everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Tag: Finland

  • Heating by Bytes

    File this one under Green.

    Sometime in the near future, district heating in Helsinki will be supplemented by heat thrown off by local data centers. This will enable them to cut back on greenhouse gases produced by more traditional methods to heat the water that is pumping through radiators across town.

    In a first of its kind experiment, the city of Helsinki will look at piping the waste heat produced by a data center, specifically the underground Academica Data Centre, to run under buildings and provide much needed heat for the residents. In a further move to enhance the greenness of this data centre, it is also going to be cooled by the icy waters of the Baltic Sea. This is one of the unique features of this system – the pump can both heat and cool water. This efficacy means that the output energy is five times more than the input energy. This directly translates into five times cheaper power. . . They can heat around 500 houses [and also save] around $ 563,000 annually for the company in power bills.

    The Data Center Journal

    Pretty nifty.

  • USPO should copy Finnish NetPosti

    netposti

    A recent editorial in the New York Times spoke of how internet commerce is eating into the US Postal Services’ bottom line.

    The Postal Service made a profit until 2006. Since then, declining mail volumes — as more Americans use e-mail and pay their bills online — and the demands of its retiree health benefit system have dragged it deeper and deeper into the red. Last year, it delivered 17 percent fewer pieces of mail than in 2006 and reported losses of $1.4 billion, this year it expects to lose $7 billion. Postmaster General John Potter warns that unless the service takes major steps to bring its costs into line, it will lose $238 billion over the next 10 years.

    Some of the suggestions include ending Saturday delivery and closing lesser used branch offices and replacing them with ATM-like kiosks in supermarkets or malls. While these may make sense to cut costs, if there was more flexibility for the postal service to expand into new businesses, they would stand to gain from the growth in other areas where they have suffered such as online, electronic invoicing.

    Here in Finland I was surprised that the Finnish Postal Service has a strong online presence (NetPosti) that is an integral part of everyone’s life.

    • Receiving e-invoices in NetPosti does not carry a fee.
    • An e-mail notification and/or SMS message of e-invoices received in NetPosti
    • Pay for the e-invoice in any online bank from any account using the virtual barcode.
    • The e-invoice is convenient to attach to an e-mail as a PDF file.
    • E-invoices can be read and archived in all online services that offer the NetPosti service.
    • A free-of-charge archive for seven years (instead of the previous six years)

    Netposti has not only everyone’s physical address (they get a feed of all address changes from the Finnish government), but they also provide an account for everyone tied to your social security number and an email address that you can provide.

    I get my paychecks delivered electronically as a PDF and I can neatly archive them into folders for future reference. As it says above, I can receive my bills via NetPosti and pay them online via my bank’s website. All for free.

    Why doesn’t the US Post Office partner with PayPal, Visa, Amex, etc and deliver invoices electronically and take part in the 21st Century?

  • Nordics Bathed in Broadband

    More pretty infographics via Focus.com’s 2009 State of the Internet report. What is it about the internets up here in the Nordics. Norway, Sweden, Finland are the top three for internet penetration (I believe that’s number of households). In terms of speed Finland is quite a bit shy of Japan and Korea but still pulls in at a respectful 22 mbps average broadband speed with Sweden next at 18.2.

    State of the Internet 2009

    See also: Finland has 3rd fasted internet

  • Finnish Independence Day

    The Finns had a rough go of it winning their independence from the USSR. It was just 70 years ago so the wounds are still fresh. The commemoration is more of a memorial in honor of those that served in the bitter civil war than the Norman Rockwell-like celebration that I am so used to in the United States.

    Perhaps it’s the passing of time but I think it’s more the Finnish character that cuts out the pomp and circumstance of the independence day parade. Look at the Finnish flag. No noisy Stars and Bars, just a simple, austere blue cross.

    Sisu indeed.

  • Santa Lucia

    It’s cold and dark in Helsinki.  Minus 10 Celsius with a bitter wind blowing off the Baltic. Snowing too. Coming down sideways, blinding at times and so cold the snow doesn’t really collect on the ground but just blows around like sawdust that squeaks when you walk on it. The sun doesn’t make an appearance until 9 am and then slinks back down around 3:30 pm.

    Santa Lucia Festival, Helsinki

    At this time of darkness, when the pagan calendar marks the longest night of the year, towns all over Scandinavia crown a local beauty that year’s Saint Lucia. Last weekend Tyler and I braved the cold outside of Helsinki’s Cathedral to watch the procession.

    It’s a beautiful ceremony. Rich with tradition and history. We arrived at 5 pm to an almost empty square and watched as torches were lit and friends gathered. By 6 pm a small crowd had gathered up near the Cathedral door, mostly for warmth as we huddled together and tried to stay warm.

    When she emerged it was unworldly. A band played softly the traditional procession march (oddly, it’s the Neapolitan aria Santa Lucia) and her train slowly marched down the Cathedral steps. All dressed in virginal white with candles in her hair. The light, the light! The crowd was transfixed by the silent beauty and hope that came from this simple ceremony in the dead of Winter.

    It’s good to know that the days will be getting longer now, the sun sticking gaining strength.  That night, along with the rest of Finland, we celebrated turning a corner.

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • Berlusconi Pizza with Reindeer

    Finnish humor at its best.

    The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was famously quoted as saying he had to “endure” Finnish food during a visit several years ago. So it certainly amused me when I found out that the a Finnish pizza chain has named one of their pizzas in his honor.

    Thumbing their noses squarely at Berlusconi, this version of the Italian specialty features Red Onions, Mushrooms, and Smoked Reindeer. We ordered two pies the other night and they were delicious.

    I’m pleased to read that news of this has reached the Italian papers. I’m sure the Prime Minister had a good laugh when he heard the news.

    Berlusconi

  • The Largest Ocean Liner in the World

    The Largest Ocean Liner in the World

    While we’re making lists, Finland topped another one earlier this week with the launch of the Oasis of the Seas which was built in the STX shipyard in Turku, Finland. 1,180 feet long and grossing 220,000 tons this ship is longer than an aircraft carrier and carries more than 8,000 people (including crew of over 2,000) on board. Some more tidbits picked up from The Atlantic’s piece on the Oasis which features an excellent graphic:

    • 21 swimming pools
    • a football-sized interior park featuring trees up to 20-feet tall
    • two theaters and a 1,380 seat playhouse
    • a 100 megawatt power plant that burns through 12 tons of diesel fuel an hour produces enough to power 105,000 homes

    The Atlantic goes on to note that the total cost to build the Oasis was $1.4 billion, placed in 2006 when it’s owner, Royal Caribbean must have been enjoying better times because they ordered not one of these but two (the sister ship, also being built in Turku, will be delivered next year).

    The Oasis is headed for Florida having just squeezed under the Danish Belt bridge with just a couple of feet to spare. She’ll set sail on her maiden voyage on December 5th.

  • Finland has 3rd fastest internet

    Finland recently declared broadband internet access a legal right. The site billshink.com also calculates that Finland has the third fastest average access speeds.

  • WaveRoller, a childhood dream realized

    WaveRoller, a childhood dream realized

    I used to read Popular Mechanics magazine back in elementary school and would read about all the cool inventions (Robotic Surgeons! DIY Jet-powered Go Kart!) and it got me in trouble more than a few times because what I learned there was not part of the 3rd grade curriculum.

    I still remember a test where we were supposed to list future sources of energy. Instead of solar I put “waves” instead and got dinged on my score. I remember protesting, assuming my teacher surely had read the cover piece in that month’s Popular Mechanics. Back then I assumed, for some weird reason all teachers read and knew everything. No dice, the red mark stayed.

    Today I read that what I read about back then is actually reality with a Finnish company that has announced a contract to build a working prototype off the coast of Portugal.

    Quicktime Video (17MB)

    This news was announced at Mindtrek, a conference I attended in Tampere, Finland. Startups are thick on the ground in Finland and I’ll write more on this later and the conference in another post.