Immersion

Time is just flying by here and I can't believe its already day 3 of class.
Tuesday, three significant events (an elementary term for lack of a better word) took place: Trip to the Dong Energy power plant, Copenhagen Consensus at CBS (Copenhagen Business School), and playing the role of a Bicycle dealer. All three things are pretty much result of immersing both academically & socially into what I would call a Copenhagen experience

Dong Energy, Denmark's major energy provider, has a plant south of Copenhagen, where we went for a class field trip. It was interesting to learn the facts: it was clean, to the point, no bias sort of tour. They are known for using alternative energy, but their primary source is coal, mostly from Columbia and I THINK parts of Africa (should've paid better attention rather than stare at their solutions for vents). A smaller percentage is biomass (straws) and (..drumroll...) wind energy. It was disappointing learning how small the ratio of alternate energy is, but it makes sense. The country is in transitioning stage switching to green energy, and unlike Sweden, does not have options of hydopower. We got a tour of how all three sources are processed, and more interestingly, was informed how the byproduct is used for gymsum & concrete. I need to look into if American energy companies do that (I am guessing no, since to clean the byproduct of the flue requires shutting down and cleaning which means time consumed which means MONEY).
I really appreciated their "look, this is what it is, and we're just going to deal" instead of feeling like i'm being sold a product or made to convince that coal is good (referring to those outrageous ads i've seen in metro advertising coal).
Second thing about this plant is their architecture. Its an award winning design, and I can clearly see why its so popular. The pictures you see here clearly show a creative approach to a power plant and here are MY analysis to it:
1. orientation: windows places stratigically to maximize sun.
2. daylight: walls placed so that most workable area have some sort of daylighting, even where there are machineries.
3. work friendly environment: use of bright colors, modern applications of everything from door handle to placement of vents, creative use of hallways, carpet & ceiling as well as furniture show thoughtfulness in creating a friendly environment.

So those are just some thoughts from my field trip.

Next was a seminar at the Copenhagen Consensus conference held at the CBS campus. Basically, the consensus cover top issues that are considered to be top priorities in the field of economy. Chris R., Emily & I made it to the session on Global Warming, and I must say, it was interesting. there were 3 speakers in the panels that all had the same message: Global warming is real, we need to do something about it but its not going to be cheap. It was neat seeing the graphs covering how much profit & loss we would have based on what course of action as a whole we decide to take and the most beneficial, it seems like, is a mid way (this is where I got lost as I couldn't understand all the terminology). Either way, a neat perspective on green living outside of class & architecture.

Last but not least, next stop was meeting up with Syed to pick up his extra bike. In between the conference and going to his apartment, Chris and Emily discovered a roteserrie at Valby. This resulted on pigging out on the congested street corner during rush hour. I must admit, hanging out with them two is leading up to no good; our ventures always ends up being crazy.
So after finishing our yummy meal, we faced the challenge of finding bikes that would be appropriate for us...this soon turned into finding something appropriate for Chris as I refused to bike back to Amager all the way from Valby (cant take bicycles on the metro...how lame!!) and Emily couldnt find a bike that is right for her height.
Chris ended up taking the bike that I was supposed to get. However, as challenges love to follow us, our next road block was figuring out a way to break the lock for this bike as Syed did not have the key for it (how typical ;-)). They finally managed to break it with a tree trimmer out of all things! after Chris started riding it, I was honestly scared for him and afraid he would either fall and die or fall and get a concussion and not know who he is this morning. But all was fine. besides me falling off Syed's broken stool while drinking cherry wine, there was no falling....