Sustainability – Society, environment, art and music

January 9, 2024January 8, 2024

The 15-minute city: from vague memory to future reality (1/7)

Without changes to the transport system in which they operate, the advent of autonomous cars will not significantly improve the quality of life in our cities. This has been discussed in previous contributions. This change includes prioritizing investment in developing high-quality public transport and autonomous minibuses to cover the first and last mile.

However, this is not enough by itself. The need to reduce the distances we travel daily also applies to transporting raw materials and food around the world. This is the subject of a new series of blog posts, and probably the last.

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing the sustainability of the need for people and goods to travel long distances. In many cities, the corona pandemic has been a boost to this idea. Paris is used as an example. But what applies to Paris applies to every city.

When Anne Hidalgo took office as the newly elected mayor in 2016, her first actions were to close the motorway over the Seine quay and build kilometres of cycle paths. Initially, these actions were motivated by environmental concerns. Apparently, there was enough support for these plans to ensure her re-election in 2020. She had understood that measures to limit car traffic would not be enough. That is why she campaigned on the idea of “La Ville du Quart d’Heure”, the 15-minute city, also known as the “complete neighbourhood”. In essence, the idea is to provide citizens with almost all of their daily needs – employment, housing, amenities, schools, care and recreation – within a 15-minute walk or bike ride of their homes. The idea appealed. The idea of keeping people in their cars was replaced by the more sympathetic, empirical idea of making them redundant.

During pandemics, lockdowns prevent people from leaving their homes or travelling more than one kilometer. For the daily journey to work or school, the tele-works took their place, and the number of (temporary) “pistes á cycler” quickly increased. For many Parisians, the rediscovery of their own neighbourhood was a revelation. They looked up to the parks every day, the neighbourhood shops had more customers, commuters suddenly had much more time and, despite all the worries, the pandemic was in a revival of “village” coziness.

A revival, indeed, because until the 1960s, most of the inhabitants of the countries of Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia did not know that everything they needed on a daily basis was available within walking or cycling distance. It was against this backdrop that the idea of the 15-minute city gained ground in Paris.

We talk about a 15-minute city when neighbourhoods have the following characteristics

– a mix of housing for people of different ages and backgrounds – pedestrians and cyclists

– Pedestrians and cyclists, especially children, can safely use car-free streets.

– Shops within walking distance (up to 400 meters) for all daily needs

– The same goes for a medical center and a primary school.

– There are excellent public transport links;

– Parking is available on the outskirts of the neighbourhood.

– Several businesses and workshops are located in each neighbourhood.

– Neighbourhoods offer different types of meeting places, from parks to cafes and restaurants.

– There are many green and leafy streets in a neighbourhood.

– The population is large enough to support these facilities.

– Citizens have a degree of self-management.

Urban planners have rarely lost sight of these ideas. In many cities, the pandemic has made these vague memories accessible goals, even if they are far from reality.

In the next post, I will reflect on how the idea of the 15-minute city is moving from dream to reality.

HERE you can link to my free downloadable e-book: 25 Building blocks to create better streets, neighborhoods and cities

August 29, 2023September 24, 2023

3. Attractive streetscape

This article is part of the series 25 building blocks to create better streets, neighbourhoods, and cities. Read how design, starting from the physical aspects of the streetscape and -pattern contributes to the quality of the urban environment.

Streets and squares are appreciated best if there is cohesion between several elements, such as the block height, the number of floors, the type of houses, the building line and the colour. When some elements work together, others can vary. Uniformity without variation results in people avoiding a street.

Coherence and variation in balance

Variation creates liveliness and will extend the time visitors spend on a street. This principle is applied almost everywhere in the world. Walls are fitted with arches, pillars, porches, porches, pitched roofs, windowsills, canopies, balustrades, cornices, dormer windows, linear and vertical elements, see the bottom-centre image of a Paris’ building. At the same time, the attributes of separate buildings that provide variety are most effective against a coherent background. The Parisian avenues illustrate this too, because most edifices are built according to the same principles while the ornamentation of each facade differs. The attractive streetscape in Sicily (top right) and in the Alsace (bottom right) demonstrate an almost perfect balance between similarity and difference.

Use of colour

A good example are the painted houses in the Canadian settlement of Lunenburg, which was founded in the 18th century by German woodworkers and is a UNESCO world heritage site today (top centre). The nature of the construction and the type of buildings ensure cohesion; the colour provides the variation.

Street pattern

A manageable pattern of similarly important streets contributes to the spread of visitors and provides a level playing field for shops and restaurants. A mesh, which does not necessarily have to be rectangular, facilitates orientation. A rectangular street pattern is at the expense of the element of surprise and detracts from the feeling that there is something to discover. Squares will often be found at street intersections.

Landmarks

Understanding of the pattern of the streets is reinforced by providing intersections with landmarks, such as statues, fountains, or distinguishing buildings (photo, top right). These elements help visitors developing a mental map. Maps every here and there are more helpful than signposts. The fewer poles in the ground, the better.

Canals and moats

Canals and moats also contribute to the attractivity of the streetscape. They restore the human dimension in too wide streets, also in new parts of the city. The images on the left show a central street in Zaandam (top) and a ‘waterway’ in the Amsterdam Houthavens quarter (bottom). The edges of waterways should never be used as parking spaces. Definitely not in Amsterdam, because its unique streetscape.

Follow this link to find an overview of all articles.

July 14, 2022July 12, 2022

The metaverse and other toys of the giga-rich

It is often said that technology is developing at a rapid speed, and ‘we’ must keep up with the vanguard. The suggestion is that this development is autonomous, which is not true. Instead, Big Tech is the force behind it. About 50 tears ago, governmental bodies, like Darpa (US), the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany) and TNO (the Netherlands) were forerunners in technological development, which resulted in a certain degree of democratic control and relevance for society.

Big Tech has earned an incredible lot of money and pays only a limited amount of taxes. Therefore, its resources are unlimited. The same applied to its founders and ceo’s fortunes, only think of multibillionaires as Jeff Bezos and Egon Musk. Because of the wealth of Big Tech and its leaders, these companies can spend – they call it investing – as much as they want. At the same time, governmental resources seem to decrease while its responsibilities become bigger.

Now that innovation is in the hands of wealthy and narcistic men like Egon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Marc Zuckerman, nobody must be surprised if its development is not inspired by any social goals but by the desire to have their own toys. The metaverse is the new one. In a world were combatting poverty and diseases, providing clean water and sanitation, and becoming carbon-neutral ought to be prioritized, they invest billions in the creation of a virtual world, the metaverse. A welcomed toy for the leisure class.

The metaverse is the ultimate form of augmented reality, the digitally supplemented substitute for reality. Metaverse was first described by Neil Stephenson in his dystopian book Snow Crash in 1992. As the power of computers grew, the idea of the metaverse gained new impetus and recently Marc Zuckerberg announced that his new company Meta Platforms will gradually turn Facebook into a fully digital world. This immerses the users in the most diverse experiences, which they partly evoke themselves, such as communicating with other avatars, attending a concert, going to the disco, and getting acquainted with strangers and of course going to shops, because it remains a medium to make money.

Already now companies are buying advertorial space and the rich issue famous architects to design the interior and exterior of the digital mansions their avators will live in.

It remains to be seen whether a younger generation, less consumer-addicted and more concerned about nature, is waiting for a such a completely artificial world.

This post based on by the new e-book Better cities, the contribution of digital technology. Interested? Download the book here for free (90 pages)

Content:

Hardcore: Technology-centered approaches

1. Ten years of smart city technology marketing

2. Scare off the monster behind the curtain: Big Tech’s monopoly

Towards a humancentric approach

3. A smart city, this is how you do it

4. Digital social innovation: For the social good

Misunderstanding the use of data

5. Digital twins

6. Artificial intelligence

Embedding digitization in urban policy

7. The steps to urban governance

8. Guidelines for a responsible digitization policy

9. A closer look at the digitization agenda of Amsterdam

10. Forging beneficial cooperation with technology companies

Applications

11. Government: How digital tools help residents regaining power?

12. Mobility: Will MaaS reduce the use of cars?

13. Energy: Smart grids – where social and digital innovation meet

14. Healthcare: Opportunities and risks of digitization

Wrapping up: Better cities and technology

15. Two 100 city missions: India and Europe

Epilogue: Beyond the Smart City

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021

Eleven building blocks for the transition to sustainable energy

Next months, these posts focus on the challenges of Earthlings of to bring humane cities closer. These posts represent the main findings of my e-book Humane cities. Always humane. Smart if helpful, updates and supplements included. The English version of this book can be downloaded for free here and the Dutch version here.

After having finished five posts on controversial aspects of the energy transition (‘The stepdaughters of climate science’, in Dutch), I summarized my favorite solutions. in eleven short statements

1. I will feel most comfortable in a world deploying energy provided by sun and wind to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This implies a huge transition, which, also brings significant benefits for an emerging sustainable economy.

2. Instead of opting for an expensive third-generation nuclear power plants, we better invest in the development of fourth generation nuclear energy plants, such as Thorium, or molten salt reactors. Their waste is limited, and they are inherently safe. These reactors could potentially replace outdated wind turbines and solar panels from 2040.

3. We must also continue using less energy, without undue expectations. After all, clean energy can potentially be abundantly available in the long term, although this is particularly relevant for developing countries.

4. In addition to the use of solar and wind energy, I am opting for hydrogen. It will be used for heavy industry, to level discrepancies in the supply and demand of energy and as an additional provision for heating buildings and houses. The presence of high-quality gas networks, as in the Netherlands, is easing this choice. In addition, we use residual heat, biomass of reliable origin and we exploit geothermal energy where its long-term availability is assured.

5. By no means we are producing all necessary hydrogen gas ourselves. The expectation is realistic that after 2030 it will be produced in deserts and transported from there at a competitive price.

6. The North Sea and the IJsselmeer will become the most important places for the extraction of wind energy. Besides, solar panels are installed on roofs wherever possible. We care for our landscape and therefore critically consider places where ground-based solar panels can be installed and where wind turbines are not disturbing. Part of the wind energy is converted into hydrogen on site.

7. It could easily last until 2040 before the import and production of hydrogen meets our needs. Therefore, we must continue to use (imported) gas for quite some time. To prevent greenhouse gas emission, significant capacity to capture and store CO2 must be in place, at least temporarely.

8. Given the availability of temporary underground storage of CO2, premature shutting down our super-efficient gas and coal-fired power stations it is unnecessary capital destruction. They can remain in operation until the facilities for solar and wind energy generation are at the desired level and sufficient hydrogen gas is available.

9. Energy co-operations facilitate the local use of locally produced energy, thus enabling lower prices, and limiting the expansion of the electricity grid. To this end, private and neighborhood storage of electricity is provided.

10. Reliably collected biomass is deployed as raw material for the biochemical industry in the first place and can further be used for additional fueling of coal and gas-powered stations (with CO2 capture) and as local energy source for medium temperature district heating networks.

11. Finally, we must take enough time to choose the best way to heat buildings and houses at neighborhood level. Getting off gas prematurely can induce wrong choices in the longer term. A gradual phasing out of gas heating and cooking will enable us to wait longer for the moment when hydrogen (gas) is available to replace the natural gas in neighborhoods where it is the best solution.

This article has been published before at the Amsterdam Smart City website

August 28, 2021

Tools for circular construction

Next months, these posts deal with the challenges of Earthlings of bringing humane cities closer. These posts represent the most important findings of my e-book Humane cities. Always humane. Smart if helpful, updates and supplements included. The English version of this book can be downloaded for free here and the Dutch version here.

Structural waste in the build environment. Source: The circular economy: Moving from theory to practice, McKinsey & Company 2015

The impact of circular principles in the construction sector is huge, because buildings are responsible for more than 50% of the total use of materials on earth, including valuable types such as steel, copper, aluminium and zinc. Moreover, they produce about 40% of all greenhouse gases.

By circular construction we mean designing, building and demolishing a building in such a way that, in addition to the high-quality reuse of materials, justice is done to sustainability ambitions in the field of energy, water, and biodiversity and ecosystems.

In case of demolishment, nowadays many components are reused, but at a very low level, for instance concrete and stones as the foundation of new roads. Apart from the question how many new roads are still needed, this type of recycling destroys the intrinsic quality of materials and does not diminish the recovery of new materials. At least, separation of glass, steel, wood and other materials can be made mandatory. In addition, valuable materials can by ‘saved’ by operating in a targeted manner, even though these buildings are anything but circular. This is called ‘urban mining’. The biggest problem is that recycled materials are often more expensive than new ones.

Anyway, a first step is more efficient use of existing buildings. Evidently, progress can be made by planning, designing, developing and building circular buildings. A number of options are mentioned below^[1].

Urban planning

Challenges for planning are the use of inner-city vacant land and issuing mandatory requirements regarding the construction of new buildings, for instance the use of less cement, glass and steel, the mandatory application of a certain percentage of reused materials, and becoming energy positive or at least energy-neutral. Switching to sustainable timber is an option for 90% of homes and 70% of offices being built.

Mandatory reuse of existing components

Reuse of existing materials means than glass is reused as glass and concrete pillars as pillars. The same applies to doors, frames, carpets, wall-cladding materials and so on.

The materials passport, which contains an overview of all materials and components that are used to construct of a house or building, is a useful tool as well. The obligation to reuse a large percentage of existing components has far-reaching consequences for the design and construction of new houses. To start with, after demolishment all materials must be selected, cleaned, registered and stored in new-to-develop warehouses.

The Circl pavilion of the ABN-AMRO bank

The Circl pavilion of the Dutch ABN-AMRO bank is an example of a new building that uses as many existing components as possible. For instance, 1200 m² of wooded floors, partition walls of a demolished building and 16.000 garments of employees for isolation purposes. All components of the building are designed to be reused^[2].

Industrial production and 3D printing

Construction of components in factories, deploying industrial processes, will reduce costs by 30 percent and the delivery time by at least 50 percent.

Decreasing size of apartments

The size of apartments will decrease, partly due to costs, but also because of the presence of shared guest rooms, lounge areas and terraces for working and socializing, spaces for washing and drying laundry.

The need for office space will decrease rapidly due to sharing space and working in an external environment. So IBM has only one desk available for 12 employees. Given the presence of 300,000 employees, this has led to savings on real estate of around € 1 billion in the past 10 years.

Modularity and durability

A key barrier for better use of floor space is the lack of flexibility in the design of buildings and room configurations. A modular design, which provides for easy replacement of partitions and placement of complete functional units (kitchens and bathrooms) facilitates adjustments as the use of a building changes.

Forget new construction at all

As families become smaller and offices need less space, existing space becomes more underused. Well-thought adjustments to the lay-out of existing houses and buildings can improve their efficiency without reducing their amenity. That is what adaptive reuse stands for: instilling a new purpose on an existing “leftover building.”. A number of inspiring examples can be seen here^[5].

^[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/the-circular-economy-moving-from-theory-to-practice

^[2] https://www.duurzaambedrijfsleven.nl/infra/24589/abn-amro-opent-deuren-van-innovatief-en-circulair-paviljoen-circl

^[3] http://www.winsun3d.com/En/About/

^[4] https://www.dirtt.com/

^[5] https://www.archdaily.com/931659/10-plus-proposals-to-promote-adaptive-reuse-and-introduce-transformative-ideas?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ArchDaily%20List&kth=

July 5, 2021July 9, 2021

What is resilience

*Ultimate resilience: Floating Oceanix City – picture Bjarke Ingels Group (public domain)*

Building dykes as flood protection is one of the oldest forms of resilience. However, people only started building dykes after their houses, roads and crops had been flooded several times and they had managed each time to recover from the damage. Later, the dykes broke and they were reinforced. This brings us to the core of the concept of resilience:Building capacity within individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.

Resilience is an attitude of individuals and also a behavioral pattern of a group of people, for instance inhabitants of a city. The 100 Resilient Cities-movement (100RC) distinguishes seven qualities that together characterize resilience.

The use of the term resilient city has been promoted by international organizations and associations of cities to improve the ability of cities to handle hazards such as hurricanes Katarina in the New Orleans region (2005) and Sandy along the east coast of North America (2012).

In subsequent years, the concept hazard has been expanded to include external pressures in general, varying from climate change, environmental degradation to poverty. That is why the 100RC-movement distinguishes between chronic stresses and acute shocks.

	characteristics	examples
Chronic stress	Repeating events that weaken the fabric of a city on a daily or cyclical basis.	High unemployment, inefficient public transportation system, endemic violence and chronic food and water shortages.
Acute shock	Sudden events that disrupt the life in a city.	Earthquakes, floods, disease outbreaks, airplane crashes and terrorist attacks

Becoming resilient at city level refers to policies that deal with all these types of hazards. These policies include:

Precautionary measures based on the recognition and anticipation of imminent threats.
Coping strategies, including directs actions to limit damage, to help victims and repair the damage.
Prevent risks or mitigate their impact.

In these policies involvement of citizens is essential, as it is unpredictable whether hazards will undermine or destroy the executive power of the municipality. Citizens have to be trained to initiate actions, complementary to the official ones and possible even as replacements.

Each of these aspects will be discussed in my nest post.

June 21, 2021

How can cities make the difference, regarding the realization of circular goals

Cities can make the difference

Firstly, by bringing parties together, developing inspiring goals, removing barriers arising from existing regulations, facilitating sharing, stimulating innovative research, supporting start-ups that contribute to circular solutions and providing financial incentives, for example, by differentiating tax rates.

Secondly, by making circular plans in areas where the city government is primarily responsible. Local authorities have a large and direct influence through legislation and investments related to urban planning, issuing building permits, mobility systems, urban infrastructure, district heating, energy production and distribution, waste collection, municipal taxes and the local labour market^[1].

For instance: Amsterdam

The city of Amsterdam is a shining example. It has committed itself to the circular economy as an important pillar of its sustainability policy. The city wants to be a forerunner and has a good starting position because many citizens, businesses, start-ups, and (knowledge) institutions are convinced by the necessity of a circular economy^[2].

The municipality applies the following principles:

All materials are part of an infinite physical or biological cycle.
All energy comes from renewable sources.
Modular and flexible design of production chains to increase the adaptability of systems.
New activities that enable the shift from possession of goods to use of services.
Logistical systems that switch to more region-oriented services.
Human activities that contribute to the regeneration of “natural capital”.

Together with external parties, such as TNO and Circle, the city has evaluated existing value chains with respect to ecological impact, economic importance, value retention and transition potential. This resulted in a selection of two fields (‘chains’) in which the greatest circular impact can be achieved, namely the construction chain and the organic residual chain.

Construction chain

By organizing the construction chain in a circular fashion and at the same time realizing 70.000 new homes by 2040, a 3% productivity gain is feasible representing a worth of € 85 million per year. This is the result of reusing material and efficiency improvements. The table below is mentioning the main activities to be developed in the next years.

Organic residual streams chain

High-value processing of organic residual flows over a period of five to seven years, will result in an added value of 150 million euro per year. This is the result of source separation of organic waste in all households and in the food processing industry. The organic residual flow is used to produce proteins for animal feed, biogas and building blocks for the production of bioplastics.

Is a circular city also a humane city?

There is no doubt that in the long run everyone benefits from a circular economy. However, in the short term it can weaken the purchasing power of the poor. Poor people around the world have already created an informal circular economy by buying or exchanging worn-out goods such as cars, refrigerators, furniture, and clothing. Goods that are available at flea markets, thrift stores or through family and friends. As soon as these goods become part of a regular circular process, their availability will decrease and their prices rise. Not to mention a ban on selling these goods for environmental or safety reasons.

This problem is not inherent in the circular economy, but arises from the growing gap between the rich and poor part of humanity. Consequently, policies aimed at the development of a circular society must also create the conditions for a more just and egalitarian society.

^[1] https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/Cities-in-the-CE_An-Initial-

^[2] https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Circular-Amsterdam-EN-small-210316.pdf

April 8, 2021

Regional differences in the paths towards a circular economy

Countries with a lower income are more “circular” than richer counterparts. Many residents simply cannot afford to throw away valuable material. In the informal sector, a great deal of economic activity revolves around sorting and reusing waste, including imported waste from rich countries. About 0.5% of the urban population in developing countries – 1.5 million in India alone – tries to make a living by collecting items from landfills, with all the health risks this entails. An estimated 270,000 people die each year from the incineration of waste. It is estimated that in 2025 landfills will cause 8 – 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Every year Circle-Economy is publishing its Circularity Report. In the 2020 version, circular growth paths for three groups of countries are differentiated^[1].

Build countries (for instance: India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines)

These countries lack sufficient means to satisfy their basic needs, and it is not surprising that their economic activities mostly fall within the regenerative capacity of the earth. Most of these countries show progress in reducing poverty and their emerging middle class want to enjoy greater consumption. The building industry already is the second sector after agriculture. 70% of the buildings India needs in 2030 are yet to be built.

Paths towards circularity:

Application of circular principles in construction (design for the future and energy-neutrality)
Education and developing entrepreneurial skills in the informal economy
Using residues from agriculture to develop a sizable bio economy

Growth countries (for instance: China, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and Egypt)

The second pathway relates to emerging economies characterized by fast economic growth and associated material consumption and services, rapid build-up of capital goods and an expanding industrial sector. They will continue to grow, but have to channel this growth by the application of circular principles.

Paths towards circularity:

Channeling fast growing consumption through new service-based business and shared-use models and healthier principles. For instance, the reemergence in China of the use of bicycles.
Transforming the informal economy, creating better living conditions and improving food security.
Decoupling economic growth from extraction of resources and use of carbon-based energy.

Shift countries (for instance: The United States of America, Japan, Argentina and member countries of the European Union)

Because of their ecological footprint, these countries must shift away from over-consuming the planet’s resources, and reinvent their affluent and comfortable lifestyles, also taking account of large internal differences.

Paths towards circularity:

Consuming smarter through (1) product lifetime extension; (2) increase material efficiency through new technology and design and (3) promotion and adoption of sharing business models.
Taking control of the impact of their imports and exports, for instance by radically reducing the international trade of secondary materials and products (waste).
Ramp up the infrastructural transformation required to secure abundant capacity for renewable energy generation.

^[1] https://assets.website-files.com/5e185aa4d27bcf348400ed82/5e26ead616b6d1d157ff4293_20200120%20-%20CGR%20Global%20-%20Report%20web%20single%20page%20-%20210x297mm%20-%20compressed.pdf

March 15, 2021

Stop the depletion of the earth

*Brighton Waste House, a project of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Photo: University of* (public domain).

The picture above is the Waste house at the university campus of Brighton, constructed from local waste. In our society reuse of waste still is limited. Repair of household appliances seems to be not done: Last year, three devices in my home broke. No shops could fix them, although surfing the Internet revealed the existence of replacement parts. I’d better buy a new one, they advised.

The flow of materials

Our economy is characterized by the take-make-waste principle, which results in an excess of cheap mass products that are thrown away at the end of their life cycle. Moreover, the majority of the raw materials are not recycled or reused in low quality. The result is a large amount of waste, pollution and the rapid exhaustion of raw materials worldwide.

A closer look at the flowchart of materials below is enlightening. Look here for a larger copy.

The graph reveals that the volume of resources extracted in 2017 was 84,4 Gt (billions of ton), supplemented by 8.4 Gt reused ones: Minerals (37.9 Gt,) ores (9.6 Gt, fossil fuels (16,6 Gt) and biomass (28,7 Gt). In 2017 the global economy was 9,1% circular. In 2019 only 8,6%.

Of this material input in 2017 (92.8 Gt), 36.0 Gt became part of the long-term stock of buildings, roads, cars and other capital goods. The stock of capital goods (houses, buildings, infrastructure, fleet) has expanded considerably in recent decades, which can lead to a large increase in potential waste in the coming years.

The largest part (56.8 Gt) was used for the production of goods with a lifetime that does not extend beyond 2017.

Of the total waste of 19,4 Gt in 2017, 8.4 Gt is reused, for example by water treatment, the production of biogas, through recycling (only 1,4 Gt) and by composting. The majority of recycled material is of low quality. The remainder, 9,2 Gt is ‘lost’ and is scattered in the environment. For instance, through microfibers that are added to the ocean and might return in the food chain.

Towards a circular economy

The problem of the ‘take-make-waste’-principle is not waste only. The linear economy on which this principle is based is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions and, moreover, leads to the depletion of raw materials by rich and emerging countries or better, their rich minorities all over the world. The extraction of resources by contemporary and previous generations will stagnate the developing of future generations. Replacement by the circular principle can correct this lack of justice.

Materials such as metals, plastics and chemicals cannot return to nature without processing. Instead, we distinguish four ways to stretch their lifespan and preserve their value, so that no new raw materials have to be extracted.

Repairing and sharing;
Reuse by other users without major changes;
Renovate and overhaul, dismantle and assemble into a new product, possibly with the addition of new functionalities;
Recycling: tracing back the product to its original material, preferably at the highest possible level (for example, plastic waste becomes ‘virgin’ plastic). In this case the original product can be re-manufactured.

A circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to keep products and materials in permanent use, without the need to exploit additional resources.

It is based on four principles:

Decoupling the provision of new products and services from the availability of finite resources.
Design out waste and pollution and other negative externalities of economic activity that harm human health and natural systems. This includes toxic substances, greenhouse gas emissions, air, land and water pollution, and traffic congestion.
Maintaining the highest value of components and materials by designing them for reuse, rework and recycling.
Maintaining natural capital through the circulation of nutrients and creating the conditions for regeneration of, for example, soil.

We are at the beginning of a long process and we are running out of the time available

February 25, 2021

Promises of hydrogen: exaggerated or underestimated

Hydrogen can play an important role in the storage of cheap and surplus green electricity, as an alternative to natural gas and as a fuel for buses, trains, planes, and ships.

The production of hydrogen

The process of electrolysis brings water into contact with electricity, resulting in oxygen and hydrogen. A 100% clean process, provided the use of energy from carbon-free sources. ‘Blue’ hydrogen occurs when the CO₂ released during the production of electricity is collected and stored.

Advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen.

The storage of hydrogen is easy, particularly if conversed into ammonia. A kilo of hydrogen is producing the same amount of energy as a fully-fledged Tesla Power Wall. A tank with 60,000 m³ of ammonia can deliver more than 200 million kilowatt hours. That is the annual production of 30 wind turbines on land. The problem with hydrogen is that 60% of energetic value is lost when electricity is used to make hydrogen and hydrogen is converted it into electricity again. Storing electricity in a battery yields only 5% loss of value.

Hydrogen plant in Rotterdam (blue containers) and the apartment complex (left center) that will be heated with hydrogen. Photo: DNV GL

Heating

A possible application of hydrogen is as a substitute for natural gas, which limits energy loss to 30%. For an apartment complex in Rotterdam, hydrogen will be produced locally and transported via dedicated gas pipelines (photo). An electric heat pump would have reduced energy use with 75%, given perfect isolation. Exactly to avoid cost of isolation, housing corporations are considering hydrogen in older houses. Eventually, heating on hydrogen will be reserved for historic city centers, where few alternatives are available.

Transport

An also frequently mentioned application of hydrogen is transport. In the meantime, for all forms of transport – even bicycling – hydrogen models are available.

With the foregoing in mind, hydrogen as fuel for passenger cars – not to speak of e-bicycles – is quite odd. Although the range is about 600 km and refueling is fast, the difference with electric cars is reducing fast. For other means of transport, the verdict may be more positive. The rule is, the larger the desired range and the heavier the load, the more the benefits of hydrogen equal or outweigh the advantages of batteries. Examples are buses, lorries, but also planes and ships.

Energy storage

The production costs of solar energy in desert areas are considerably lower than those in Europe. This is mainly due to the considerably greater light intensity, which means that the yield of solar panels and collectors is twice as high. The Gulf States see themselves as future export countries of hydrogen, in the form of ammonia.

The gas group Air Products & Chemicals has announced that it will build a hydrogen factory in NEOM, a mega city in Saudi Arabia, which is under development. This factory will produce annually 2.3 million tons of hydrogen (1.2 million tons of ammonia). This factory, due to be completed in 2025, will be the largest in the world.

The European Union also has biggest plans. In 2024, 1 million to hydrogen must already be produced, which should have increased tenfold by 2013.

The Netherlands is investigating the possibility of converting wind energy generated in the North Sea to hydrogen on site, if there is an overcapacity on the network. This can save billions in grid reinforcement. The powerful sea breeze may ensure that production is competitive with to imported hydrogen.

Whether the substantial potential of hydrogen is realized depends in the first place from the availability of cheap sources of wind or solar energy and the willingness of the western world to engage in new dependency from the ‘former’ oil producing countries who can deliver cheap hydrogen.