Life on board ESS

ESS have been a sponsor and participant at the three day Climate Gathering, Klimatting ETT, in Lund, Sweden. This is our way to contribute to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, COP15, by supporting what we consider being the most important resource for solving the problems of the future - our young people!

On the friday I gave a presentation about the ESS for about 250 Swedish and international youths, ranging between the age of 12 - 25. I showed to them a little experiment on superconductivity, the ESS film, and informed them generally about materials science and how research at ESS will benefit us with improvments and constructions of new, more "sustainable", materials for a sustainable society.  I also described our strategy to make the facility itself, ESS, become the first carbon dioxide neutral research facility in the world and presented various objectives we have for creating the most environmentally smart grand scale work place in Lund.

I ended my presentation by asking for ideas on how we could use the excess heat which will be produced by the ESS facility during summertime. Lots of young people turned up at the ESS mobile exhibition booth to contribute with ideas, pick our brochures and ask questions about ESS.

A really smart idea came from a young entrepreneur, Simon Svendler, who suggested that ESS should use the excess heat to produce energy for a couple of "quick charging stations" for electric cars that will pass by on the E22 highway next to the ESS site in the future.

Governments representing the whole world will meet in Copenhagen in December 2009 for the fifteenth – and probably the largest of its kind – conference on climate change: COP 15. The aim is for all countries to unite in their efforts in reducing global warming and to produce a successor of the Kyoto Protocol as it expires in 2012.

This is why the youth council of Lund and UFO (Youth Forum for Agenda 21), and the municipality of Lund arranges a three day long climate gathering the 13-15 November, 2009, with the aim to amplify the voice of the young, to work out a joint message to the COP 15 meeting and provide new knowledge and possibilities to act together. Some of the participants will be even be given the chance to go as delegates to COP 15.

The three days consisted of inspiring discussions, workshops, lectures, brainstorming, presentations, meetings, own creations, study visits and evenings filled with social and cultural activities. Key persons in climate politics, as well as participants in the upcoming COP 15 meeting, were also present.

The Climate Gathering aimed to – as far as possible – keep the climate gathering carbon neutral and to provide ecological and environmentally friendly solutions and products throughout the conference. One of the coolest features was this bicycle driven blender, the"smoothie bicycle" manufactured by Mossagården, with which we could make delicious smoothies on ecologically produced fruit!