OliNo

Appliances and other electronic equipment are getting more efficient, policy makers are pleased. But is that justified, are we heading in the right direction? Or are we deluding ourselves? According to the IEA (International Energy Association), more than 50% of the targeted reduction in CO2 emissions required to reach international climate goals of 2030 must come from energie conservation. Politicians at the Dutch and European level have been working on this issue for a long time, but the total energy consumption of European households has only increased in the period from 1990 to the present.

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What does environmental devastation actually look like? At TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project — and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.
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Very interesting interview on the Dutch television with the Britisch Professor of Sustainable Development at University of Surrey how we can have prosperity without growth. On a final planet we cannot have continuous growth, therefore we need to think in other solutions.
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When problems such as greenhouse gases or the imminent energy crisis are brought up in conversation, nuclear energy is often cited as a solution. The advantages are apparently easy to quantify. According to many, nuclear energy is a near boundless source of energy and does not have the disadvantage of CO₂. emissions.

However, thorough research has shown that these common assumptions are not at all correct. The average nuclear power plant doesn’t start producing energy for 10 years. Over its lifetime it produces more than one million tons of CO₂. and ultimately very little in the way of net energy.

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There lies a collective awareness on the urgency in getting involved with and influencing current environmental issues and climate change in today’s society. This phenomenon is known by the general public as: Greening. It is important, for museums to participate in this occurrence any way possible. To be able to sustain the quality and quantity of our cultural heritage, museums must take matters into their own hands. Visitors (and sponsors) will start demanding it from them. But the real reason museums should start Greening their museums has less to do with a demand from the outside world and far more to do with two essential aspects: an ethical and a financial essence of sufficient and sustainable museum management practice.

With the ledlamps becoming more and more powerful and given that the blue content of the light from leds in increasing as well, there is a growing concern for blue light hazard.

The IEC 62471:2006 norm explains about how to measure Blue Light Hazard, tha could lead to photoretenitis. This norm has an update in 2008. That update refers to the European Directive 2006/25/EC that contains the ELs. This article explains the way OliNo deals with this norm to measure the blue light hazard (only as an indication!) of the lamps it measures.

Update 28 April 2012: the dimensions of the brightest part of the illuminated part are taken for the calculation (of interest only in non-homogeneous sources).

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Lemnis has had measured 5 lamps of Pharox III in endurance test. This article gives the results.

This lamp has been measured before it went into life test.
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This article explains a bit about the biological effects of light on human beings. It appears that next to rod and cones there are other cells sensitive to a certain part of the light spectrum and that influences our daily rhythm (circadian cycle); this is the cycle of sleep and being awake, where a hormone like melatonin plays an important role.

The spectrum of the light enables to compute the biological effect that it can provoke, amongst others in (1) the suppression of melatonin in the night and in (2) shifting the circadian phase. I used the vornorm DIN V 5031-100:2009-06 as the basis of the computation of several interesing parameters coming from the light spectrum.

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A Dilemma of Economic Growt: How can economic growth in the area of transportation be managed in a manner consistent with the moderation or reduction in the rate of climate change? After all, it is a given that economic growth will require a greater capacity to transport and an intensification in the use of existing infrastructure. With transportation options currently available, it does not appear to be feasible to make progress on the emissions front merely by making greater use of the infrastructure now in place. Unless real alternatives are developed, this state of affairs will continue far into the future. Apparently an insoluble dilemma. The STEVELDUCT offers a solution: it is an emissions free form of container transportation. Given universal standardization as regards containers, it also lends itself to innovation world wide.
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In debates on environmental policy the complementary need for removing environmentally harmful subsidies has received little attention. Such subsidies typically increase the size and pollution intensity of economic activities, often without clear, compensating social benefits. The environmental impact of direct or on-budget subsidies has been well recognized. Indirect or off-budget subsidies, not visible in government budgets, are at least as important. Research on this topic is scarce. We report findings on greenhouse gas (GHG) and acidifying emissions arising from off-budget subsidies in the Netherlands and show that particularly subsidies in agriculture, energy and transport contribute importantly to GHG emissions. Effective climate policy therefore needs to consider removal of off-budget subsidies.
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