Energy

Vehicle-2-grid organiseert een evenement om met buurtbewoners van Amsterdam Nieuw-West in gesprek te gaan over een innovatie die bij hun in de buurt plaats vindt: de Vehicle-to-Grid laadtechnologie. Het innovatieve van dit project is dat een elektrische auto niet alleen opgeladen kan worden, maar ook energie uit de batterij terug kan leveren aan het net. Het idee hierachter is dat de wijk meer duurzaam opgewekte energie zelf kan gebruiken en dat het elektriciteitsnet langer meegaat.

Aanwezig zijn experts van Alliander, NewMotion, Enervalis en de berijders van de elektrische auto’s die deelnemen aan de proef.

In June we kicked off a new phase of Amsterdam Smart City. More partners than ever are pooling their networks, knowledge and skills. Who are they? We will present some of them one by one. Arcadis: 'The energy supplies we use in the city need to be more decentralized and renewable, without any concessions on reliability.'

What is the main reason for you to join the open collective Amsterdam Smart City?

As an engineering and consultancy firm, Arcadis is always improving and innovating our built environment. As the relation between our built environment and other technologies intensifies, there is also a growing need to collaborate. We want to be part of the ecosystem to create the best, smartest and sustainable city.

What is your ambition for the city and the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area?

Our motto is to improve the quality of life. A smart city for us is a city where all the city systems are optimized to meet the needs of the citizens, to create a city for all people taking profit and planet into account.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for the city and the region in the future?

There is an increasing pressure on all the city systems, e.g. the water system with more drought and heavy rainfall periods, the transition to a climate neutral energy system, or the transportation system with the increasing crowds. Keeping all the city systems flowing and working in a sustainable way is key to ensure quality of life.

How do you see the role of the residents and citizens in your plans?

Residents and citizens, but also people who work in the city or visit the city, are all part of the solution. A city that functions well has the right interaction between the people and the city systems. That requires both people and technology to innovate and develop.

What do you hope to work on in the upcoming years?

The upcoming years will be vital in transforming our society towards a sustainable and healthy one. Energy transition and the transformation of our mobility are the two themes we will focus on within Amsterdam Smart City. The transportation system of the city needs to be transformed to enable more sustainable and more multimodal transport. The energy supplies we use in the city need to be more decentralized and renewable, without any concessions on reliability.

Amsterdam invites you to experience the heart of its energy transition from 1-3 April 2019.

We are very happy to announce the dates for the City-zen Days in Amsterdam on 1-3 April 2019! More information to follow; please put these dates in your agenda.

We will be starting to build the programme soon and keep you updated about the program.
If you have any questions, please contact city-zen@amsterdamsmartcity.nl

Energy Storage NL heeft een interactieve energieopslagkaart gepubliceerd. Uit deze kaart blijkt dat er al tientallen energieopslagprojecten in Nederland actief of in ontwikkeling zijn.

Het City-zen project Virtual Power Plant is een van de projecten in Amsterdam.

'De kaart is en dynamische database, gebaseerd op informatie van onze deelnemers', zegt Stefan Olsthoorn, projectmanager bij Energy Storage NL. 'Deze deelnemers geven regelmatig updates over hun projecten en daarmee wordt de energieopslagkaart bijgewerkt. Energieopslag en -conversie zijn sleuteltechnologieën in de energietransitie. Het aanbod van energie uit zon en wind fluctueert. De wind waait immers niet altijd even hard en de zon schijnt niet altijd. Energieopslag helpt om de overschotten aan energie te bufferen en de tekorten te overbruggen.'

De energieopslagkaart is hier te bekijken: http://www.energystoragenl.nl/projects

Energy Storage NL, een activiteit van het FME Cluster Energy, vertegenwoordigt de belangen van bedrijven en organisaties die actief zijn in energieopslag en -conversie.

Staat jouw energieproject hier nog niet bij? Je kunt dit doorgeven via mail info@energystoragenl.nl.

Bron:
https://smartstoragemagazine.nl/nieuws/i16690/energy-storage-nl-publiceert-energieopslagkaart-van-nederland

Dit bericht verscheen eerder op FME.nl:
https://www.fme.nl/nl/nieuws/energy-storage-nl-publiceert-energieopslagkaart-nederland

Different government agencies from all over the world are transforming their cities into smart cities. Because of the increasing pollution levels, the world environment is facing multiple challenges, and global warming is one of them. The main reason for this increase in temperature of the globe is the release of ever-increasing greenhouse gases. Burning the fossil fuels to meet the energy requirements is being considered as the primary reason for the global warming and the toxic elements in the air.

To fight this global problem, a huge amount of funds has been allocated by all the developed and the developing countries in the recent past. In addition, most of the city planners are working towards attaining the dream of shifting towards 100% sustainable energy by 2020. With the new innovations, the smart meter is one of the efficient equipment that can help in the effective management of energy flow.

As per the implementation plan, the smart cities will have all kind of connectivity features and to attain that, a lot of energy is needed. The best part about these smart cities is, all the energy will be collected from the renewable green energy sources. With the view of empowering the entire city with green energy, an effective management of energy is required to prevent the shortage of energy. In order to reduce the wastage of energy, the ‘smart meters’ can be used to keep a track of the energy utilization.

Amsterdam's new start-up FlyGRN was launched last week – a search engine that compares thousands of flights of different airlines worldwide and (partially) offsets the CO2 emissions of flights booked through its website. In doing so, the website hopes to take a big step in reducing CO2 emissions of the aviation sector.

The aviation sector is growing, which in turn increases its impact on the environment. Because air travel is excluded from climate agreements, FlyGRN is taking matters into its own hands. When a visitor books a flight through FlyGRN, the website will automatically offset the user’s CO2 emissions, either fully or partially. That’s possible with the fee that the search engine receives from its partners. The consumer doesn’t have to compromise on flight options or prices.

Since flights on FlyGRN are often just as cheap and sometimes even cheaper than those of their competitors, searching for flights through this website is certainly worth the while. Visitors who search a flight through FlyGRN can compare on different characteristics, such as the airline, travel time, or number of stops, and they can automatically see the climate impact of their flight. The website indicates the percentage of the flight’s emissions that FlyGRN offsets for free. After booking, site visitors get the option to purchase the remaining percentage themselves. This is often just a few dollars.

In addition to reducing the CO2 emissions of air travel, FlyGRN also aims to provide more awareness in the environmental impact of a flight. Few people know the exact impact their flight has, and only a small percentage of travelers actually offset their flight. Moreover, the way that this offsetting works is not always transparent.

One of the reasons why FlyGRN is created is due to frustration about a lack of transparency of the current CO2 offsetting services. When offsetting flights, it is often unclear exactly what happens with the CO2 compensation and where the money goes to. FlyGRN attaches great value to providing as many details as possible on the CO2 certificates. If you book a flight through the search engine, you will receive an online CO2 certificate with a personalized certificate number. This certificate contains transparent information, such as which offsetting projects are supported and where the money ends up. If a visitor has booked their flight elsewhere, FlyGRN offers the option to manually offset the CO2 emissions with their CO2 calculator.

Of course, to be really sustainable it’s better not to fly. That is why the search engine also provides alternative options for traveling 'differently' or locally. For example, if there is an option for alternative means to travel, it is shown on the website. When a visitor of the website searches for a flight from Amsterdam to Paris, an alternative route by train is shown as well. It is also possible to compare hotels and rental cars on the site. FlyGRN will plant a tree for every 100 euros spent on hotels or rental cars.

So how's this project related to smart cities? As you might know, Amsterdam has a large air travel hub, contributing to air pollution in the city. With innovations like FlyGRN, we'll motivate users at least on an international scale to offset their flight, thus reducing emissions globally. But we'll also motivate users to catch Amsterdam's national and international rail network when users search for flights if there's a suitable train alternative available.

Aviation is currently responsible for 2% of the total CO2 emissions per year. It is expected that – if nothing changes – this will double in twenty years. By (partially) offsetting the CO2 emissions of a booked flight for free, FlyGRN takes an important step in reducing emissions in the travel industry. More info at https://flygrn.com

Pollution is the major problem all over the world. There are many industries that contribute to this pollution. But do you know that the clothes that you wear are one of the biggest reasons for the growing pollution? Yes, you heard it right. According to reports, the fashion industry holds the second place for being the most polluting industry in the world. Research says, 20% of global waste is generated from the fashion industry. Along with this, the industry is also responsible for 10% of global carbon dioxide emission which is extremely harmful to the living creatures. However, after realising how much pollution this industry is causing, experts are trying to come up with the sustainable solutions. Scientists all over the world are working extensively to decrease the pollution level generated from the fashion industry.

Op vrijdag 23 november 2018 vindt voor de zevende keer hét evenement HIER opgewekt plaats. Met 900 bezoekers en ruim dertig sessies is het Evenement HIER opgewekt het grootste landelijke evenement voor lokale energie-initiatieven in Nederland.

New video shining light on CleanMobilEnergy project pilot progress at Nottingham City Council. Smart integration of EV, Electric Vehicles, Solar Renewable Energy. V2G vehicle2grid, energy management system.

In this 'Mobile Minute#2' Katie Greenhalgh, Energy Projects Manager (NCC), shares a pilot update from a PV system installation in city pilot, Nottingham

More on the project:
http://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/cleanmobilenergy-clean-mobility-and-energy-for-cities/

Are you a startup that helps improve urban life? Would you like to pitch your startup in front of city leadership, investors, and decision makers from both the public and private sector?

Morgenstadt Pitch is a startup competition at the Nordic Edge Expo in Stavanger, on 26th September 2018, that brings together Europe’s leading startups focusing on urban sustainability for a live on-stage battle.

The winning startups receive a yearlong membership of the Morgenstadt Innovation network and the opportunity to advertise their product/service on the Smart City platform, BABLE.
Additionally, registered startups receive a special discount for a stand at the Nordic Edge Expo start-up village. This area gathers ambitious entrepreneurs and companies who want to present their products and services to the 5000+ visitors that are expected at Nordic Edge Expo 2018.
Additionally, you get an opportunity to participate in the official Networking Event of Nordic Edge Expo.

Find more information here: https://www.morgenstadt.de/en/events/morgenstadt_pitch.html

Take a pause from your busy life and look at our planet’s incredible sustainable natural cycle. Have you ever given a thought that our planet wouldn’t have lived billions of years without this natural cycle where the excretion of one living species tends to be another’s food – a natural zero waste management system.

Pavnext´s solution consists of a road pavement equipment that allows kinetic energy to be extracted from vehicles and consequently reduce their motion speed without any action of the driver and without impacting the vehicle, thus promoting road safety at locations where it is required to circulate at low speed. The energy captured is then converted into electrical energy, which is produced without associated emissions and can be used in public street lighting, crosswalks, sensors, traffic lights, charging electric bicycles or even injected into the power grid. Additionally, Pavnext also provides real-time data regarding traffic and velocity, as well as generated and consumed energy, which are sent to the cloud and later used to generate reports and to optimize energy consumption in real time, promoting energy efficiency.

We are looking for new international partners that are interested in implementing pilot plants with us, to help us validate our product and reach TRL9. Please don´t hesitate to contact us if you´re interested.

From 5-7 June 2018, the SCIS consortium was represented at this year’s European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW). More than 2.500 participants attended the Networking Village and over 60 sessions at the Policy Conference organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).

The focus of #EUSEW18 was ‘Lead the clean energy transition’. The session by Marisca Zweistra from Alliander NV was to talk about the benefits, but also challenges and lessons learned of vehicle-to-grid installations in Amsterdam as part of the FP7 project City-zen. For example, finding a suitable location for the chargers is crucial for its success. In the end, real-life-stories like these are what promotes progress! And “a story about progress is bringing smart cities”, to say it in the words of SCIS storyteller Anthony Colclough from EUROCITIES. With his vivid and inspirational story (really, let’s not call it a presentation), he showed us that “the real information isn’t on websites, or power point presentations – it’s in the people, because people are natural story tellers!
When you get a presentation or better yet a conversation, what you have is people weaving their information into a narrative. They give the data a beginning, a middle and an end. And they often tell quite classical stories about adversity, challenge, a hero and sometimes even a happy ending or at least a way to get to one.”

Read the full article: https://smartcities-infosystem.eu/newsroom/news/scis-european-union-sustainable-energy-week

Een Vaillant referentieproject, het duurzame woonschip van City-zen subsidiënten Sander Rutten en Marieke van Nood.

Is het een schip of een boot? Een aak misschien? Voor de maritieme fijnproever zul je het niet snel goed zeggen. De Mado (bouwjaar 1932) wás een coaster, en dus een zeewaardig schip. Nu is de motor er uit en is het een woonboot. Het is in ieder geval vooral het sfeervolle thuis voor Sander Rutten en Marieke van Nood en hun kinderen. Een duurzaam en comfortabel thuis, binnenkort helemaal gasloos.

Lees hier het hele artikel op de Vaillant website: https://www.vaillant.nl/architecten-en-adviseurs/referentieprojecten/een-duurzaam-woonschip/

Gizmodo created an Virtual Power Plant video item. Author Adam Clark Estes visited Tom van Arman: https://gizmodo.com/this-house-is-a-living-experiment-for-the-future-of-ene-1826844445

Walking around Amsterdam, at times, feels like strolling through the city of the future. Solar panels abound. Electric vehicles fill the roads, and everybody else is on a bike. Meanwhile, tucked away in the western part of town, some 50 families have agreed to turn their houses into living laboratories to figure out a better way share energy.

The first episode of Gizmodo’s new series “From the Lab” takes a close look at the Virtual Power Plant project in Amsterdam. With the help of participant Tom van Arman as well as interviews with participating energy partners like Sym Power and Alliander, we found out how one experiment in Amsterdam could provide a global model for turning our power grids into microgrids that are both more efficient and self-sustaining. Tom’s house is no ordinary lab, and the Virtual Power Plant initiative is hardly a run-of-the-mill experiment. That’s why the project could be so transformative.

“Mijn familie in Groningen heb ik gezegd dat ze van ons geen last meer hebben!” Bert is namelijk helemaal van het gas af. Bert is een van de subsidiënten die een subsidie heeft ontvangen via City-zen om energiemaatregelen toe te passen in de woning.

Lees hier het hele artikel van de Westerpost over duurzaam wonen, composteren en groene daken in Nieuw Sloten:

De groei van wind- en zonne-energieprojecten krijgt in Nederland zo langzamerhand vaart. Dat is natuurlijk mooi, want zo werken we aan een schone toekomst voor ons en onze kinderen. Ook ontstaan allerlei nieuwe kansen en mogelijkheden voor burgers en andere partijen.

De groei van wind- en zonne-energieprojecten krijgt in Nederland zo langzamerhand vaart. Dat is natuurlijk mooi, want zo werken we aan een schone toekomst voor ons en onze kinderen. Ook ontstaan allerlei nieuwe kansen en mogelijkheden voor burgers en andere partijen. Tegelijkertijd ontstaan er bij de inpassing van al deze duurzame bronnen, met een variabel en lastig te voorspellen aanbod, ook de nodige uitdagingen. Daarnaast wordt er steeds meer elektriciteit gebruikt. Hierdoor kan een tekort of overschot aan stroom ontstaan en kan het elektriciteitsnet overvol raken.

Lees het hele artikel: Artikel Windnieuws

Bron: Windnieuws 3, 2018 | Door: Martijn Bongaerts | <http://www.windnieuws.nl/>

London lags behind Amsterdam at present in its smart city efforts but there is now a new urgency, stemming from the mayor's office. This is reflected in ambitious zero carbon and zero waste goals. Projects are multiplying and there is a major effort to scale up.

Legal and financial challenges that are experienced in France and the Netherlands when developing sustainable projects in the built environment.

City-zen was an international consortium, a program stimulating learning-by-doing in Grenoble and Amsterdam between March 2014 and November 2019. The results can be found in a booklet or in detailed reports. http://www.cityzen-smartcity.eu/home/reporting/deliverables/

Summary report

Full report

My youngest blogpost is about the dream of deploying the billions of square meters of glass of high-rise buildings to harvest energy. Indeed, energy-producing windows exist but either their transparency, either their wattage are to low.
The American company Ubiquitous Energy is close to a break-through: highly transparant glass that is capable to harvest about 50% of the energy of ordinary thin-film solar panels.
After posting my text, I read that Ubiquitous Energy is teaming with one of the biggest glass producing companies in the world, the Japanese AGC, in order to prepare rolling out this new product.