BPD

To establish healthy and regenerative resource flows that retain or increase value in cities’ subsystems, there is dire need for new concepts as well as rigorous and critical testing of existing ones: both at an academic and practical level.

Introduction

To establish healthy and regenerative resource flows that retain or increase value in cities’ subsystems, there is dire need for new concepts as well as rigorous and critical testing of existing ones: both at an academic and practical level. This relates to e.g. aligning & connecting flows, exploring shared value models, implementing smart sensing technologies, identifying displacement effects etc. The impact on how cities are conceived, materialized and operationalized in a circular framework can hardly be overstated. Some impacts can be imagined, based on current knowledge, but most can at best be anticipated. This is due to cities being complex, adaptive systems. This notion resonates in the AMS institute Circular City research program through the three subthemes: materials & buildings, nutrients recovery from wastewater, and urban energy systems.

Each subtheme has its own research priorities, determined by the interplay between city, society and science. Furthermore, the three themes comprise multiple interrelations and synergetic potential. Think for example of the role that wastewater can play in thermal energy supply or the circulation of building blocks for plastics and other materials. Or how local nutrient recovery systems inform building design and neighbourhood development. Other examples are e.g. ‘embodied’ water and material use required for the energy transition we are facing, and rebound effects that may occur when such an energy transition leads to lower energy bills.

Subtheme 1: materials & buildings

Resource depletion and waste generation are two phenomena that, due to their nonregenerative and polluting character, hinder healthy and sustainable development of urban environments. A shift from linear to circular resource management offers a potential solution, but requires new production and consumption models. Not least with regard to buildings and infrastructures. The main focus of this theme is on materials that are temporarily stored in built constructions for diverging – medium/long – periods of
time, but also short cycle materials, such as solid waste flows, are part of the scope.
Three scale levels are distinguished with regard to aligning flows & stocks: building,
neighbourhood, and region. The value cases associated with this theme revolve around: enhanced data-driven urban systems thinking that enable effective regenerative material flows, adding value to public or private organizations and society at large. Breakthrough innovations are linked to evidence based analytical and forecasting tools to determine optimal material (re-) circulation on the one hand, and matching value-bydesign with new business models on the other.

AMS projects e.g.: PUMA, Adaptive Circular Cities, REPAiR

Subtheme 2: nutrients recovery
Decentralised sanitation systems can play an important role in circular cities, with regard to resilient and cost effective wastewater treatment systems, while valorising the wastewater flow through: recovery of phosphates and other nutrients, biogas production, clean water, etc. Furthermore, those systems have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and improve urban quality as perceived by the community. However, assessing this potential requires further study, monitoring and practical experience. Moreover, different solutions on various scale levels need to be taken into account from a circular perspective, such as the opportunities of end-of-pipe propositions. Value cases associated with this theme revolve around integrated wastewater treatment concepts for urban neighbourhoods, including its impact on local crop production and community building, and large-scale valorisation of wastewater through the production of algae.

Living lab focus areas: Buiksloterham, Floriade (Almere)

Subtheme 3: urban energy systems
Renewable energy systems are becoming increasingly important, not least in urban
environments, which offer specific opportunities, challenges, and limitations, dictated by their local urban context. The transition to renewable energy sources thus require
smarter energy infrastructures that are able to deal with increased variability in
consumption, storage and production at multiple scales and concerning multiple energy products and services. This theme focuses on innovation in energy systems engineering & integration, energy storage, and ICT, whilst adopting a citizen perspective. Value cases are based on: less dependency on fossil fuels, resilient adaptive systems, and meeting the changing needs of urban living. Traditionally, the energy system is organised in a top-down fashion, with a limited number of major players. Decentralized energy generation gives a need for reconsideration of such a hierarchical approach. Breakthroughs are sought in deep customisation of so called micro-grids, based on local supply & demand characteristics of the urban neighbourhoods and its energy users.

AMS projects e.g.: DC Smart, URSES, BIES

Main Research Infrastructure/Living Labs in Amsterdam:
Buiksloterham, Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, ArenA, Haarlemmermeer, and Floriade Almere.

For more information visite the AMS Institute website.

Why participate? Students with an interest or passion for the circular economy, who want to use their creativity to find business solutions, while getting to know experts and companies who make the circular economy a reality.

Prizes to win - Good Food - Brownie Points & Kudos

Help 3 companies find circular solutions! The idea of a hackathon is based on a developing project ideas through a sprint-like brainstorming session. This hackathon focuses on specific challenges faced by ACtronics, a highly innovative Dutch company active in the Automotive industry, and two Swedish remanufacturing companies.

For more information, please contact ben@circle-economy.com

The European Remanufacturing Network (ERN) is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union.

This hackathon is organised Circle Economy (The Netherlands) and Linköping University (Sweden).

The city plans to wean its homes off domestic natural gas by 2050, starting now.

By 2050, Amsterdam hopes to put its gas-heated days behind it. In a city where natural gas warms 90 percent of all homes and contributes 30 percent of all carbon emissions, removing all those boilers won’t be easy—but it could very well be worth it.

From here, the deadline might seem far away, but the journey to that target is beginning right now. This week, the city announced that in 2017, 10,000 public housing units will have their gas supplies removed, and new neighborhoods in the city won’t have natural gas as an option either.

So what will heat Amsterdam in the future? The overarching answer is district heating, derived from a number of sources. By 2020, 102,000 Amsterdam homes will have switched from heat created in their homes to heat created at a central facility and supplied by a pipeline. While it requires a network of heavily insulated hot water pipes to be installed, district heating systems save considerable energy in the long run by creating a single generating point where fuel is burned. This creates efficiencies of scale that ultimately make the same amount of fuel go further.

Even if this heat were to be generated by natural gas, heating water centrally and piping it to heaters, kitchens, and bathrooms would produce far fewer carbon emissions than burning gas in each home. But in a general move against the fuel, Amsterdam is already trying to find alternative heat sources, notably waste heat from industry. Already, 70,000 of the city’s homes are warmed with water heated at a central waste incinerator. The plan is to roll this concept out further to tap into other sources of waste heat.

The plans are not all working toward greater centralization, however. Some heat pumps are being planned to keep homes warm on the new artificial islands Amsterdam has been constructing in the IJmeer lake. Some homes are also being fitted with solar water heaters, which will ultimately be able to feed unused hot water back into the wider network to generate income for the homeowner.

This all makes it sound pretty simple, but the issues ahead are still pretty huge. For heat pumps to be cost effective, for example, buildings need to be extremely well insulated, which could be why only around 1,000 Dutch homes are currently fitted with the technology. That’s an easy enough goal to manage for new construction, but it would be far harder to install in the city’s older, often rather drafty housing stock.

SOURCE: http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2016/11/amsterdam-natural-gas-ban-2050-climate-change-regulations/508022/

Download the strategy (Dutch) 'Naar een stad zonder aardgas' (PDF, 1.2 MB https://www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/821300/naar_een_stad_zonder_aardgas.pdf ) and the attachments (Dutch) (PDF, 831 kB https://www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/821300/naar_een_stad_zonder_aardgas_-_bijlagen.pdf )

Can we build a money system on sustainable energy? Imagine: we use green power as a new medium of exchange. During this event, experts from the financial domain, the technological side and the energy world talk about this idea. Join them and talk about the benefits and problems this new money system would give.

Kunnen we een geldsysteem bouwen op duurzame energie?

Stel je voor: we gebruiken groene stroom als nieuw ruilmiddel. Experts uit het financiële domein, de technologische hoek en de energiewereld buigen zich over dit idee. Praat mee over de voordelen, maar ook de manco's die een dergelijk nieuw geldsysteem met zich mee zouden brengen.

Aanleiding van deze avond is het initiatief van netwerkbedrijf Alliander en Pakhuis de Zwijger om een digitale munt, oftewel een crypto-currency op basis van lokale duurzame energie te ontwikkelen. De naam is de Jouliette. Het (redelijk) unieke van deze nieuwe munt is dat ze uitsluitend gecreëerd wordt wanneer duurzame elektriciteit door particulieren wordt geleverd aan het openbare elektriciteitsnet. Waar andere crypt0-currencies, zoals de Bitcoin, veel energie verbruiken, zal door deze munt juist (duurzame) energie worden gecreëerd.

Om tot een geslaagd concept te komen, moeten nog veel lastige vragen beantwoord worden, zowel fundamentele als praktische. Deze avond gaan we met vooraanstaande critici en het publiek antwoorden formuleren op deze vragen.

Samenwerken op basis van vertrouwen is essentieel, als we een daadwerkelijke circulaire economie dichterbij willen brengen. In deze inspiratiesessie neemt Copper 8 je mee in wat samenwerken op basis van vertrouwen kan brengen! Daarnaast ga je aan de slag om te kijken hoe je met samenwerking je eigen organisatie een stap verder kan brengen.

Dit doen ze samen met Nestor Corronado Palma (Philips) en Michel Bagli (PostNL), die ook hun ervaringen delen. Duurzaamheidsuitgagingen liggen vaak op andere vlakken dan we verwachten. Technisch kan veel meer dan ieder van ons zich voor kan stellen; financieel levert het op de lange termijn geld op: nieuwe ontwikkelingen stranden vaak bij hun implementatie door een gebrek aan echte samenwerking op basis van vertrouwen. Wanneer je het betoog van Jan Terlouw gezien hebt, zie je daar dezelfde boodschap – gebrek aan vertrouwen – in terugkomen.

Wij geloven dat nieuwe vormen van samenwerking de grootste doorbraken gaan realiseren naar een circulaire economie. Op basis van aanbestedingstrajecten die wij begeleid hebben, willen we jullie inspireren in wat nieuwe vormen van samenwerking kunnen betekenen. Maar er is zeker ook aandacht voor jullie eigen vraagstukken. Op welk thema binnen circulaire economie willen jullie de volgende stap zetten? Welke partijen heb je daarvoor nodig? Welke vormen van samenwerking gebruik je nu? Samen ga je kijken waar die samenwerking versterkt kan worden, en daarmee de impact van het circulaire model verder kunnen laten toenemen.

Aanmelden? Stuur een mail naar Sybren Bosch: bosch@copper8.com

Op dinsdag 17 januari kun je tussen 12:00 en 16:00 uur jouw wollen kledingstuk of accessoire laten repareren door Reparette in het Zero Waste Lab. Heb jij iets wolligs dat je graag wilt laten repareren? Loop dan bij Zero Waste Lab naar binnen en laat je aangenaam verrassen hoe je oude kledingstuk weer als nieuw wordt!

Reparette is een repair-, recycle en upcycle initiatief dat zich samen met buurtbewoners inzet voor het verminderen van textielafval. Tijdens De Week van de Circulaire Economie gaat Reparette in het Zero Waste Lab op 17 januari aan de slag met woolfilling. Dit is het met wol repareren van gaten en het verbergen van vlekken in wollen kledingstukken en accessoires.

Bezoekers kunnen langskomen met hun wollen sjaal, trui, vestje, wanten, of iets anders wolligs om dit te laten repareren. Door jouw atribuut te upcyclen is je kledingstuk niet alleen weer heel, maar ook een stukje leuker!

Heb jij nog iets wolligs dat je graag wilt laten repareren? Kom dan langs in het Zero Waste Lab!

Over het Zero Waste Lab
Het Zero Waste Lab is een plek in de burt vor het inzamelen en upcyclen van gescheiden afval. Het Zero Waste Lab maakt het leuker en waardevoller om huishoudelijk afval te scheiden. Hoe? Als buurtbewoner kun jij je gescheiden afval bij het Zero Waste Lab inleveren in ruil voor waardemunten. Deze munten kun je bij je lokale ondernemersverzilveren, bijvoorbeeld voor een gratis kopje koffie, korting op je verse groenten, kleding of je nieuwe leesbril. Het ingeleverde afval wordt hergebruikt en gerecycled.

After a year of hands-on research, the teams of AMS' first Stimulus Call are ready to present their results. Join them on 25 January at AMS Institute and get to know the collaborations, their results and future plans.

Programme
15.00 Introduction: The Stimulus Experience
15.15 Result pitches by the Stimulus Project teams 2015/2016

• Green Junkie
• Smart Wasting Amsterdam
• 3D Printing in the Circular City
• Prospecting the Urban Mines of Amsterdam (PUMA)
• BalanCity: Smart Traffic Load Balancing for Sustainable Cities
• UrbanAirQ
• Industrial Symbiosis

16.30-17.30 Drinks and networking opportunities

Registration
Please register via stimulus@ams-institute.org.