Master classes Sustainable energy

Together with three Ukrainian universities and five Dutch based companies and supported by the Cross-programme, Saxion University (Prof. dr.  Johan Wempe) organized three series of master classes to develop ideas for projects for sustainable energy for Ukraine projects in Ukraine.

Topics and organisation of the master classes
The students formed teams around five projects: waste to energy, biogas, energy farm, building related energy supply and energy efficiency opportunities for the woodworking enterprise. Besides the technical aspects, the alternative organizational forms, new forms of communication, and radically new business models are crucial for these sustainable initiatives.

The master-class were carried out in three locations: Kyiv, Lutsk and Odessa. It consisted of two session days (one in April and one in June). In between these two meetings the teams will work on their research. The students communicated via Skype with the Dutch companies and the coordinators in order to get feedback, discuss research progress and problematic points.
The master classs ended with a conference where the results of research were presented and open for discussion. Interested businesses, institutions and governmental officials ere invited to participate.

Universities
The involved professors and universities are:
•  The professors Taras Komenda and Andriy Korovytskyy from the Lutsk National Technical University.
•  Prof. Galyna Strelkova from the Institute for Energy Saving and Energy Management of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute”.
•  The professors Evgeny Fomichev and Lidiya Voloshchuk from the Odessa National Polytechnical University.

Involved Dutch companies and organizations / NUSEP members
The Dutch based companies are:
• BGP: Andrey Yefimov;
• De Bruijn Advice & Practice: Peet de Bruijn;
• KSB: SvitlanaTsvetkova, Kay Rostalski and Jacques Hoos;
• AgroCircle: Richard Kamsteeg;
• Triodos Facet BV: Arjan Visser.

Dutch Waste Management will support master classes in new regions. Education and communication are crucial in developing Waste to Energy - change management. This week Saxion and Dutch Waste Management discussed this program with NBSO - India - Ahmedabad representative Mr. Jolly Joseph.

Indo-Dutch working group Urban Development

A delegation of the Ministry of Urban Development visited the IABR-exhibition of Urban Metabolism in Rotterdam. Because waste is one of critical flows in urban planning I was invited to present Dutch Waste Management and project proposals.

The IABR has published a list of 96 projects that together will make up the main exhibition, URBAN BY NATURE–.
The list includes projects by renowned designers and design offices such as Piet Oudolf, OMA, BIG, MVRDV, West 8, ZUS, JCFO, .FABRIC, LOLA, Floris Alkemade, H+N+S, Wim Quist and Benthem Crouwel; by organizations such as the World Wild Fund for Nature Netherlands and the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency; companies such as Shell and the Port of Rotterdam Authority; and universities such as Delft University of Technology, MIT, Harvard, and ETH Zurich. On show in the Kunsthal and in the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, curated by Dirk Sijmons, URBAN BY NATURE– runs till 24th of August.

In the Urban Metabolism the urban landscape is considered as a complex, vast and interactive system that continuously works to meet the needs of its inhabitants.

There are recognized nine critical flows: air, water, biota, food, energy, humans, cargo, sand, sediment and construction materials and waste.
Waste can be defined in different strategies:
- Prevention / Cradle to Cradle
- Circular Economy
- Biobased Economy
- Waste to Energy

After an interactive presentation of Dutch Waste Management some topics were pointed by the Indian delegation, such as costs, guide lines construction and demolition waste and gas-emissions, ways to upgrade the caloric value and the advantages of composting and anaerobic digestion. Further discussion will take place at the Indian ministry and in the joint working group.

40 Pioneering Biomass projects

The Netherlands Programme Sustainable Biomass by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) is winding down, having supported around 40 pioneering projects in biomass (2008-2013) worldwide.
An in-depth report has now been published of aggregate findings, meta-lessons learned and recommendations for policy and private sector related to biomass, biofuels and the biobased-economy.
Dutch Waste Management has more than twenty years experience in Designing, Building and Operate these kind of projects.

The general outlook of the report is that demand for biomass resources is expected to increase, for both local markets and export markets; for existing uses and for new markets in the biobased economy. The future possibilities for biomass importing countries to use biomass depend not only on available sustainable production potentials, but also on demand from other countries.

More biomass resources needs to be unlocked to increase the availability of affordable biomass in the future. The NPSB projects demonstrate the need for an integrated approach towards sustainability (including economic sustainability). The debate on sustainability is a dynamic one, with new impacts (ILUC, carbon debt, cascading) emerging in recent years and still under debate. Any agreed sustainability framework will be subject to change, which stresses the importance of multi-stakeholder consultation processes.

Unlocking sustainable and affordable biomass requires a transition towards using resources more efficiently and towards creating alternative resources. The NPSB projects have shown that alternative biomass resources may successfully be unlocked, with multiple positive impacts on sustainability. This is especially true for integrated, sustainable production models with multiple market outlets, and for the valorisation of residues and waste streams. These 'best practice' production systems serve the food-fuel-feed sector well, and as such they contribute to regional development and sustainable land use. Benefits can be further optimized in the supply chain, through efficient use of technologies.