United Nations Discussion

Today we did an interesting assignment in class which was not directly part of our study, but our teacher proposed it and we gladly chose to do it. We were divided into three different groups, developed countries, well developing and bad developing countries, according to the amount of people living in these areas. Each group recieved some basic information about their collective of countries. The goal was to discuss on a global scale what each type of country is able to accomplish to prevent climate change and stay under the targeted 2°C level.
We did have some time in our groups to discuss the possibilities of our regions in the following categories: year in which the peak emissions are reached, year in which the emissions will start to reduce, rate of emission reduction, rate of decreaseing deforestation and amount of money we can afford for the target $100 billion /year fund against climate change.
After each group agreed on their data the elected a representative of each group held a short presentation on what will be done and with a short reasoning. In the following we entered the data in a special program online (Simulation Tool). The tool we used is a simplified model, which calculates the future emissions, the increase in temperature and the sea level rise. Sadly we missed the 2°C goal in our first try. Nevertheless, we think we did good for the first try.
To improve we took a step back in the groups and discussed if we maybe can adapt our goals. After an exchange of arguments every area was more ambitious. After presenting the new targets we had a very intense discussion between the representatives backed up by their teams. The strongest disagreement was between the richest and the poorest people.
As a result we did not manage to reach the target on the second try either. We did better, but not good enough. From our opinion, the rich countries and the poor countires had very good to  very strong ambitions, but the good developing countries could do much better. They defended their right on prosperity for their own people, since the first world countries did the majr part in pollution.
In the end we did not reach our target and had over one meter in sea level rise. It became clear to us, that it is very hard to negotiate this topic inbetween almost 200 nations, but also that with better preparation and more time we probably could have reached the goal.
Let us hope the leaders in Marakech are having everything they need to reach an solid agreement.

Assignment 6: Reflecting on SSC solutions

Assignment 6 was to reflect on the three most interesting SSC solutions found by the other groups. These are our top three products or concepts:

Source: Switch to Zero

Solution 1: Hybrid Solar Panel (Group Switch to Zero)

In our opinion the idea of hybrid solar panels is very good. First there is a short introduction about the idea. Afterwards you explained the idea more and explained how it works. It is really nice to hear about the advantages of the idea and the new concept of these solar panels.
Also we like that you abut a link to get more information about the topic.
For almost everything there is also a negative side and to compare what you need it would be nice to mention them. Maybe only to see that the negative part is in comparison to the positive part very small.

Switch to Zero - Research on existing SSC solutions


Solution 2: Powerwall: The Tesla Home Battery (Group Switch to Zero)

Source: Switch to Zero

All of us are Tesla's fans, so we think this kind of innovations are necessary for progress. The way to expose the idea is clear. It is important to clarify, that if there is more energy needed, a connection to the grid must be maintained, good point!
Furthermore, the official web page indicates use solar panels (like you), but we would like to know if it is possible to use another kind of renewable source.
Finally, we know the many advantages Powerwall has, but we guess it has some disadvantages and that is important to know, for applying this technology in the right place and to give it the correct use.

See link above


Solution 3: ShareDesk (Group SHARING SKANSSI PROJECT)

The group of the “Sharing Skanssi Project“ introduced “ShareDesk”, an online platform to rent offices all over the world for a part of a day. This is a fresh new idea, that has high value concerning their project, since the goal is to share spaces in the area. But also for other cities and projects it should be taken into account, because sharing spaces has influence on many different areas. We could benefit from this kind of ideas as well. Sharing spaces to live and work throughout a city can decrease the use of transport, since you can use a place near your location instead of having to move to the other side of the city. The website makes it more easy to do this.
Furthermore, the group points out other benefits of this concept, like greater flexibility, no need to sign a year lease term for an office, co-working and reuse of old buildings. But as for the other solutions it would have been nice to also mention potential disadvantages of the website or the idea in general.

Source: https://www.sharedesk.net/

Sharing Skanssi Project - ShareDesk

Who is new in the world of electric vehicles?

This is Sion from Sono Motors

The Sion is a very special car. In my opinion it is what many little children think of when they are playing. The idea is simple, the implementation most likely rather not. If you have an electric car there is at some point the urgent need to charge your batteries, in Germany this is called range anxiety (Reichweitenangst). That can take 20 minutes for 80% with fast-charging or take hours at the normal outlet of one's home. But just imagine your car would be charge at any daylight time while parking outside. Sounds crazy? How about the charge is free? Impossible!

Not quite! The main advantage of Sono Motors' Sion are the 7.5 square meters of solar panels that cover the outside body of the car, which charges the batteries up anytime the car is parked outside. Every day it will gives you an extra charge of averaged 30 kilometers a day. Most people drive an average of 50 kilometers a day, so you can imagine that most people using this car, which is designed for urban purposes, will drive to work for free or at least very, very cheap.
Sono Motors is a small, young, crowdfunded start-up from Munich in Germany. They created their car in a long developement process in their own garage and put a lot of lifeblood into their work. Starting at 12.000€, with a clear and nice design this car is a real newcomer on the EV market. The Urban version will go for 120 km in one charge and the Extender up to 250 km.
But it is not only designed for driving to work or the grocerystore, the Sion is an adventurer. With his trailer hitch it is strong enough to explore the nature and pull a caravan at the same time. While your are enjoying the outside the Sion will charge his battery for you and all your electric devices. You will be free in nature but stay connected to anything you fell like connecting to.
Test drives start in mid 2017.
Furthermore, reSono will be launched. It is an easy to use repair service, where Sono Motors will send you spare parts and anyone can build them in with online videos. That saves carbon emissions and money for the costumer.

In my opinion this is an awesome idea made by real visionairs. The car is perfect for urban areas, determined by size and range. The daily free charge is a real game changer for people who are afraid they will strand somewhere without energy in the battery. For the city of Alcoi this is a fantastic solution. Alcoi is not very big so the range is definitley enough, for the Extender it is even enough for a trip to Valencia and back. The Spanish sun will make the final point for my argument.

https://www.sonomotors.com/

- Lennart

Before The Flood - National Geographic Documentary

Before The Flood - National Geographic Documentary
Yesterday, on October 30th, the National Geographic Documentary 'Before the Flood' about climate change was released. It is a film that was done for more than two years and gives a broad overview about what will happen in the future if the people of this earth will not change their behaviour and what different peoples approaches on tackling this problem from different countries are. It features various influential people including Pope Francis, actor and environment activist Leonardo  DiCaprio, US president Barack Obama, entrepreneur and visionary Elon Musk and secretary-general of the UN Ban Ki-Moon. The special thing about this documentary is that National Geographic decided that this topic is too important to be not seen by everyone, as a result they made it freely available on a number of platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Hulu, iTunes, GooglePlay, etc.).
We appreciate the work that was done to realize this project and that certain men and women take action as a leader to inspire and guide their fellow humans into a more healthy, sustainable, prosper and peaceful earth.
We have not seen the documentary yet, but we are looking forward to watch it.

Idea Tree

On the day of our last project meeting with the delegation form Alcoi we as a group came up with the so called 'idea tree', which is a result of a certain brainstorming exercise, for our project. During the previous days we thought it over and improved it a little bit.We asked ourselves the following question: "How can all stakeholders (in Alcoi) reduce the individual use of cars?". But frankly we also came up with other ideas that are not directly connected with the question. On the first picture from below you can see different our different categories which we used as clusters. They include certain stakeholders that we whant to call up to act and furthermore some more specifications. For example the cluster 'infrastructure' belongs truely to the some department of the municipal or provicial government, but includes a lot of ideas that we chose to cluster it in one additional group.
Of course the citizens are demanded in a much larger way than our brainstorming session represents. Our focus of the session was: 'What can the government / public transport / public institutions / ... do for the people to help them change their behaviour to better themselves?' A huge part of responsibility lays in the hands of the citizens, they have to be aware and adapt to the changes to shape a better future.
In the two other pictures you will find our more or less feasible and creative ideas which we will evaluate over time.
If you have remarks or questions to any idea stated please do not hesitate to discuss in the comment sections.

Meeting with a delegation of Alcoi on 25th October

Today we had a very productive meeting with a delegation from the University in Alcoi and Erlijn our mentor. We talked about our stay in Spain in January, we got offered a lot of support concerning housing, workspaces and more. Furthermore, we presented the product of our previous brainstorming session. We used the methodology of the "idea tree" in order to brainstorm precisely and cluster our ideas at the same time. The result will be uploaded here as well.

Our group also learned more about our assignment and the existing infrastructure in Alcoi. The city has many bridges and narrow streets which make it difficult for cars to navigate through the city and leads to traffic jams. Alcoi also has very big differences in altitudes, so if we want to promote bicycle use as a way of transportation instead of recreational usage, then we have to come up with a creative concept to change the behavior of the people.

Instead of always increasing the amount of parking spaces, one idea could be decreasing them and making them more expensive. People will make better choices if driving a car becomes more and more inconvenient and more sustainable choices are offered.

We were asked to think outside the box when coming up with ideas and that is what we will do. This meeting ensured us that it will be an interesting project and we will have a good cooperation with the team from Alcoi.

Assignment 5: 3 interesting products/services concerning mobility

Before trying to work on concepts in order to reduce the CO­2­ emissions, it is necessary to determine the sector that is the highest emission source in an area to reach with the elaborated concept the biggest impact.
Due to our current state of knowledge and some conferences with our client, we assume that the mobility sector has the biggest influence on the CO2 emissions and therefore we present three approaches to tackle this issue.
 
1. Increase the attractiveness of public transportation

An attractive public transportation system contributes to a reduction of vehicles in use and traffic on the streets and reduces as a consequence the CO2 emissions. However, which are the factors which affect the attractiveness of public transportation?
- Price
- Frequency
- Connections
- Individual added value:
                    - Time for recreation
                    - Sensation of acting sustainable
                    - Wifi for entertainment, work etc.
                    - Route planner application
                    - Timetable at stations


2. City Bikes in Hamburg /StadtRad Hamburg

The StadtRad, which means city bike in English, is a great addition to the public transport. The people living in Hamburg and visiting it now have the possibility to not only use trains, buses and ferries to move around the city, but they are also able to bike everywhere they need to go. This completes the public transportation service to a great extend. With 2.300 bicycles it is the most used bike rental service in Germany. 350.000 people use it over 2.5 million times a year. On high-usage days every bike is used up to 7 times a day.
Every registered user can borrow a bike at any of the 200 Stations, to return the bike one has to bring it back to a station. This does sound stressful in the beginning, but looking at the locations of these return points it is never a problem to return the bike in the wider area of the city center.

The best thing about the StadtRad is that the first half hour of every rental is free, with eight cents for every additional minute and a maximum of 12€ a day. Furthermore, if you need a bike for example for 45 minutes and there is a station on your way, you can just return your bike and some point during your ride and rent a new one for 30 additional minutes free of charge. Most rides through Hamburg do not take 30 minutes, but if it does take longer this is a very handy trick. The system is used by a lot of people who would like to move around the city spontaneous, healthy and sustainable. For myself I had only good experiences using StadtRad.
Website StadtRad Hamburg




3. Carsharing

  Carsharing services are available in over a thousand cities all over the world. As of December 2012, there were an estimated 1.7 million car-sharing members. The world’s largest carsharing network across North Amercia and Europe are zipcar (767,000 members/11,000 vehicles) and Car2Go (900,000 members/12,000 cars). The main factors driving the growth of carsharing are the rising levels of congestion faced by city inhabitants; shifting generational mind-sets about car ownership; the increasing costs of personal vehicle. Carsharing contributes to sustainable transport because it is a less care intensive means of urban transport. Carsharing can also reduce the car ownership at an estimated rate of one rental car replacing 15 owned vehicles(according to The Economist).
Carsharing is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by hour/day. Carsharing is attractive to people who occasional make use of a vehicle. The organization renting the cars may be a commercial business or the users may be organized as a company, public agency cooperative. Government is also a stakeholder that can be a provider of cars.