In the Netherlands, the construction of wind turbines on land has almost come to a standstill. But hybrid wind parks, in combination with a solar park, batteries and an industrial … Read more
The article in BioScience, The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth, is particularly distressing. ‘We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster,’ is … Read more
Industrial chemicals and chemical products have been increasingly used for practical societal services such as health care, personal care, food preservation, crop protection, housing, and transportation. In most cases, the … Read more
In Delft, The Netherlands, the construction of a large-scale wooden building has started, The Urban Woods. This will pave the way towards sustainable high-rise building construction in the Netherlands. High-rise … Read more
Is Europe still the world leader in climate issues? The continent has ambitious plans. But in the field of energy transition, things do not play out as planned. Europe may … Read more
Climate change, a new IPCC report says, is intimately linked to our land use. Changes in land use result in changes to the climate, and vice versa. In other words, … Read more
Electricity should preferably be consumed immediately when it is generated. Storing electricity is not that easy. It always comes down to converting electricity into something else, that is used at … Read more
If we move away from fossil fuels as a source of carbon, the question arises what should then become our source. Lux Research presents an answer: CO2 utilization. This could … Read more
Experts and scientists judged it impossible. The new Dutch wind turbine The Blade seems to mock natural laws. And yet, the new home-sized turbine is claimed to produce 2,500 to … Read more
Ocean habitats play a key role in storing carbon from the atmosphere; but until now, nobody has known exactly how much ‘blue carbon’ ends up in kelp, seagrass meadows, salt marshes … Read more
The site change.inc contained an interesting article (in Dutch) on energy hubs – a central place where regional companies and households share their energy production and consumption. In the Netherlands, … Read more
Solar panel production disappeared from Europe over the past twenty years. Now, a new generation of solar panels is around the corner, and this could mean the return of solar … Read more
Green hydrogen has been an expensive fuel, so far. Producing it by solar or wind energy (and electrolysis) is now three to four times as expensive as producing ‘grey’ hydrogen … Read more
Renewable energy, mainly solar, wind and hydro, is going to take over global energy supply. But is its development fast enough to prevent global warming beyond 1.5oC? Global annual renewable … Read more
Solar energy continues to astonish the world. In 2024, new developments will ensure continued growth; both in generation and in storage. Largest source of electricity generation Present developments indicate that … Read more
It isn’t recognized generally yet, but the combination of solar, wind and batteries can supply the whole world with electricity. Writes RethinkX in its latest newsletter. This is happening already … Read more
The Conversation informed us about the negotiations on a global pact on plastic. A penultimate round of negotiations recently ended in Ottawa – the last stage will take place later … Read more
Knowable Magazine ran an interesting article by Nicola Jones on a forthcoming treaty on plastic pollution. This would tackle the vast amounts of plastic waste discharged to the environment. It … Read more
Pressure on the electricity grid is rising all the time, because of increasing local production: solar and wind energy. An increasing number of companies needs to wait for a connection. … Read more
Is the Earth entering a new and more dangerous phase in climate change? Where global heating will accelerate instead of slow down? This may be the case, says Jack Marley … Read more
Carbon dioxide is a powerful greenhouse gas. But we can put it to good use as well. Putting CO2 to good use may even reduce the burden of preventing its … Read more
Hydrogen is at our disposal, so it seems, in many colours: black, grey, green, blue, turquoise, purple, aquamarine, pink, red, blue, yellow, orange, white, … [1, 2, 7]. Some colours … Read more
At the time of writing, COP28 is still underway. There are serious doubts as to whether the conference will be a success. But it has put agriculture on the stage … Read more
After many years of unashamed scepticism, the International Energy Agency finally published a positive report about renewable energy; in their World Energy Outlook 2023. But with a warning: we need … Read more
Animal husbandry has a major ammonia problem; in the Netherlands, anyway. Cows are held in barns in which urine and faeces are collected together. This is a perfect mix for … Read more
Recently, we argued that we are near ‘peak energy’. Global energy demand has slowed down a lot; it will probably peak within a few years. But solar and wind energy … Read more
The growth of solar and wind power has sparked a debate on how much renewable energy the grid can carry. The more solar we add to the grid, the less … Read more
Most carbon dioxide emission policies have a weak spot: they forget emissions from embedded carbon, through decay of products made from fossil sources. Often, policy only has an eye on … Read more
Already in our 2016 energy forecasts, we foresaw a much more favourable development of renewable energy than authoritative organizations: energy companies, the oil industry and international bodies like the IEA. … Read more
The 2021 Biennale in Venice introduced a new concept into architecture: the probiotic design. From the 19th century onwards, architects and housewives tried to keep the interior of our buildings … Read more
Last week, the UNESCO building in Paris hosted a conference on putting an end to plastic waste. Long overdue, according to many delegates. Science Magazine proposed to cap global plastics … Read more
Optimistic messages on renewable energy abound. According to a major scientific article, ‘a greener, healthier, and safer global energy system is also likely to be cheaper’. Much cheaper. But official … Read more
The first assessment of solar and wind power performance over 2022 has been published, by independent climate think tank Ember. Both forms of energy production did very well. Together, they … Read more
The site Nature Communications ran a remarkable article about wax worms that break down polyethylene. We read it through The Guardian and the Dutch site change.inc. But, we asked ourselves: … Read more
We are now three decades into political and research efforts to stop climate change. But we are still in the era of rapid global emissions growth. Since 1990, we emitted … Read more
So far, many analysts expected high-renewable energy scenarios to be beneficial to the global climate; but maybe a bit expensive as well. A recent study argues that this too pessimistic. … Read more
Solid state batteries are going to provide a new boost to electric driving. They are in full development; but solid state battery-equipped cars will probably not hit the market before … Read more
George Monbiot published a new book, Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet. He is the much acclaimed and (to some) controversial author who criticizes modern agricultural practices. In … Read more
How do we get rid of the growing amount of plastic waste in the world? On a macro scale, The Ocean Cleanup tries to accomplish that: by removing plastic from … Read more
In the Netherlands, Amsterdam suffers from congestion on the grid. As do other locations. Sustainable energy projects are stalled because of it. New business projects suffer the same fate. The … Read more
There are many reasons for use of more solar energy. Most importantly, the climate. Moreover, the world needs to scale down its use of gas and oil quickly. More solar … Read more
Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas. It has 82.5 times more warming potential than CO2 over a 20-year timespan. But fortunately, it lives shortly in the atmosphere: it degrades … Read more
A shift towards a plant-based diet could buy humanity a much needed pause in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. The plant-based diet and global warming The effects of a … Read more
Many proponents of sustainability adhere to the idea that the main path to sustainability lies in high-tech solutions. Like electric cars instead of the old ones, that guzzle fossil fuels. … Read more
Almost three years ago, in 2019, we voiced our concern over increased methane emissions. Although then we saw a bright side to this problem: unlike CO2 emissions, methane (CH4) emissions … Read more
Gut feeling says plastics are bad for the environment – but are the alternatives really better? Originally published in Renewable Carbon News of the nova-Institute. Plastics, an environmental problem? In … Read more
Biological crop protection is on the rise. In many respects, biologicals are better than chemicals. Generally, they carry low risk for human health and for the environment. Not necessarily harmless … Read more
Plastic pollution is everywhere nowadays. Even in the remotest places on earth. A problem that we need to address urgently. But nature may be working hard to help us solve … Read more
Solar energy is making a breakthrough. Solar panels become cheaper all the time. Therefore, structural problems, like their diluted electricity production, become less important. Even in a country with little … Read more
For decades, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) spread the message ‘that the energy transition will happen faster and be less costly than many people think’; in the words of CEO … Read more