Journal Entry #11- My first workshop

On friday I had my first workshop. I was very nervous and I had brought in all my materials. The workshop tlasted from:

11.10-11.35, with four group members.

I wa very surprised how much positive feedback I got from all the other candidates. Over the course of the next 9 days they will all measure their energy efficiency in their households using the data logger. I personally, I am very exited to see some of the results from what some of the participants already told me about. My next step will now be to install the analyzing software on my laptop, to then be able to install all the data onto my laptop, four days after that, my second workshop will take place already. Here are some photos of how the workshop went:

Journal Entry #10- Visiting Technische Universität Berlin

Today I visited the "Technische Universität Berlin" to sign out four Data Logger 3500's which are the measuring instruments students will use for one week to measure their energy efficiency in their households.
I also talked to:
Prof. Dr. rer.pol. Georg Erdmann (Fachgebietsleitung / Fachgebiet Technische Energiesysteme)

I discussed my workshops with him in oder to get feedback from an expert and learn more about my topic. He explained me how to use the Data Logger 3500 and I talked to him a little bit about what exactly I will explain in my workshops. After this talk, I feel a lot more confident about my topic, since I now know how to use the measuring instrument and can explain this better to my group. In all, I can say that I learned a lot today!

Journal Entry #9- Researching about personal responsibility relating to energy

I will now research about how energy relates to personal responsibility. In my opinion, personal responsibility plays a major role for energy. 

Firstly, one might say that the energy efficiency of a country depends on the countries energy system itself. However, there are still a lot of things a person can do themself in order to help the environment, but at the same time also save costs. As I noticed here, there are two major aspects on which energy efficiency depends on, firstly costs, but also how to help the environment, this is also why I will focus on both these aspects for my personal project. 

In my workshops I want to make specific connections to things that people could improve for their energy efficiency. At the same time, I would like to raise awareness for the consumption. Personal responsibility, is a huge issue which many people in our society are not fully aware, this is why I would like to teach people about this further. 

At this point, I would like to bring up the "Renewable Energy Initiative" supporting National Clean Energy month. The purpose was to draw attention to different energy sources but also how we can use our environment and resources more efficiently. 

Source: http://www.facingthefuture.org/SupportOurWork/Blog/tabid/638/EntryId/27/Debate-Energy-Use-and-Energy-Sources.aspx#.VkoQarTgpE4 

For me this source is specifically interesting, since it also, just like I do in my personal project, want to draw attention to how to improve the efficiency. I will probably use this further as one of my sources for my essay, since this has good details of what everyday people can do. 

Journal Entry # 8- Researching about Environment relating to energy

I have continued to think and research further about energy. In this article I will focus on how it relates to the environment.
Energy is a very broad term. One thing that came up in my mind first is global warming. In 2005, 85% or our world wide energy supply came from fossil fuels.

Source. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/energy_and_global_warming/

This can have fatal affects on the environment, through this production. Fossil fuels include; coal, petroleum or natural gas; all of these are major resources of energy. Even nuclear power plants have an effect on our environment. One hand, it is very dangerous if something happens, however on the other side it helps the environment since it keeps  carbon emissions lower than any other fossil fuel, since almost none is needed for the production, but only for creating and building the physical power plant:

Another important fact discovered was that the US produces 98% of the worldwide's carbon emissions. This is a very interesting aspect for me to look at, since I am willing to compare different countries and their energy efficiency and energy production. 

Source. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/energy_and_global_warming/

Furthermore, a major issue evolving with the environment is the amount of wasted energy.  A lot of energy produced will never be used to for example heat homes. Currently all around the world a large amount of energy is wasted as seen in the graph below:

In my opinion, countries should invest more money to improve facilities in order to save energy and therefore making less waste. Fossil fuels are such a controversial topic and humans know that our sources will run out eventually, we should use the energy we have more effectively, especially if we do not have a safe energy alternative for the future. 

Journal Entry #7- Researching about Economics relating to energy

I have continued to research about the broader topic of sustainability, specifically its relation to economics. Energy is used and created all around the world in order to supply houses and buildings with energy. However, I noticed that prices vary from country, as seen in the graph below:

I was personally very surprised how costs of electricity vary by different countries. In my opinion the cost of electricity have a lot to do with the energy efficiency of a country. After continuing my research I found a very interesting PDF document:

http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/verve/_resources/Vivid_Economics_-_Energy_efficiency_and_economic_growth_June_2013.pdf

The document started by explaining interesting statistics about energy in general, based on different countries; like for example:




However, after taking a deeper look and close reading I discovered that this document is discovering the link between energy efficiency of a country and its economic growth. After reading this, it was discovered that:"There is statistical evidence that energy efficiency positively contributes to economic growth. A 1 per cent increase in the level of energy efficiency causes a 0.1 percentage point increase in the rate of economic growth in that year."

Source: http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/verve/_resources/Vivid_Economics_-_Energy_efficiency_and_economic_growth_June_2013.pdf 

From my analysis, I can conclude that through a steady and efficient energy system is a country, including low prices and a very high efficiency rate, a countries economic growth can be affected positively. This could mean that more countries are willing to lower energy prices and improve efficiency rates; in order to try to achieve a quicker economic growth.
 In my opinion one theory why this could be affected positively is because through a higher energy efficiency, a company is able to save a lot of money whilst being able to spent it on new innovations and technologies.

Journal Entry #6-Researching about History and politics relating to energy

Over the last couple of days I have been researching a lot about how the energy, specifically in germany, is related to politics and our german history. I came across a couple of key terms like "Energiewende" or the "UN Millennium Goals".

The german "Energiewende" are goals that Germany specifically came up with to reduce costs within the country and therefore also help the environment. Some of these goals include:

• greenhouse gas reductions: 80–95% reduction by 2050
• renewable energy targets: 60% share by 2050 (renewables broadly defined as hydro, solar and wind power)
• energy efficiency: electricity efficiency up by 50% by 2050

Source: https://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/G/gruenbuch-gesamt-englisch,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi2012,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transition#Germany

These goals were published in September 2010, six months before the Nuclear Power Explosion Fukushima.

For me it is very interesting to look at this, since it shows the specific targets for Germany. Since I am specifically looking at how energy costs can be saved, it is interesting to see what Germany planned to do to commission this.  After discovering this and looking at further research, I discovered something very interesting: "Germany is #1 in the World for Energy Efficiency, according to the 2014 scorecard released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) today."

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/07/21/germany-1-world-energy-efficiency/ 

This means that after the german "Energiewende", Germany's efficiency improved radically. For my project I may as well research in greater depth about what Germany's strategies are to implement this. I could use this country as a source of my research. 

A second very interesting aspects are the UN Millennium Goals. These goals are goals the UN is trying to implement all around the world in order to encourage people to save costs and also make the usage more efficient. For my project this is particularly interesting, since the UN is trying to implement similar goals across the world, as I am doing for my classmates. A couple include:

• The environmental sustainability of energy supply and consumption should be enhanced to reduce environmental and health hazards. This requires measures that increase energy efficiency, introduce modern technologies for energy production and use, substitute cleaner fuels for polluting fuels, and introduce renewable energy .
• Large amounts of financial resources need to be mobilized for expanding energy investments and services in developing countries. They account for a much larger share of gross domestic product compared to OECD countries. Public sector resources will remain crucial for investing in energy service delivery for the poor due to the private sector’s limited appetite for risk in emerging markets.

Source: http://www.un-energy.org/publications/50-the-energy-challenge-for-achieving-the-millennium-development-goals 

During this research, I have discovered a lot more about what role energy consumption plays throughout the world currently. For my project it will be particularly interesting, since I can use some of these goals as my personal criteria while using specific countries like Germany or Italy as samples. 

Journal Entry #5- Brainstorming and researching

During the last two weeks, I have been buying the SD cards for my Energy logger. I have been studying how to use it and have been experimenting with how to use it properly. I have also began to talk to some people about participating in my workshop and brainstormed specific people.


Over the last couple of days and during the holidays I brainstormed a lot.
I started by connecting the various ideas related to my topic in a mind map. In my opinion energy is a concept widely related to the carbon footprint. Since there are several energy types, different types of energy can be produced.

In my mind map I discovered that the issues connected to sustainability can be categorized into three main domains: politics/history, economy, environment and finally personal responsibility. Over the coarse of the next two weeks, I will be evaluating each one of those points in further detail.