that is, fuel use per 100 km. With the arrival of new fuels it is also possible to represent fuel use indirectly by listing the amount of carbon dioxide released per driven km. A car using 10 litres per 100 km for instance releases 230 gr. of carbon dioxide per driven km. When considering various electrical or fuel driven appliances the energy use is described in watts (W) or fuel use per hour.   
Energy losses of some construction materials, like windowpanes, are measured with a heat release constant, sometimes called the cooling constant. The cooling constant is measured as watts per square meter (W/m2°C) and is used to measure the energy  emitted through each square meter of windowpane. The lower the cooling constant,  the lower the energy release is through the window in question or  insulated  material. In Iceland all residential housing or other housing where people dwell shall for instance have  insulation glass with a cooling constant lower than 2,0  W/m2.

Evaluation

Environmental Standards for Companies

What are Environmental Standards?

Environmental standards are by nature not different from financial goals. The purpose of both is to measure the concrete results of the company’s production in the different areas. But even though it’s easy to assert that financial and environmental goals are interdependent, there is one fundamental difference. The financial goals have developed through decades or even ages while environmental standards are a relatively new phenomenon. Businesses didn’t start setting environmental standards and priorities until around 1996 when the ISO 14001 standard was first approved. This fundamental difference between financial and environmental goals is, however, of a great practical significance.

The fiscal accounting of companies usually aim at managing in an accessible manner the key financial figures. The systems are constructed so that all the most relevant financial information can be derived from the system in order to strengthen the company’s position in the world of strong competition. Environmental information is by default not incorporated into the information systems of companies as financial information is. To define environmental standards and goals is actually not difficult as such. The complexity arises when figuring out how and where to collect environmental information from the company’s information system.

As environmental information is often somewhat limited, there is a general tendency to measure those environmental factors that can be measured instead of measuring those factors that are critical. The basis for all standards and goals is to know the basic position before the standards and goals are put forward. Without knowing the current position it is very difficult to know whether specific goals have been met or standards have been fulfilled.

Not knowing the current position is probably the most common mistake companies make when defining their environmental goals. The goals often become nothing else than a pretty purpose without possible verification of whether they have been reached or not. A basic precondition for all goal making is to define the current position before the goals and standards are defined.

Evaluation

Hvað eru fótspor í umhverfinu?

Hugtakið Ecological Footprint (vistfræðilegt fótspor) er notað um mælieiningu þess sem við mennirnir þurfum/notum mikið af landi á líftíma okkar, bæði til að koma á móts við neyslu og til að taka á móti sorpinu sem frá okkur kemur, miðað við þá tækni sem nútíminn bíður upp á við öflun og förgun. Mælieiningin sýnir hvað við skiljum eftir okkur og er umfram sjálfbært líf, sem væri í þessu samhengi sama sem núll eða enginn hektari lands.

Ef við skiptum Jörðinni niður á íbúana sem eru í dag um 6,5 milljarðar, fengi hver íbúi um 1,78 hektara. Það er ef að heimurinn væri sanngjarn, sem hann er auðvitað ekki. Sem dæmi um raunveruleikann má nefna að meðalmaður í Bandaríkjunum notar sem samsvarar 9,57 hekturum lands á líftíma sínum en Evrópubúi sem heldur neyslu sinni í skefjum og lifir „umhverfisvænum lífsstíl“ notar samt um 4,8 hektara. Indverjar nota minnst eða 0,5 hektara.

Ef að við reiknum með því að 300.000 Íslendingar eyði svipað og meðal-Ameríkani (sem er ekki fjarri lagi eða?) þýðir það að við séum að ganga á 2.871.000 hektara eða 28.710 km2 af Íslandi, þ.e. þriðjung landsins, nú þegar. Ef allir notuðu jafn stóran hlut og Ameríkanar og við Íslendingar, þyrftum við Jarðarbúar að eignast fleiri hnetti til að búa á eða þrjár jarðarkúlur til viðbótar þeirri sem við erum að ganga á núna. Á árinu 2001 fór mannkynið að nota um 1,2* af getu Jarðar eða um 20% meira en hún þolir. Athugið að þetta var árið 2001 og Jörðin sjálf hefur ekki stækkað neitt eða bætt við getu sína til að gefa af sér né taka við síðan.

Þessir útreikningar gera ráð fyrir því að Jörðin sé ekki aðeins eitt allsherjar yfirráðasvæði mannsins og gert er ráð fyrir því að aðrar dýra- og plöntutegundir þurfi einnig sitt lífrými, enda gætum við ekki lifað án þeirra heldur. Svo þessi 12% sem þeim eru ætluð eru auðvitað aðeins reiknað þeim á eigingjörnum forsendum, ekki vegna manngæsku eða vegna virðingar fyrir líffræðilegri fjölbreytni.

*miðað við að 1 sé geta Jarðar.
Til að skoða þetta nánar farið á: ecofoot.org, zerofootprint.net, footprintnetwork.org.

Evaluation

What are Environmental Standards?

Environmental standards are by nature not different from financial goals. The purpose of both is to measure the concrete results of the company’s production in the different areas. But even though it’s easy to assert that financial and environmental goals are interdependent, there is one fundamental difference. The financial goals have developed through decades or even ages while environmental standards are a relatively new phenomenon. Businesses didn’t start setting environmental standards and priorities until around 1996 when the ISO 14001 standard was first approved. This fundamental difference between financial and environmental goals is, however, of a great practical significance.

The fiscal accounting of companies usually aim at managing in an accessible manner the key financial figures. The systems are constructed so that all the most relevant financial information can be derived from the system in order to strengthen the company’s position in the world of strong competition. Environmental information is by default not incorporated into the information systems of companies as financial information is. To define environmental standards and goals is actually not difficult as such. The complexity arises when figuring out how and where to collect environmental information from the company’s information system.

As environmental information is often somewhat limited, there is a general tendency to measure those environmental factors that can be measured instead of measuring those factors that are critical. The basis for all standards and goals is to know the basic position before the standards and goals are put forward. Without knowing the current position it is very difficult to know whether specific goals have been met or standards have been fulfilled.

Not knowing the current position is probably the most common mistake companies make when defining their environmental goals. The goals often become nothing else than a pretty purpose without possible verification of whether they have been reached or not. A basic precondition for all goal making is to define the current position before the goals and standards are defined.

See “The Nature of Good Environmental Standards“.

Evaluation

World Green Building Council

World Green Building Council er óháð ráð sem er stjórnað af aðilum úr byggingariðnaðinum og hefur það að meginmarkmiði að flýta fyrir framþróun í vistvænni hönnun í byggingariðnaði í heiminum. Hlutverk ráðsins er að veita samtökum um vistvænar byggingar aðstoð og upplýsingar. Auk þess veitir ráðið þjóðum leiðbeiningar við að stofna sambærileg samtök. WGBC var stofnað árið 2002 af samtökum 8 landa. Árið 2009 samanstendur ráðið af samtökum frá 14 löndum víða um heim, auk þess sem 7 þjóðir hafa verið samþykktar og eru að vinna að inngöngu í ráðið.

Nýlega var Vistbyggðarráð (áður nefnt Vistvæn byggð) stofnað þar sem leiðbeiningar WGBC hafa verið notaðar við að koma félaginu á fót. Þrjátíu og tvö fyrirtæki og stofnanir eru aðilar að stofnun ráðsins. Sjá nánar á vef Vistbyggðarráðs http://sites.google.com/site/vistvaen/home.

Evaluation