Green Living in EuropeComenius project 2012-2014

By: Arild Nesse Veseth and Jelena Maul

Table of content

1.) Introduction

2.) Report from Hamburg

2.1) 18th of April 2012

3.) Reports from Bergen

3.1) 10th of September,20133.2) 11th of September, 2013

4.) Comparison report

5.) Conclusion

Attachment

1.) Introduction

Waste. Do you know the last time, when you was thinking about waste? Maybe yesterday, when you brang the waste out. But than I´m stopping of thinking about waste. It´s away and hasn´t no relevance in my live anymore. But what is happening with the waste? Has Hamburg green solutions in disposal of waste? Develops a lot of CO2 Emission by disposal the waste? Could this be a cause for the clima change, too?

Maybe we can learn something from Bergen? In the space of time from 2013 to 2013 we learned how Hamburg handle the disposal of waste. In the space from 09th of September 2013 we learned how Bergen handle the disposal of waste. We looked, if both cities have green thoughts by the disposal of waste. How does Hamburg and Bergen compare to each other?

2.) Report from Hamburg

2.1) Report from Hamburg on the 18th on April 2012

Has Hamburg green thought by burning the waste?

Our topic is “Waste”, and we are supposed to write a little report on how Hamburg works compared to Bergen. Therefore we visited the waste incinerator factory in Hamburg. We have also visited Hafen City to find out how the trash system works there. Our question is how the city compares to each other. We find it interesting because we would like to see how they do things in two big cities, and are they different or are they very much the same?

In Hamburg they are sorting the garbage into Glass, Paper, Metal, Bio-waste, Plastic (yellow sack) and Normal Trash. In Bergen we are sorting into Paper, Glass, Metal and Normal Trash.

On Wednesday we found out that Hamburg and Bergen is really not that much different from each other. Hamburg is acting like a “big brother” to Bergen, because they have much the same systems, but it is much bigger in Hamburg. Hamburg burned in 2011; 128.000 tons of waste, but BIR they have a capacity of 220.000 tons (We do not know it burns yearly). Hamburg has four incinerators, compared to Bergen who got two. The Hamburg Facility is importing trash from other countries in Europe to burn their trash. This is because they always have to burn trash so they earn energy and money.

On Monday we visited the Waste Incinerator Factory (WIF) in Stellingen. There we had first a presentation, how the WIF works. After this we go around in the WIF. Hamburg has four incinerators.

In Hamburg it is a law that is against deporting the trash. Therefore the In Bergen there is no direct law against deporting the trash into “one big pile”, only if it destroys the nature, which it does.

Because it is forbidden to deport the garbage, Hamburg must dispose the garbage. Therefore Hamburg has three ways; one material way, one thermic way and one biological way.

On Wednesday we saw the thermic way. In this WIF they break the garbage first, after that they burn the garbage. The garbage consists of different materials: glass, hygienic material, metals, plastics, wood, organic, paper and other less used materials.

The garbage is in a big hall. There is a big hook, which put the garbage into the incinerator. Then the garbage burns, and in the end you have only ash and poisonous emission. The ash is working as building materials or is used for build

new streets. The garbage is gone, but now, they have another problem, the poisonous emissions.

They begin in 1972 to measure this emission. Until 1983 they measured the emission every year. Now they have a lot of emission that they need to reduce trough filter.

Hamburg does this very complicated. But this is very good for the environment! First they use an electric filter to filter the emissions. After that they have an activated carbon canister, to filter again. After that they have a catalyst. This system works very well. They control emission like CO, Cges, SO2, HCl, NOx, O2, Hg every week.

You can see that the emission is way cleaner than 1972 or 1978. In 1972 the dust emission was 150, now it`s only 10. Or in 1978 was the SO2 emission 1000 now only 50. Or the HCl emission was 100 and now only 10. These are good examples for the green thoughts in Hamburg.

Hamburg is using filters to reduce the pollution of the trash, while Bergen is using a two stage system; first they insert Ammonia into the hottest part of the incinerator-chamber, and then they use water to “clean” the pollution.

After the presentation of the man, he showed us the WIF. It was really interesting to see it, but it’s smelled horrible.

After this walk through the WIF, we went to the Hafe City. There wasn`t so many bins, where you could throw your garbage in, this can be a problem in Hamburg. In the district where I live there are not many waste-bins. But I hope, when there are building a district, they would build some more bins. This was not so good. Also we were disappointed by the Hafen City. The Hafen City has no special system for handling the waste; it would be good if they installed a special system

for the buildings there, because it is new, innovating and modern. So if they installed a system that would stop the trash cars from needing to pick up their waste there. This would result in a lot of spared CO2. And this would be better for the environment.

“A normal waste-bin in HafenCity. Should be easier to spot and bigger so it could store more waste.”

A little conclusion to this is that they are doing a lot of good things to reduce the emission, but it is still a lot to improve. Like HafenCity the newest part of the city does not have any new ways to reduce the emission, so Hamburg did not think green that much when the planned the Hafen City, but they think green because they have a really complicated way to the clean the emission from the WIF.

Sometimes they do not filter the emissions as much as they could because it’s more economical. The economy is very important, therefore Hamburg imports a

lot of waste. Therefore the WIF has something to burn, but because of this the CO2 Emission gets bigger.

But Hamburg isn`t so bad. They are doing a lot of good things to reduce the emission.

We are looking really forward to compare the cities later this year, in September.

3.) Report from Bergen

3.1) Report from Bergen on the 10th of September, 2013

This is our report from the excursion around the city 10th of September 2013.

We started with our walk at the Bergen Handels Gymnasium. First we went to the new Amalie Skram school. It is located by Nygårdstangen. It is pretty central, close to everything in the city. This is the newest and biggest school in Norway. It is a school with a lot of windows, which reduces the amount of electricity they need for lighting the location up. It is a “green” school because it uses a lot of environmentally ways to warm it up. It is a replacement for some of the schools in Bergen (BHG, Bjørgvin etc.) It is a big school and therefore has the capability to have a lot of pupils there. And because it is so big it also needs a lot of energy and it should be built to be environmentally friendly since it is such a big building. Therefore as we mentioned over, they have a lot of large windows so they do not need to use the lightning bulbs so much. They spare a lot of energy by this. Because it is an initiative taker on being a “green” school, because it uses the hot water which BIR generates. This is a big thing, because a lot of energy is spared.

FACTS:

-It will be the biggest and most modern school in Norway when it opens.

-It is supposed to open the autumn of 2014.

-Over 1000 pupils will be able to attend each semester.

After that we went to the BIR Gjennvinning. It is located next to the Store Lungårdsvann, and not far from Amalie Skram.This is a recycle point for waste and trash. This is a place where some of the trash cars comes and pick the waste up and drives it over to the facility outside of Bergen. It works like this: People come and deliver their trash in big containers there for recycling and then BIR empties these containers and drive the waste to the facility outside of Bergen.This is a point for people to return their trash and thereby helping the environment. Instead of having to drive all the way to the waste station they can just deliver it hear, and BIR will then drive their trash to the facility.

Accordingly we went to Grønneviksøren Møllendalsveien 52 SIB.It is in Grønneviksøren 52. Close to the Store Lungårdsvann, BIR Gjennvinning and Amalie Skram.This is some buildings that have been built for the students of Bergen. These buildings are environmentally friendly because they have a low emission. Really clever architects and Engineers have made it possible to keep the low emission. The buildings are also pretty big so it has a lot of flats for the pupils. The buildings are environmentally friendly because they do not leak any of the heat. The heat stays in there for a long time so less heating is needed. It is also a part of the “Fjernvarmenett” from BIR. And the complex is also going to be a part of the Waste Tunnel. It is being built because environmentally friendly buildings is something we need, and the flats are not too big and therefore not so expensive so therefore students can live there.

FACTS:

-The complex had some problems with its architecture. They found out that if the wind was getting over 18m/s it was a possibility that the buildings would actually flip over.

-People have just begun moving in there. (August, 13.)

Furthermore we went to Damsgårdssundet.It is located in the middle of the Bergenhus district, close to the Danmarksplass. It is located very central. This is some new apartments and buildings in the city center. These buildings are built with a green inspiration. The buildings are supposed to have gardens and boatplace. The apartments are built by a company called BOB.

3.2) Report from Bergen on the 11 th of Septemeber, 2013

On the 11th of September 2013, we went on the second excursion. First Johannes gave us a presentation about the energy politics in Norway and Vegard gave us a presentation about Statoil and INTOW. Today we were together with the Energy & Localization group. We first traveled to BIR with the Bybane and a bus from Lagunen.

In the BIR we heard a very interessting speeck about it. They told us a lot about the BIR and how it works. During this speech the explained us the trush-tunnel-system.

BIR is located a little bit outside of the main city parts. It is located in Rådal. It is important to know that this is only where the facility is, and not the headquarters, because the HQ is in the city of Bergen.BIR is a waste and energy plant. BIR stands for Bergen Intercommunale Renovation. It is Bergen’s answer to the Mühlvorbrennungsanlage in Hamburg. They are working as a recycle and waste station for 9 Municipalities in Bergen, for example Askøy and Åsane. They want to become the only “waste” service in all of Hordaland. BIR is a teamwork firm between some private and some government-owned companies. Retura is an example of a private one. BIR is one of the most technology-advanced waste-handling factories in Europe. BIR usually prepares the waste for further recycling with materials like paper and metal.BIR is something that all these 9 municipalities are splicing on, and therefore every one of these municipalities get this service.

The process that the unrecyclable waste is going through works like this:

First of all the waste needs to be delivered to the BIR facility.

Then it gets thrown down in to a large storage room, and then it gets picked up by a big hook. This big hook moves the trash down to the wasteburner. The wasteburner is a big oven, which burns the waste. The ash of this waste is being then delivered to other facilities that focus on handling ashes.

But the steam that comes out of the waste then warms up a couple of pipes of water that is sent out to warm houses in Bergen. The steam then gets washed and cleaned by water, and then sent out in the world again. With less pollution that the normal waste-steam has. The recyclable material is at BIR getting prepared for further treatment at other waste facilities for full recycling.

This is obviously done for saving the earth, and it makes the air cleaner and Bergen sustainable. This process is also done for creating clean and recyclable energy. Waste is a value for the facility because they have the opportunity to create something that everybody can win from. Also before it was always a big dump of garbage, which was just lying there and producing poisonous gasses. The electricity that BIR produce out of this is really saves the people in the city for a lot of energy.

FACTS: - Annual capacity is 220:000 tons of garbage.- They can burn 14 tons an hour.

After we had visting the BIR, we made a stop by Nesttunvannet terrasse.

This is located in Nesttun, right outside of Bergen. It is close to the Bybane and other public transport services, so it very attractive to use the public transport there. You can walk from the apartment and to the Bybane in 2-3 minutes. It is a part of Nesttun where there are some new apartments being built. It is a cooperative project by Teigland Eiendom & Selvaag Bolig. This is something that is being called Plus-Apartments. These apartments are expensive and not for the normal poor students. It is a complex being built for the ones who wants a “better everyday life”.

It is being built by Teigland Eiendom and Selvaag Bolig. They own these properties close to the Bybane so they will recommend people to use this as a way to get to the inner parts of the City, and public transport is a good thing because then people do not need to use the cars all the time. And the use of cars is a very offensive way to pollute. It is being built to increase the use of the Bybane and other collective transport possibilities. And therefore we they can reduce the amount of cars being used, and focus on getting more people to use “green transport”, with less pollution and power usage.

We only had time for 2 stations, because it took so long time getting to BIR. Nevertheless it was a fun day, and we did learn a lot. After the station at Nesttunvannet Terrase where Martin told us about these apartments we went back to school to write this report.

4.) Comparision Report

Green Living Report

How does Hamburg and Bergen compare to each other?

Finally after one year Green Living can we finally write the comparison on Bergen and Hamburg. We have found out that Bergen and Hamburg both has good ways of handling the waste, but they have also something to learn from each other.

Bergen has good measures, but so do Hamburg. Bergen has for example: “Den Grønne Sykkel”, The Tunnel System, BIR, Return of Electrical Compartments and Fretex. Hamburg has: Hamburger Tafel, The Waste Incinerator Facility in Stellingen, Heilsarmee, Speermüll and an expended sorting system. On this report we are going to write about the two biggest measures in both cities.

The Waste Incinerator Factory (WIF) in Hamburg (Stellingen) is of course much bigger than the one in Bergen, but it is pretty obvious why it is like this. The incinerator in Hamburg burns 128.000 tons of waste per year, compared to BIR who burns 28.000 tons annually. That means that the factory in Hamburg burns 100 000 tons more annually. After all BIR has a total capacity of 220.000 tons, but there is no way that they could burn all that compared to the 28.000 tons they usually do. When we visited the incinerator in Hamburg and in Bergen we come to the conclusion, that they work equal.

In Hamburg it works like this: The garbage starts in a big hall. Then there is a big hook, which put the garbage into the incinerator. Then the garbage burns, and in the end you have only ash and poisonous gas. The ash is working as building materials or is used for build new streets. The garbage is gone, but now, they have another problem, the poisonous gases.

They began in 1972 to measure this emission. Until 1983 they measured the emission every year. Now they have a lot of emission that they need to reduce trough filter.

The process they use in Hamburg is very complicated. But this is very good for the environment. First they use an electric filter to filter the emissions. After that they have an activated carbon canister, to filter again. After that they have a catalyst. This system works very well. They control emission like CO, Cges, SO2, HCl, NOx, O2 and Hg every week.

You can see that the emission is way cleaner now than in 1972 or 1978. In 1972 the amount of dust emission was 150, now it`s only 10. Or in 1978 when the SO2 emission was 1000 and now only 50. Or the HCl emission was 100 and now only 10. These are good examples for the green thoughts in Hamburg.

Hamburg is using filters to reduce the pollution of the trash, while Bergen is using a two stage system; first they insert Ammonia into the hottest part of the incinerator-chamber, and then they use water to “clean” the pollution.

So the Waste Incinerator Factory in Stellingen is Hamburg’s main and biggest measure to handling the waste.

In Hamburg they are sorting the garbage into Glass, Paper, Metal, Wood, Bio-waste, Plastic (yellow sack) and Normal Trash. In Bergen we are sorting into Paper, Glass, Metal and Normal Trash, so Bergen. So that means that Hamburg is better at recycling because they have more sorting than Bergen does. That is what we think is Hamburg’s second big measure.

In Bergen we have a measure that is kind of a big deal, because it is such a good solution to the way we handle waste in Bergen. In Bergen now every trash car has to drive in the small streets and backyards in Bergen. With the trash tunnel the trash cars that usually drive around in the center of city can retire, because with the trash tunnel there will be no use of the car anymore. The waste tunnel works in the way that there are underground pipes that will transport the trash to the waste deposit. The waste will be transported through the pipes with air pressure which does not pollute anything. The other good thing about this is that the pollution which the trash cars leave will disappear.

In Hamburg there aren`t many bins and therefore often the waste is lying on streets. For example, when we went to the “HafenCity” and we saw that there wasn`t many bins.

The other big measure in Bergen is BIR. BIR is an example of a very good way to burn the waste without doing too much pollution. BIR is releasing much less pollution than the normal Waste Incinerator Factory does, even if it is a very little factory. BIR is using new and highly-developed methods of cleaning the smoke that comes from the burning, but also use this hot smoke to warm up the water in the “Distant Water Heating System”. They use this smoke in a very good way that everybody earns something from.

The process in Bergen compared to Hamburg starts with the trash being stored in a big storage room. Then the trash gets picked up by a big hook, which then drops it into the incinerator. In the incinerator the trash gets burned and divided into hot smoke and ash. The ash then gets sent to a “Ash Facility” which sort out Aluminum and rust metal, and then gets recycle.

The hot smoke continues up to a little corridor where the Distant Water Heating valves and pipes are at. This water then gets heathen up and sent into the city to give heat which has been won from the burning of the waste. The smoke from the waste, which has now given some heat to the water, now goes down into different filters to get rid of some of the pollution. The smoke then goes in to a reactor which adds Coal and Limestone. Then the smoke goes through some filters which keeps the pollution at bay. In these filters

the dangerous wastes are falling out of the smoke. Then these dangerous wastes are sent to special deposits. Then the smoke leaves the building much less polluted.

5.) Conclusion

What is good and what is bad?

We think that both can learn from each other. It is a little bit easier for the WIF in Hamburg to upgrade and improve because they have a lot more money than BIR has. One important thing that Hamburg can improve on is to build something that works like the Underground Waste Tunnel System. The Tunnel System is an extremely effective and green way to move the trash to a facility. There is so many possibilities with the Waste Tunnel, and imagine a whole country working together with one waste tunnel system. There would be so much spared CO2 pollution.

Bergen could improve the recycling, because today BIR has to send a lot of wastes that is being generated in the process at the facility to other special facilities. Bergen should start up a recycling program or improve their recycling on Bio-Waste, Wood and Plastic. Both cities are very equal, but they can both improve there is no doubt about that. To start both cities can set out more trashcans because it will be less waste on the street the more trashcans that are available.

The Waste Incinerator Factories both work very good and we think that we have come a long way when you think about the technology we are using in these processes. But of course is there always place for improvement.

Bergen and Hamburg are both green cities with good solutions. They have both some positive and negative treats that the other one do not have. For example the recycling in Hamburg is much better, but Bergen has the new and innovative Tunnel System. Both waste incinerators work very good, which is the main and biggest way to get rid of the trash.To conclude everything both cities have some really green ideas and thoughts, which is very good. But they also have things that they can improve on, and improving is the key to get a green way of waste. They can both improve to make this a Green Living.

-Jelena & Arild.

AttachmentBLOGPOST ABOUT HAMBURG

Hamburg is a really old city. It is supposed to be first founded around year 800 AD, when a Frankish king decided that a castle named Hammaburg should be built, close to the rivers Elbe and Altser. It is not easy to spot any evidence from times before that, but the most of the Hamburgers says that it was first founded back in 800 AD.

Hamburg developed over the years, but had a lot of troubles on its way. The Vikings conquered and burnt it down in 845. Like Bergen, Hamburg had a couple of devastating fires in the city like in 1842 when a lot of the inner city burned down. It was also hit hard by the Black Death in 1350, which is supposed to have killed over 50% of the population in Hamburg.

Hamburg has been a city of trade, and therefor when the rise of the Hanseatic League in Lübeck was in need of expansion Hamburg was a winner. Hamburg also had access to a lot of salt from the city of Lüneburg. They forged an alliance. Commerce evolved and Hamburg became a Hansa-City.

In the 15-Century Altona was established. Altona was a Denmark city, right outside Hamburg. It became a part of Hamburg in 1937.

The docks in Hamburg have always been important, and they faced big expansions during the hanseatic times. Today Hamburg has an enormous dock, which is a big part of the economy here.

Hamburg is a big city and has developed very good transport system. Development has also been focused on, like the HafenCity district, which is a city-district with “low to no-emission buildings” and very smart architecture. If they keep developing and creating city-districts like HafenCity the prices on living in these areas will go down.

Den Grønne Sykkel:

Jeg vil fortelle om hva dette er. Fordi Grønn Sykkel er det eneste stedet i Norge som tilbyr full resirkulering av sportsutstyr som de skriver på nettsiden deres.

“Sykkelglede” og “den bevisste veien”, dette er deres kjerneverdier.Det er vår glede å se oss der ute. Syklende, frisk, bevisst og sprek.De er glade for å promotere bærekraftige, bevisste handlinger.Dag for dag finner de glede i å hjelpe deg, oss og samfunnet til å ta vare på seg selv og utvikle oss videre.De tenker stort,ønsker å fremme disse verdiene i Bergen, Norgeog hjelpe andre tilsvarende initiativer til å gjøre det samme.

Den Grønne Sykkel er en miljøbevisst sykkelforretning og på veitil å bli en landsdekkende kjede. Den Grønne Sykkel er den mest miljøvennlige sykkelforretningen i Norge. Det er det eneste stedet i Norge som tilbyr full resirkulering av sportsutstyr. Dette skriver de på nettsiden deres. Her strekker de seg til sitt ytterste for å reparere gamle sykler slik at man ikke underbygger et bruk/kast samfunn. Her kan man ta med sin gamle sykkel og få den vasket, reparert og du får service på den. Eventuelt kan du kjøpe en gammel eller en ny sykkel. I tillegg selger også denne butikken både brukt og nytt skiutstyr. Du kan også ta med din gamle sykkel, så kan de selge den i kommisjon. Målet for denne bedriften er å leve miljøvennlig, og å bruke ting på nytt, for å ikke bli et miljøfarlig forbrukersamfunn og for å ikke skulle måtte kjøpe nytt hele tiden. Den Grønne Sykkel har en helhetlig filosofi innenfor miljøbevissthet, og sykkelen er et av de elementene som er viktig innenfor persontransport, men det er så mye mer en det. “Sykkelglede” og “den bevisste veien”, er deres kjerneverdier. Å se oss der ute, syklende, friske, bevisste og spreke er deres hovedmål.

De er glade for å promotere bærekraftige, bevisste handlinger. Dag for dag finner de glede i å hjelpe deg, oss og samfunnet til å ta vare på seg selv og utvikle oss videre. De tenker stort, ønsker å fremme disse verdiene i Bergen, Norge og hjelpe andre tilsvarende initiativer til å gjøre det samme.Den Grønne Sykkel er en miljøbevisst sykkelforretning og på vei til å bli en landsdekkende kjede.

Stasjonstittel: Den Grønne Sykkel

Sted:  Damsgårdsveien 37

Temagruppe:  Avfall

Fadder:  Arild Nesse Veseth Vikar: Jonas Gjesdal

Hva skal gruppen utforske i forhold til tema på denne stasjonen?Hva kan forskes på til tema av eksursjonsgruppen?Hvorfor skulle denne stasjonen være med?Dette er en stasjon(butikk) som sier på nettet at de er Norges eneste komplette returpunkt for alt av sportsutstyr. Gjenvinning er et veldig viktig punkt innen avfall, så dette er absolutt noe vi burde se på.

Vi kan forske på gjenvinning, og hvordan det funker.

Denne stasjonen kunne vært med fordi det er relevant. De driver med gjenvinning av utstyr som ofte bare kastes etter det har blitt slitt, og da havner det i vanlig restavfall og blir behandlet som det deretter.

Info: Green Living Reports 10.09.13 & 11.09.13

This is our reports from the excursions around the city 10th and 11th of September 2013.

1. Amalie Skram.What? It is the newest and biggest school in Norway. It is a school with a lot of windows, which reduces the amount of electricity they need for lighting the location up. It is a “green” school because it uses a lot of environmentally ways to warm it up. It is a replacement for some of the schools in Bergen (BHG, Bjørgvin etc.)Where? It is located by Nygårdstangen. It is pretty central, close to everything in the city. How? It is a big school and therefore has the capability to have a lot of pupils there. And because it is so big it also needs a lot of energy and it should be built to be environmentally friendly since it is such a big building. Therefore as we mentioned over, they have a lot of large windows so they do not need to use the lightning bulbs so much. They spare a lot of energy by this. Why? Because it is an initiative taker on being a “green” school, because it uses the hot water which BIR generates. This is a big thing, because a lot of energy is spared. FACTS: -It will be the biggest and most modern school in Norway when it opens.-It is supposed to open the autumn of 2014. -Over 1000 pupils will be able to attend each semester.

2. BIR Gjennvinning.What? It is a recycle point for waste and trash. This is a place where some of the trash cars comes and pick the waste up and drives it over to the facility outside of Bergen. Where? It is located next to the Store Lungårdsvann, and not far from Amalie Skram.How? It works like this: People come and deliver their trash in big containers there for recycling and then BIR empties these containers and drive the waste to the facility outside of Bergen.Why? This is a point for people to return their trash and thereby helping the environment. Instead of having to drive all the way to the waste station they can just deliver it hear, and BIR will then drive their trash to the facility.

3. Grønneviksøren Møllendalsveien 52 SIB.What? This is some buildings that have been built for the students of Bergen. These buildings are environmentally friendly because they have a low emission. Where? It is in Grønneviksøren 52. Close to the Store Lungårdsvann, BIR Gjennvinning and Amalie Skram.How? Really clever architects and Engineers have made it possible to keep the low emission. The buildings are also pretty big so it has a lot of

flats for the pupils. The buildings are environmentally friendly because they do not leak any of the heat. The heat stays in there for a long time so less heating is needed. It is also a part of the “Fjernvarmenett” from BIR. And the complex is also going to be a part of the Waste Tunnel. Why? It is being built because environmentally friendly buildings is something we need, and the flats are not too big and therefore not so expensive so therefore students can live there. FACTS: -The complex had some problems with its architecture. They found out that if the wind was getting over 18m/s it was a possibility that the buildings would actually flip over. -People have just begun moving in there. (August, 13.)

4. Damsgårdssundet.What? This is some new apartments and buildings in the city center. These buildings are built with a green inspiration. The buildings are supposed to have gardens and boatplace.Where? It is located in the middle of the Bergenhus district, close to the Danmarksplass. It is located very central. How? The apartments are built by a company called BOB.

On the 11th of September 2013, we went on the second excursion. First Johannes gave us a presentation about the energy politics in Norway and Vegard gave us a presentation about Statoil and INTOW. Today we were together with the Energy & Localization group. We first traveled to BIR with the Bybane and a bus from Lagunen.

1. BIR.What? BIR is a waste and energy plant. BIR stands for Bergen Intercommunale Renovation. It is Bergen’s answer to the Mühlvorbrennungsanlage in Hamburg. They are working as a recycle and waste station for 9 Municipalities in Bergen, for example Askøy and Åsane. They want to become the only “waste” service in all of Hordaland. BIR is a teamwork firm between some private and some government-owned companies. Retura is an example of a private one. BIR is one of the most technology-advanced waste-handling factories in Europe. BIR usually prepares the waste for further recycling with materials like paper and metal.Where? BIR is located a little bit outside of the main city parts. It is located in Rådal. It is important to know that this is only where the facility is, and not the headquarters, because the HQ is in the city of Bergen.How? BIR is something that all these 9 municipalities are splicing on, and therefore every one of these municipalities get this service. The process that the unrecyclable waste is going through works like this: First of all the waste needs to be delivered to the BIR facility.

Then it gets thrown down in to a large storage room, and then it gets picked up by a big hook. This big hook moves the trash down to the wasteburner. The wasteburner is a big oven, which burns the waste. The ash of this waste is being then delivered to other facilities that focus on handling ashes. But the steam that comes out of the waste then warms up a couple of pipes of water that is sent out to warm houses in Bergen. The steam then gets washed and cleaned by water, and then sent out in the world again. With less pollution that the normal waste-steam has. The recyclable material is at BIR getting prepared for further treatment at other waste facilities for full recycling. Why? This is obviously done for saving the earth, and it makes the air cleaner and Bergen sustainable. This process is also done for creating clean and recyclable energy. Waste is a value for the facility because they have the opportunity to create something that everybody can win from. Also before it was always a big dump of garbage, which was just lying there and producing poisonous gasses. The electricity that BIR produce out of this is really saves the people in the city for a lot of energy. Facts: -Annual capacity is 220 000 tons of garbage. -They can burn 14 tons an hour.

2. Nesttunvannet terrasse. What? It is a part of Nesttun where there are some new apartments being built. It is a cooperative project by Teigland Eiendom & Selvaag Bolig. This is something that is being called Plus-Apartments. These apartments are expensive and not for the normal poor students. It is a complex being built for the ones who wants a “better everyday life”. Where? It is located in Nesttun, right outside of Bergen. It is close to the Bybane and other public transport services, so it very attractive to use the public transport there. You can walk from the apartment and to the Bybane in 2-3 minutes. How? It is being built by Teigland Eiendom and Selvaag Bolig. They own these properties close to the Bybane so they will recommend people to use this as a way to get to the inner parts of the City, and public transport is a good thing because then people do not need to use the cars all the time. And the use of cars is a very offensive way to pollute. Why? It is being built to increase the use of the Bybane and other collective transport possibilities. And therefore we they can reduce the amount of cars being used, and focus on getting more people to use “green transport”, with less pollution and power usage.

Conclusion:We only had time for 2 stations, because it took so long time getting to BIR. Nevertheless it was a fun day, and we did learn a lot. After the station

at Nesttunvannet Terrasse where Martin told us about these apartments we went back to school to write this report.