Happy New Year 2017

{youtube keywords: Andre Rieux, clog dance}

Aeolus – Rapid Offshore Wind Turbine Monopile Deployment

[nl.wikipedia.org] – Aeolus (schip, 2014)

Gemini Wind Park Nears Completion

Capacity: 2 x 75 wind turbines of 4 MW each, totaling 600 MW. Gemini will be one of the largest offshore wind parks in the world.

[deepresource] – 600 MW Dutch Offshore Gemini Wind Park Takes Major Hurdle
[wikipedia.org] – Gemini Wind Farm

SolaRoad Project Update

In the Netherlands space is scarce… but there are many roads. The idea is to let traffic drive over solar panels. In 2014 a bicycle path was created to test the concept. Meanwhile the results are in.

[deepresource] – SolaRoad Finally Launched (Oct 2014)
[deepresource] – SolaRoad Operational (Nov 2014)
[wikipedia.org] – SolaRoad

Dutch Railway Powered for 100% by Wind in 2017

Windpark Westermeerwind – largest power contributor Dutch Rail

By 2017, all of our trains will run on sustainable energy. This will provide passengers with access to climate-neutral travel over longer distances… The electricity will be generated by newly constructed wind farms belonging to our energy supplier Eneco. This will also stimulate the energy market and help the growth of sustainable energy providers. By 2017, all electric trains in the Netherlands will run on sustainable energy.

European wind parks contributing to Dutch Rail

[ns.nl] – Sustainable Energy
[wikipedia.org] – Windpark Westermeerwind
[westermeerwind.nl] – Official site (English)

Matt Ridley on Global Warming vs Global Greening

Matt Ridley lecture for the Royal Society of London. Topic “Global Lukewarming”. Ridley admits btw that he has financial interests in coal. Ridley admits that global warming is a fact but challenges that catastrophic significance of the phenomenon. Claims that simulation models exaggerate global warming and that there was merely 0.5 degree Celsius global warming in half a century and that real catastrophic climate change is at least a century from now.

Interesting is the remark that the correlation between the level of CO2 and corresponding global warming is of a logarithmic nature and per definition can’t cause severe global warming and that in order for 1 degree Celsius increase to materialize, you need a doubling of the CO2 level, implying that the worst temperature increase is already behind us.

Ridley begins his talk by remarking that there is a huge advantage to increased CO2 levels, namely the greening of the earth as extra CO2 functions as a fertilizer.

Ridley does acknowledge that real environmental problems do exist: over-fishing, ocean acidification, hunting, deforestation.

[nasa.gov] – Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds