In my newest blog post, I elaborate on the use of hydrogen. Hydrogen has many advantages (easy storage). However, to produce it, a lot of electricity is needed which can better be deployed directly. The import of hydrogen from countries where the production of electricity is much cheaper is a feasible solution. But as the countries most eager to export hydrogen are the Gulf states, many doubts are arousing.....
A slightly different version in Dutch can be found here: https://hmjvandenbosch.com/2018/12/17/waterstof-vooral-geopolitiek-bepaalt-toekomstige-rol%EF%BB%BF/
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Waag Open: de slimste deurbel

Weet jouw deurbel alles van je buren? Of juist van de privacywetten? Welke deurbel plaatst de grappigste opnames op het internet? Kortom; wie heeft de slimste deurbel?
Een op de vijf huizen in Nederland heeft inmiddels een slimme deurbel, met als populairste deurbellen die van Amazon (Ring), Google (Nest) en het Chinese Anker (Eufy). Maar de slimme deurbel heeft ook een keerzijde; geen van die fabrikanten toont een oprecht initiatief om het ontwerp van hun producten op de Nederlandse privacywetten aan te passen. Ze slaan beelden veel langer op dan het advies van de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), laten het nooit merken als ze filmen, hoogstens met een sticker die voorbijgangers op de hoogte zou moeten stellen van actief cameragebruik.
Tijdens Waag Open: De slimste deurbel bespreken we de recente ontwikkelingen rond de slimme deurbellen met ontwerper Roos Groothuizen. Ook ga je aan de slag met je eigen slimme deurbel! Aan welke voorwaarden wil je dat jouw slimme deurbel voldoet? Bouw je een slimme deurbel die helemaal in lijn is met privacywetten? Een deurbel die het buurtgevoel versterkt? Of misschien juist een bel die meteen alle beelden automatisch op internet zet?
Programma
19:30 - 19:45 uur | Welkom en intro |
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19:45 - 21:15 uur | Presentatie Roos Groothuizen |
21:15 - 21:30 uur | Smart Deurbel ontwerpen |
21:30 - 22:00 uur | Nabespreking en borrel |
Remote Sensing (Satellites), Vrijheidscollege

Dimitri Tokmetzis (1975) is a historian and investigative journalist. He leads the data team of Follow The Money and wrote the books Je hebt wel iets te verbergen (2016) and De digitale Schaduw (2012). He is currently very much involved in remote sensing, which allows you to obtain information about a person, animal or thing without making physical contact. In his Freedom Lecture he discusses power and freedom in a time when the sky is full of satellites.
The intention is to end the evening with an interactive debate based on the lecture!
Send an email to SensemakersAMS@protonmail.com if you want to join!
Speculative Design Workshop - Futuring the City with Generative Things

Imagine a world where everyday objects are imbued with the power of generative AI. What possibilities and challenges would emerge? ThingsCon aims to explore this frontier by inviting designers to create provotypes of the near future “generative things”.
To ignite imagination and foster meaningful discussions, we like to use the concept of “provotypes” – provocative prototypes of generative things. These tangible glimpses into tomorrow are catalysts, opening up critical dialogues about our impending relationships with AI-infused objects.
The exhibition “Generative Things” premiered at TH/NGS 2024 on 13 December 2024 in Volkshotel Amsterdam and will travel to other places in 2025, sparking conversations and imagination. ThingsCon organizes this initiative in collaboration with the Master Digital Design of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Waag Futurelab.
15 April. Speculative Design Workshop; An Immersive Future Zine
Connected to Salon, we organize a speculative design workshop where we create a Future Zine that brings the provotypes to life using speculative design methodologies. The outcomes will be used to create immersive experiences with the provotypes that can be presented and discussed with the visitors of the future fest in June.
Preliminary program of the SDW
09:30 Introduction and icebreaker
10:00 Inspirations from the future
10:30 Discuss in groups per provotype possible future scenarios
11:30 Share and sync the different narratives
12:30 lunch
13:30 Create a contribution to the Future Zine
16:30 Share and wrap-up
The Future Zine is proposed as an online publication with immersive capabilities, the framework will be prepared by ThingsCon.
Location
The Speculative Design Workshop will take place Tuesday 15 April at the location of Master Digital Design, Theo Thijssen Huis building, 4th floor, Wibautstraat Amsterdam.
Read more on the backgrounds of the project on the website.
Hi Gerald, I'm in a position that is comparable with yours. My gas powered heating system broke down and I made inquiries to replace it and to go for a 100% electric solution (preach what you teach;-) This appeared to be impossible, even if I spent many tens of thousands at isolation. Fortunately, the heating system could be repaired with second-hand parts. So, if I could vote personally, hydrogen would be my favourite. But from a more remote point of view I think that we need a neighbourhood-centred approach, preferably with some options for choice. And I will read the WRR report that you mentioned.
Have nice Chrismas days and a well-heated new year.
Thanks for the very interesting Link. Offcourse I have some remarks :). The beauty is indeed that there is not one single solution but an intelligent and dynamically evolving, changing, mix of solutions. An open and honest critical discussion without dogmas or powerplay is of vital importance for society to move forward smartly. And THAT is unfortunately NOT really happening.
For my own house here in Amsterdam (kashuis) I am going for 100% solar (with a thermal heat battery). Knowing what this takes I realise that this solution is relatively too expensive, labour and space consuming to be applied to millions of Dutch homes within a very short timespan. (yet is by far the best long-term solution:). I also know people are risk and thus change-averse (WRR has a great report on this https://www.wrr.nl/publicaties/publicaties/2010/02/07/hoe-mensen-keuzes-maken). Add the huge lack of skilled labour then a system of simply replacing the natural gas boiler by a home micro - wkk condensing H2gas boilers (+ a non-invasive smart grid) seems to me far more realistic.
By the way...
I looked at the HYDRO website. A litthe bit self-congratulatoy..... But I know that my former colleague Jepma is also in favor for hydrogen that is directly produced in wind mills. This article dives deeply into its costs: http://www.wattisduurzaam.nl/15443/energie-beleid/tien-peperdure-misverstanden-over-wondermiddel-waterstof/
I feel unable to comment on it, but I hope that the debate on hydrogen will not end in a one-dimensional plea for its blessings, neglecting the less favorable aspects, all departing from our still limited knowledge. Because each energy source we are thinking of, has advantages and disadvantages.
We will have to look for a balanced picture, where sun and wind energy, hydrogen and geothermal all contribute in a degree nobody can anticipate yet.
You are right that upgrading the electricity grid ought te be prevented.Hopefully smart grids, in combination with locally collected sun enengy, will be solve this proble,.
As I wrote, deployment of hydrogen defenitely is a mayor contribution to our energy need in the future.. We only will have to accept that hydrogen is imported from countries that can produce cheap electricity. In that case hydrogen will be an excellent partial alternative for natural gas, especially in unsufficiently isolated houses.
By the way, hydrogen is an excellent medium for long-term storage too.
“electricity […] can better be deployed directly’. In theory yes, a. if it could get to the homes and b. if it is needed directly.
But the moment you take the whole chain (generation, buffering, transport, end conversion) into consideration a very different picture arises.
In the Netherlands 90% of all the households are already connected to the gas-grid whereas it will cost tens of billions to heavily upgrade the electricity grid. Then there is the very problematic issue of electricity storage. Most of it is generated when we don’t need it. A lot can be said about electric batteries, even in mobility. Hydrogen is again here, by far, the more effective solution.
And as for it generation, there are many great solutions already out there, like Hygro, just waiting for the green light of our policy makers. They are the only real problem.