By Angelo Baggini / Published on Thu, 2008-08-21 09:00
Year: 2008
Policy Status: In force
Some of the Finnish Government's voluntary energy conservation agreements expired at the end of 2007. In order to replace and update the expiring agreements under the governance of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, a third generation of voluntary energy efficiency agreements for the period 2008 to 2016 was prepared.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Mon, 2008-08-18 09:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
The Building Regulations, given in the National Building Code of Finland under the Land Use and Building Act, were amended by the Ministry of the Environment in 2007 in order to comply with the EU energy performance of buildings directive. The amended Building Regulations were given in June 2007 and will come into force from 1 January 2008.
The energy requirements are the same for all buildings and include:
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Fri, 2008-08-15 09:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
In 2007, the Finnish government took a number of steps to implement the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.
On 13 April 2007, the Finnish parliament approved new legislation regulating the energy efficiency of buildings. The new legislation includes two new acts:
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sat, 2008-08-09 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
To prioritise the development of new energy-saving technology, the Finnish government elected in 2006 to award structural investment subsidies within sectors covered by the EU ETS to only those projects involving new technology.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-08-06 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: Superseded
At the end of 2005, the majority of the Finnish government's voluntary energy efficiency agreements were due to expire. Based on evaluation of the agreement scheme and feedback received from the field, parties to each of the agreements elected to extend them all by two years.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sun, 2008-08-03 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
In a report presented to the Finnish Parliament in Spring 2006, Finland's Ministry of Trade and Industry recommended the extension of federal subsidies for energy audits and analyses. Industries and installations participating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme will continue to enjoy access to such subsidies, as will installations refraining from participation.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-06-19 05:30
Extreme weather conditions might increase failure rate
How will higher temperatures due to climate change influence the efficiency of electricity transmission and distribution? Last April, Nastaran Rahimi posed this interesting question in the Leonardo Energy forum. Stefan Fassbinder replied by making the rough estimate that a temperature rise of 2°C would increase network losses by 0.04% of the total throughput. This conclusion, if correct, is a fairly negligible effect compared to other network losses. The idea that ‘climate change increases network losses, increasing climate change in their turn’ does not hold.
This conclusion does not mean that climate change will have no influence on the electrical system. The main negative consequence will be operation and maintenance issues due to extreme weather conditions. A relatively small global temperature increase can change local climates, leading to a significant increase of days with potentially harmful extreme weather.
One such extreme condition is summer drought. Sergio Ferreira has already reported that in the summer of 2007, ‘several nuclear and other power plants had to be shut down due to very hot ambient and river water temperatures in Western Europe (particularly in France)’. A study in 2007 by the Finnish research institute VTT shows that many other climate issues could affect the reliability of the electrical system.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-03-20 17:06
A detailed analysis by the Technical Research Centre of Finland
One of the major drawbacks of wind energy is that it requires extra reserve capacity to compensate for the intermittency of its power output. Opponents of wind energy even contend that it requires a 100% back up: they claim each megawatt of wind power would require a megawatt from a combined cycle power plant as a standby. A study by the Technical Research Centre of Finland has now demonstrated this last claim to be incorrect.
Size matters
The study 'Design and operation of power systems with large amounts of wind power' was commissioned by the International Energy Agency (IEA) for its Wind Implementing Agreement, and resulted in a state-of-the-art report. It shows that the amount of back up needed for wind energy varies greatly according to the systems’ characteristics. The size of the system and the correlation of wind production with peak demand are two major and decisive factors.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2006-12-22 08:30
Pietersaari, Finland
Pietersaari on the west coast of Finland hosts what is believed to be the world largest dry biomass fired cogeneration plant. The plant, operated by Alhomens Kraft AB, has a capacity of 240 MW of electrical power, 100 MW process steam, and 60 MW district heating. It burns biofuels such as bark, sawdust, wood chips, and cut peat, along with 10% coal or oil. Commercial operation of the unit began in December 2001.
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