A recycled shopping mall

I read recently about the "world's first recycled mall" operating in the city of Eskilstuna.

The idea of re-using and recycling is a big part of island life. Given the cost in bringing things both on and off the island, it always makes sense to use what you have.

I've repurposed left over IKEA fittings on a new project, and building a shoe rack from wood offcuts. Sooz has assembled many tasty meals from random leftovers.

Sweden is a leader in reducing waste in general. Swedes recycle nearly 100% of their household waste. We are trying to do our part on Aspö!

A 3D printed house?

The New York Times ran an article recently about technology that can 'print' a building, eventually without human intervention.

Buildings made in a simple and modular way should be able to increase the options for affordable housing in many parts of the world. In addition, homes that could be easily taken apart and reassembled elsewhere would be very useful in dealing with climate and demographic changes.

The video above is another type of a 'printed' house, this time in China. They aren't very pretty, but they are simple and cheap to build, although the use of concrete is problematic for the global environment.

Many new technologies and methods are being tested in the coming years. It will be interesting to see which of them take hold!

Melodifestival- Malmö

The second semi-final was last night in Malmö, with guest host (and previous Eurovision winner) Charlotte Perrelli.

There were a number of repeat acts again this show, David Lindgren and Isa (whom you'll remember from last year's blog) primary among them. In fact, David and Wiktoria went straight through to the final. Isa (with a new brunette hairstyle and a less poppy sound) made it to the second chance show.

Wiktoria's staging was very different. She wore a body stocking for her performance, which was a platform for an array of digital effects; it was an spectacular look.
 
Sooz had a great observation that many of the acts had unusual lighting schemes. Given that Måns won last year with his interactive laser show, it's no surprise that many artists are doing something similar. It's quite common for entrants to copy last year's successful entries!

Electric Boats

Let's start the new year with something new: the B/F Sjövägen.

What's so new about it, one might ask? It looks like a standard archipelago ferry, perhaps with a fresh coat of paint.

The first clue is in the designator "B/F". Usually ships plying Swedish waters are "M/S" for a motor ship or "S/S" for the old-fashioned steamships.

In this case, the "B/F" refers to a battery-powered vessel. Yes, that's right, the Sjövägen is an electric boat! I read about it in the local Skärgården newspaper. The initial feedback is positive; like an electric car, it is quiet, and compared to a diesel engine, the ride is far smoother, and with none of the stinky fumes.

Right now, the Sjövägen's batteries can hold about five hours of charge. This will be its first winter on the ice. So for now, it will take only shorter, more inland trips. But the potential for such a vessel is huge, and I wouldn't be surprised to see many more in the upcoming years.

As an aside, it's not just boats that are joining electric cars in the mainstream. Airbus is demonstrating an electric plane which promises to operate much more quietly and environmentally than a current jet engine. With much of Sweden's electricity coming from renewable resources, electric vehicles are a great way to reduce fossil fuel emissions!

Composting

I posted a recently about Sweden's success in recycling virtually all of their country's garbage. One element of household waste that draws less attention is that of leftover food.

Our neighborhood in London ran a food waste collection program. We were given a bucket for all organic waste, which was collected weekly. It was surprising to us how much of our weekly garbage was made up of simple things like potato peelings, chicken bones, and grapefruit rinds!

Minimizing our garbage is important when living out on Aspö. I'd love to collect and compost our food waste there. We'd have less to throw away, and we could supplement our meager soil for planting. The problem is we're there infrequently, and aren't able to maintain a compost heap.

I read recently about a new household gadget that does a quick and simple job of handling food waste.

The Food Cycler will take a bucketful of cooked or uncooked food, and in about three hours, turn it into dried and sanitized compost.

I really like the idea. After all, I love my gadgets! The idea of throwing away less, while creating compost for our plantings, fits our needs perfectly.

There are a few snags, though, First, at $600, the device is expensive. It also uses a lot of energy, which drives cost as well.

But I think these sorts of units will develop and become more efficient and less costly. I can imagine we'd be buying something like this for our stuga a few years from now.

Recycling Update

I read a flurry of news reports recently that Sweden is now recycling or reusing 99% of their garbage. I had posted earlier this year that Sweden is actually importing trash from other countries to run their energy-producing incinerators.

The official Swedish website, Sweden.se, has a great article on the state of recycling. The country is clearly a global leader in this area. (I should also plug the Sweden.se website again, too. It is fantastically well done, both in terms of its content and web presentation.)

It's not just household waste that's being targeted, it's businesses, too. H&M, the global clothing chain, accept used clothing for reuse or recycling in exchange for store credit.

I also love videos produced by the government to raise awareness of recycling initiatives. Click for an assortment of these videos, but I've embedded my favorite here. It's hard to explain, you'll have to watch it yourself. Those crazy Swedes!

Värmepumps

Our summer visit to Aspö coincided with quite the Swedish heat wave. It got me thinking about heat pumps, or in Swedish, värmepump.

Why on earth would I think about heating the house during a heat wave, you might ask? That's a good question, and the answer is pretty simple.

Air-conditioners or furnaces use energy to create hot or cold air. A heat pump simply transfers heat from one source to another, and the direction is reversable. This means a heat pump can cool a house just as easily as it warms.

Värmepumps are installed in Sweden not for their cooling, but for their energy efficiency. Transferring heat, rather than creating it, uses far less energy. Heating our house in cold weather is pretty pricy with a Dyson and radiators. (Doesn't that sound like a 50's rock band- "Dyson and the Radiators"? But I digress.)

I posted recently about how my March visit showed my using about 65 kilowatts per day to heat the house on a cold day. I believe a heat pump would do that job at significantly less energy cost. It would have the added bonus of providing a bit of cool air on hot days, if needed.

Our house is pretty small, 62 square meters (670 square feet), so even the smallest unit would do the trick for us, at a price of around 8000 kronor. Olle is well versed on these units and gave me lots of advice about how to choose and install them. Polarpumpen.se has a wide variety of värmepumps available.

Another fun trick is attaching it to the cell phone network. I could then use an app on my iPhone to monitor and adjust the temperature remotely. It would be great to arrive at a nice warm house, or to ensure things don't freeze solid during a cold snap. Plus, it appeals to the nerd in me; I love controlling things with my iPhone!

Here in the US, these are called "split unit" or "ductless" heat pumps. The compressor is installed outside, and a tube is run along the outside of house to the head unit which is mounted to the wall inside. The photo above shows the two pieces.

I set aside space for a heat pump when I designed the house, and in fact, also put in the electrical wiring, too. So physically installing the unit should be pretty simple.

The complication comes with charging and pressurizing the unit. Specialist tools and skills are needed to get it connected and working. Polarpumpen quotes installation costs of 3000-5000kr on their website, although I assume the archipelago isn't in their normal price list.

I thought perhaps I could buy and install the unit myself, and only have the specialist come out on a short trip to charge it up and test it. That should be cheaper, although I'll have to ask around and get some concrete advice and prices.

Stay tuned for more on this subject in the coming months!

Environmental Stoves

I've blogged a lot about my love for fireplaces.  My head knows it's not a great idea to put one in our little stuga, but my heart still wants one. (I'm not Emily Dickinson, so my head wins that argument. For now.)

As part of my trolling the internet for fireplaces, I came across Envirofit, an organization that designs and sells small stoves for the third world. They're a inventive company with a product that fills a useful niche, and worth a look.

Melodifestival: Örnsköldsvik

Another so-so contest last night, this time from Örnsköldsvik. Don't get me wrong, nothing against the nice people from Örnsköldsvik, they put on a good show. It's just that none of the acts were that inspiring yet again.

The two acts that went through to the final were those Eurodisco warhorses, Alcazar, participating for the fifth time, and Anton Ewald, whom my mother thought looked to be "about 12 years old", although he is actually 20, and a Melodifestival veteran as well.

The second chance acts were a young girl who looked way out of her depth and an generic hard-rock band. To me, there's not been any kind of a standout act this year. I can't fault the production or the staging; SVT has done a super job as usual. However, I can't really say any of the finalists so far have a chance at winning at Eurovision.

A Swedish friend has told me that voting is down quite a bit this year, and I can see why. I wonder if the contest needs to be revamped for next year? Perhaps a refocus on quality over quantity? Of course, I'm not the target audience, that's for sure!

An ergonomically correct toilet

Everyone knows I love my toilet technologies here on this blog.

I recently came across a new type of toilet that was designed by a team in the UK. The idea is that the sitting position is much more conducive to the actual act of eliminating one's waste.

Most non-Western toilets are more of a 'squat' type, and apparently this is more natural and efficient for the body.

I'm not too sure about this, myself. I would have to give it a try... but not in the middle of a busy office building, I think!

The Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory

I was sent a link a while ago from Dawn, one of my more avid readers. She found a webpage about the "Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory" and wondered if it was our little island.

It was a bit alarming to see the page linked to the "final repository for spent nuclear fuel at the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company’s (SKB) underground hard rock laboratory on the island of Äspö."

I am happy to report that no nuclear waste is being stored beneath our little stuga. Firstly, the spelling is different: Äspö vs Aspö. Secondly, the atomic island is down south near Oskarsham, and not up in the Stockholm archipelago.

The website is quite well-written and it tells the story of the company's work to test technologies to safely store spent nuclear fuel in the bedrock and clay nearly 500 meters beneath Äspö. They provide a brochure explaining all of their tests, and I found it fascinating.

Apparently tours of the facility can be arranged. I'll have to add a tour to my Swedish "to-do" list!

Plyscrapers

I've blogged previously about the growing use of wood in commercial buildings.

The concept is gaining momentum, as the Economist blogged recently about 'plyscrapers', which I think is a witty name for tall buildings made largely of wood.

There are environmental advantages; sustainably-harvested wood locks in carbon, rather than releasing it as does the manufacture of steel and concrete. (Cement alone accounts for 5% of the world's Carbon Dioxide emissions, for example.)

The photo on this post is of an eight-story residential block in East London. More details on this building, and the use of wood in bigger and bigger buildings, are on the greendiary.com blog.