Nature.is

Perureiknir - reiknivél Orkuseturs

Til að hvetja neytendur til að skipta yfir í orkuminni lýsingu birtir Orkusetur aðgengilega reiknivél á netinu, þar sem hægt er að skoða með auðveldum hætti áhrif þess að skipta út glóperum fyrir sparperur. Ætla má að þessi reiknivél hvetji neytendur mjög til að skipta yfir í orkuminni lýsingu með tilheyrandi rekstrasparnaði fyrir heimilið. Hér má nálgast reiknivélina: Perureiknir

Um 20% af raforkunotkun heimila fer til lýsingar og með því að skipta út hefðbundnum glóperum yfir í sparperur má draga verulega úr raforkunotkun. Sparperur nota einungis 20% af þeirri  orku sem glóperur þurfa til að gefa sama ljósstyrk. Að auki endast sparperur allt að fimmtán sinnum lengur.

Lýsing í iðnaðarráðuneytinu vottuð

Iðnaðarráðherra fer með málefni orkumála og ákvað á dögunum að fara fyrir með góðu fordæmi og gera úttekt á lýsingu í ráðuneytinu. Úttektin var gerð af Lýsingarsviði Jóhanns Ólafssonar & Co., umboðsaðila OSRAM á Ísland í samstarfi við Orkusetur. OSRAM hefur nú vottað að öll lýsing í ráðuneytisins sé til fyrirmyndar – allar perur orkusparandi og umhverfisvænar.
Í kjölfar úttektar í iðnaðarráðuneytin, stefnir Orkusetur á að taka út lýsingu í fleiri ríkisstofnunum og benda á það sem betur má fara svo draga megi úr rekstrarkostnaði ríkis með bættri lýsingu. Nú sem aldrei fyrr er mikilvægt að leita allra leiða til að spara í ríkisrekstri og orkusparnaður getur þar verið lóð á vogarskálarnar. Úttektin verður gerð í samstarfi við OSRAM.

Skynsamlegur sparnaður

Að skipta glóperum út fyrir sparperur er sársaukalaus leið til spara raforku og fjármagn. Sparperur nota um 80% minna rafmagn og líftími þeirra er miklu mun lengri en glópera. Með því að skipta yfir í sparperur er einnig verið að draga úr umfangi innflutnings, spara flutningskostnað og ekki síst spara vinnu við peruskiptingar. Raforkan sem sparast má svo nýta til annarrar atvinnuuppbyggingar þar sem íslensk raforka er afar verðmæt enda kolefnsfrí og græn.

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Af umhverfisáhrifum jarðhitavirkjana

Jarðhitavirkjanir eru að miklu leyti sambærilegar við námavinnslu. Jarðhitavatninu er dælt í miklu magni upp úr jarðhitageyminum, og þannig er sú náttúrulega hringrás sem til staðar er gerð miklu hraðari en hún hefði verið án virkjunar. Jarðhitageymirinn endurnýjast ekki, nema að affallsvatni sé dælt aftur ofan í jarðhitageyminn, en slíkt er gert í tilraunaskyni og enn nokkuð óljóst hve mikið skilar sér aftur inn í hringrás vatnsins við slíkar niðurdælingar sem vonandi munu þó ganga betur eftir því sem aukin reynsla fæst.

Affallsvatn frá jarðhita getur innihaldið ýmsa snefilmálma, eins og kadmíum, kopar og einnig eru í jarðhitavatni efni eins og kvikasilfur og arsen. Efni þessi geta verið bundin lífrænum efnum en þau geta einnig verið óbundin og er mismunandi hvort málmarnir eru á því formi sem fer inn í lífverur eða hvort þeir eru óvirkir.

Íslensk vötn eins og t.d. Þingvallavatn eru ólígótrófísk þ.e. þau eru tær og innihalda lítið magn lífrænna efna. Íslensk vötn eru því viðkvæmari fyrir jarðhitamengun heldur en vötn víða annarsstaðar í heiminum, þ.e. lítið er af lífrænum efnum sem gætu gert málma eins og kadmíum og kopar óskaðlega.

Annað er mjög athyglisvert, og hefur nánast ekkert verið rætt hér á landi, og það er að sökum tærleika íslenskra vatna, eru þau afskaplega viðkvæm gagnvart sólarljósi og útfjólublárri geislun frá sólu. Af hverju er ég að nefna þetta? Jú vegna þess að þetta þýðir að íslensk stöðuvötn eru viðkvæm gagnvart þynningu ósonlagsins, þ.e. geislar sólar komast langt ofan í vötnin. Þessu hafa menn almennt lítið pælt í hérlendis, að ég held.

Kvikasilfur er e.t.v. það efni í jarðhitagufum og jarðhitavatni sem er hvað skaðlegast, en það skiptir þó máli á hvaða formi það er. Kvikasilfursgufur eru ekki hollar, enda urðu hattagerðarmenn í Lundúnum sem notuðu kvikasilfur “mad as a hatter”, eins og Englendingar segja en vitað er að kvikasilfur hefur áhrif á miðtaugakerfi bæði hjá mönnum og dýrum.

Mér þykir sorglegt að segja það, en það kemur eflaust að því að við þurfum að framkvæma mun meiri mengunarmælingar í íslenskri náttúru en þurft hefur til þessa. Virkjanir og verksmiðjur og ýmis starfsemi veldur mengun, og það er ekki bara svartur reykur sem er mengandi, – oft eru efnin ósýnileg og falin í náttúrunni.

Mengun er þessvegna oft ekki sýnileg berum augum, en sem betur fer hefur umhverfisefnafræðin þróað ýmsar aðferðir til að mæla mengun og rekja hana til uppruna síns, svo og til að meta skaðsemi mengunar. Mikilvægt er að muna að efnafræðin stjórnast ekki af samfélaginu, efni og efnasambönd fara að náttúrulögmálum, og þessvegna verðum við sem samfélag að taka tillit til þessa.

Góðar stundir.

Ljósmynd: Heillisheiðarvirkjun, ©Árni Tryggvason.

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IKEA to Expand US Solar Investment to 75% of Stores

In the UK, IKEA has bought a 12MW wind farm and is planning to install 39,000 solar panels on its stores and is planning to run on 100% renewable energy. In the US, the Swedish furniture chain has recently expanded its solar installations across California and the East Coast and has now announced, according to Market Watch, that it will now be installing solar on all IKEA stores in the Southern US. The commitment means a full 75% of US IKEA stores will now feature solar installations, and it is also notable because the company plans to own the installations outright, rather than lease them.

Given IKEA's well publicized concern about future energy price volatility, this could prove an influential move by a forward thinking corporation. So which big box retailer will be next in adopting a corporate green stimulus package?

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Garage - Fuel

The most commonly used fuel, petrol and diesel, release a great amount of CO2 and it is therefore of great importance to find and develop new sources of energy that are more environmentally friendly. For many years now the development of more efficient diesel and petrol cars, hybrids (electric- and petrol fueled cars), methane cars, hydrogen cars and electric cars has been underway. In recent years a race has begun for the next generation of buyers; a generation that will demand ever more efficient, economic and less environmentally harmful cars.

Changing the usage of fuel from one type to another
Changing the type of fuel being used in transport is no easy matter, and apart from the production and distribution of the energy, the fuel has to be adjusted to the motors being used today. It is best if a new source of energy can be adapted completely to older types of vehicles, here ethanol and biodiesel can be mentioned. It is a worse option if older vehicles have to be changed to a large extent. Thus it can be mentioned that the use of methane demands large gas containers which are costly and which diminish the functionality of the car. The methane is easier to use for newer cars because then the car as a whole can be designed with the gas containers in mind. The worst option is when a new energy option is introduced requiering new motors. Here both hydrogen and electricity can be mentioned. Such large changes cannot be carried out except over tens of years and only if the new energy and the new motors are very much cheaper than the energy that preceeded them.

Biodiesel
Biodisel is the organic environmentally friendly fuel which has the greatest possibility of becoming reality today. Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil or from animal fat but the greatest hope lies in the production of biodiesel from algae. Experimental projects have been carried out on behalf of Siglingastofnunar by cultivating rape in order to produce biodiesel in this country but N1 started importing Biodiesel in 2007 and sells it in three service stations at Hringbraut, Skógarsel and at Reykjavíkurvegur. The advantage of using biodiesel is that it can be used on any diesel car whatsoever. However practical problems have hindered further development but they are being solved as they arise.

Ethanol is being produced by fermenting biomass. Bioethanol E85 is available at the Olís fuel station at Álfheimar. Brimborg has marketed ethanol cars in Iceland. Ethanol has been fermented from sugar cane or from corn but there are intensive experimental projects going on related to producing ethanol from cellulose.

Methane is a renewable source of energy formed by the decay of organic material. It is hoped that the use of methane as a car fuel will increase in the future as it can be considered environmentally friendly in two ways. Firstly it’s burning releases no CO2 and secondly it consumes methane which is an especially harmful greenhouse gas. It is therefore much better to use the gas to fuel cars instead of using petrol or oil.
Metan Ltd. Is a company that has for a few years now produced methane gas but there is still only one refueling station in the country which does not really motivate people to buy methane cars. There are, on the other hand, hopes that this will change in the coming years as the supply of methane cars is increasing considerably. It is worthwhile to note what methane cars are available as dealerships are fast becoming green. Only a short time ago it was almost impossible to get any dealerships to sell methane cars so the development is certainly going in the right direction.
It is possible to convert normal cars into methane cars and Borgarholtsskóli started teaching that kind of conversion in 2007. Vélamiðstöðin ehf., MeGas ehf. and Einn grænn ehf. offer the onversion of normal cars into methane cars today and the number of cars using methane as fuel is rapidly increasing.
Methane cars are usually hybrids, with one tank for methane and another smaller one for petrol. That way it is possible to drive long distances and use petrol to some extent where there is no methane available (the gas tank tough, can be as small as 15 liters).

Hydrogen has relatively insignificant environmental effects as long as the energy to produce it is derived from water, wind or solar power, unless of course the plants environmental impact is significant (i.e Kárahnjúkavirkjun). The problem tough, with hydrogen cars is that their development is still under way and its results are still unsure, and it is also unsure when it will be possible to produce enough hydrogen cars to make a difference. Iceland can safely be called a hydrogen country as it has invested substantially in projects connected to the development and promotion of the hydrogen idea.
Íslensk NýOrka is a front-liner in Icelandic hydrogen research. Hydrogen cars have still a long way to go to become a real choice for the average consumer and furthermore hydrogen is not considered by all to be any solution as it is not really energy in itself but rather a carrier of energy. A few such cars are now in Iceland in connection with various projects and the car-rental agency Hertz will for instance be able to rent out hydrogen cars within a short while, which is a significant step as this will be the first time in the world the public gains access to hydrogen cars. The operations of the cars have though been troublesome for various reasons. One of the reasons is that there is only one refuelling station for hydrogen at Ártúnshöfði in Reykjavík.

EVEN/Northern Lights Energy now works hard on introducing electric cars into Iceland, but electric cars are by many considered to be the most feasible solution for the long term future, not in the least for Iceland where electricity can be produced in a more environmentally friendly manner, than in many other places in the world. Possibly the electric car is the dream solution, - only if we were not facing again those practical problems. Rare Earth metals are used for the motors, and the control system of the electricity. It has to be taken into account that producting those metals is a highly polluting business. Most hopes are placed on Li-ion batteries which are capable of storing large amounts of energy compared with weight. But how much Lithium is available on Earth or in the Solar System for that matter? Will there be enought Lithium for the car-fleet of the world? For Iceland it would be awesome to drive pollution-free and silently on electric cars, but then the highly polluting production process is maybe forgotten, because we will never notice it. There is no rose without thorns.

Traditional cars
If the choice is between a diesel- or a gasoline car, it is ampt to keep in mind that a diesel car spends around 25% less fuel than a comparable gasoline car. However around 16% more carbon dioxide is created by burning one liter of diesel oil than gasoline. This means that when choosing between two cars the diesel car has to use 16% less than the gasoline car in order to be comparable to a gasoline car. To this is added that diesel cars produce more aerosol, NOX and PAH´s* than gasoline cars even though diesel car engines are always improving.
The economic aspect of diesel cars is best revealed during long distance driving. It is more difficult for the diesel car to be economical in city and short distance driving. The same goes however for gasoline cars. A cold gasoline engine spends a lot of fuel until it has reached operational temperature. Here we should consider the advantages of an engine heater.  Using an electric engine heather, the motor reaches normal operating temperatures much sooner, polluting less and spending less fuel. Also the car becomes warm and cosy in a few minutes. Not bad on a cold winter morning.

PAH´s are poly-aromatic-hydrocarbons which are known carcinogens.

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14 norrænar loftslags- og orkulausnir á COP17

Á sýningu Norrænu ráðherranefndarinnar á COP17 loftslagsráðstefnu Sameinuðu þjóðanna í Durban er vakin athygli á 14 bestu staðbundnu lausnunum á Norðurlöndum á sviði endurnýjanlegrar orku og loftslagsumbóta en 14 umhverfislausnir voru tilnefndar í samkeppni um norrænt orkusveitarfélag 2011 sem Norræna ráðherranefndin stóð fyrir með þátttöku fyrirtækja, einstaklinga, sveitarstjórna og svæða í hvetjandi aðgerðum til að stuðla að vistvænum breytingum.

Danska sveitarfélagið Albertslund var síðan útnefnt norrænt orkusveitarfélag 2011. Þá hlutu Drammen í Noregi og sænska sveitarfélagið Lidköping sérstaka viðurkenningu fyrir sín verkefni. Jyrki Katainen forsætisráðherra Finnlands afhenti verðlaunin á Norðurlandaráðsþingi í byrjun Nóvember 2011.

Nánari upplýsingar eru á www.nordicenergymunicipality.org/

Sjá einnig http://www.nordicenergysolutions.org/ - opnbera norræna vefsíðu um lausnir á sviði vistvænna orkugjafa.

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