335 meters

Working from home today, I made the most of the morning hours by running a half marathon in the forest mist after I had finished marking all the quantitative methods exams. This is the third semester that I am teaching statistics, and I must say that it is really something that I have come to appreciate, perhaps mostly as I can focus on the pedagogical side without getting emotionally invested in the way I easily get when talking about for instance climate policy.

Running in my Hoka Speedgoats, I first made the same full loop around Delsjön that I did last Friday before topping up with the 5k loop in Skatås, for a total of 335 meters of elevation gain. Unlike in Umeå, it is really a luxury to have hills just outside the door as I keep training for my Spanish mountain ultra in March. 

Indulging in a cinnamon bun from Lilla Sur afterwards, there is great news from the US where Google has just ordered six small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power, with the first one to be operational in 2030. Unlike the buying of renewable energy certificates that only increases grid volatility and locks in fossil gas, the building of these reactors will directly decarbonize Google’s energy supply while showing the way for other energy-intensive companies.