News

City authorities need to enhance public-private cooperation to build sustainable urban transformation agendas. Private sector introduces innovation, talent and provide capital to the urban development process, while playing a leading role in design, implementation, operations and maintenance, and sustainability of the urban development and services initiatives. But it seems that everywhere private companies are exploiting data which should be in the public domain.

Google, Apple, Facebook, Fitbit, Snap, Amazon and Uber – they all probably know more about you than the authorities do. And let’s be clear: they are not aiding the government and its citizens to have a healthier, more sustainable existence.

What is your opinion? Read more in the article below.

As many visitors arrive and leave at the Jaarbeurs at the same times, the charging sessions are also taking place at the same time. To avoid stress on the local electricity grid and to avoid costs to install a connection with a larger capacity, a battery will be installed this summer.

Dutch read / maybe need to register at FD

Functieomschrijving
De Amsterdamse Zoncoalitie is op zoek naar een enthousiaste professional met ervaring in de marketing/ communicatie. In een klein betrokken team en samen met een gepassioneerd reclamebureau zorg jij voor structuur en creativiteit in alle communicatie-uitingen, in- en extern. Je stuurt en monitort de campagnes richting Amsterdammers en groot dakbezitters en onderhoudt warme contacten met leveranciers zoals de filmploeg, de drukkerij, de media en met de leden van de Zoncoalitie en haar ambassadeurs.

Functie-eisen
Onze Content Marketeer/ Communicatiemedewerker straalt. Je laat wolken verdwijnen, produceert sneller dan het licht aantrekkelijke content, weet altijd de juiste toon te vinden en rapporteert en presenteert vanuit de kern. Affiniteit en/of ervaring in de solar branche is een grote pre. Je bent flexibel inzetbaar voor 16- 24 uur per week.
Heb jij:
• Een hbo- of universitaire studie afgerond
• Een aantal jaar ervaring als allround marketeer of communicatieprofessional
• De natuurlijke gave om gestructureerd te werken
• Ervaring in de vastgoedbranche en/of solar branche is een hele grote pre
• Een duurzaam hart en de drive om de wereld beter te maken
Ga jij stralen van:
• Een zelfstandige rol in een klein team in een startup omgeving
• Een dynamische en projectmatige werkomgeving
• Samenwerken met topbedrijven en opinion leaders uit de energiesector

Bedrijfsprofiel
Amsterdam heeft maar liefst 800 ha (1.200 voetbalvelden) dakoppervlak dat geschikt is voor zonne-energie! Daar gebruiken we nu slechts een fractie van. Dat kan en moet veel beter! De Amsterdamse Zoncoalitie is de uitdaging aangegaan om 1 miljoen zonnepanelen op Amsterdamse daken te realiseren.
De Zoncoalitie is een breed en open samenwerkingsverband van installatiebedrijven, leveranciers, zonaanbieders en energiecoöperaties. De Gemeente Amsterdam & Alliander zijn de initiatiefnemers. Onze gezamenlijke droom: voor elke Amsterdammer een zonnepaneel!

Ben jij ons zonnetje in huis? Laat je zien dan!
Neem contact op met Alex Muhring (alex.muhring@zoncoalitie.nl / +31612610713). Voor meer informatie over de Amsterdamse Zoncoalitie bekijk je www.zoncoalitie.nl en voor de campagne www.hellosunshine.amsterdam

The world’s first virtual train track is unveiled in China. The smart bus, or driverless train, is equipped with sensors that can read the dimensions of roads and plan its own route. Like a train, it’s modular and carriages can be added on; but like a bus, it runs on the road. It follows white-dotted lines on the road, and therefore a train track does not need to be laid. This makes the infrastructure much cheaper and therefore accessible to many more cities than standard railways or metro systems.

Read more in the article below:

On 20 and 21 november we host FLEXCON 2017 in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. We set up a Flexible Energy Lab packed with smart devices.

BECOME A PARTNER
We are open to partners who want to position themselves in the Energy Transition, and showcase their appliance, service or API’s. FLEXCON 2017 offers partners a unique opportunity to show the world why they are frontrunners in the energy transition, or have the potential to become one.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can also visit our partnership webpage: https://flexcon2017.eu/partner-info/

Kind regards,

Adriaan van Eck
Event producer FLEXCON 2017

Smart cities are deploying the latest technologies to improve - as they claim - their viability and sustainability. At the same time, a substantial part of their inhabitants can no longer afford housing costs and quit. My newest blogpost elaborates this proces that might turn smart cities into foolish cities.

More households than ever produce their own solar energy with PV panels. But they only use 17% directly and feed the other 83% into the grid. Wouldn't it be great to store this surplus energy in a battery for later use? Especially if you could use your the battery of your electric or hybrid car to do this. Most Mitsubishi cars are already future proof.

(read more in Dutch)

You spend a large portion of your live at work each day. Providing a healthy and sustainable work environment helps to promote productivity and create a culture that values the health of your surroundings. Anyone who has sweated at their desk through the summer or suffered headaches because of garish office strip-lighting will agree!

Integrating safety and health into sustainability provides an oppurtinity to better protect your employees and achieve a truly sustainable organization.

Most companies see direct benefits from their investment in a sustainable workplace in terms of cost savings and energy efficiency. But what do you achieve beyond this point?

PRODUCTIVITY AND MOTIVATION

Integrating a good ventilated, bright workplace results in a more vitale and more productive workforce. If you are not completely convinced about the sustainability benefits, just take a look at the numbers!

Optimizing your work environment increases productivity by an average of 10 percent. Reasons for these numbers are that people are healthier when they work in a nice, good ventilated environment.

Bad office conditions have direct and indirect effects on productivity. Draughts and noise can cause your coworkers to tire and become less productive. It can also engender dissatisfaction, again affecting productivity. Half of the office workers complain of overheating in the summer and stale, musty indoor air!

Indirect effects entail health problems and illnesses, caused by an interplay of pollutants arising form people and substances released from the office environment. This occurrence is more common than expected; around 20% of office staff experience headaches, sore eyes or an irritated nose or throat on a daily or weekly basis that can be contributed to a bad indoor climate.

ENERGY

Most people know we should switch to sustainable energy – and energy sufficiency. But, how is this arranged at your office building? Self-induced energy is not only cheaper in the long run, but also increases awareness throughout your organziation – and even beyond! There are many options for you as a company to generate sustainable energy. Solar energy for instance is becoming cheaper and cheaper..

The public dilemma might be accountable for the lack of awareness or willingness to change. But raising awareness is important. Especially considering the lack of awareness or willingness of some key players in business.

Take a look at the quote of Ben van Beurden, director of Shell:

“If we want to set the limit of global warming on 2 degrees, we must reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2070. That is an ambitious goal for society, but feasible I think. If we want to limit it to 1.5 degrees, we must eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. To me, that seems to be wishful thinking.”

Let’s be optimistic and prove him wrong. Shall we?

WASTE MANAGEMENT

We live in a massive consumption society. This society leads to large amounts of consumable goods that are consumed with a short life span and are quickly thrown away. This is why recycling waste at the office goes further than separating your banana peel from your napkin when you throw it away. It is about awareness creation of the use of materials.

Do you really need to print that document, or keep your lunch in plastic bags?

COMPLIANT WITH REGULATIONS

Wheter or not you have a drive to make your office more sustainable, you have to be compliant with rules and regulations set by the government. Positive incentives are given to make offices more sustainable, think about subsidies – MIA, EIA or Green Deals. If you have the ambition and drive to be ready for the future and subsequently future regulations, we can help you implement these regulations today.

We at Einstein & Jones are here to help to transform your office. No need to build a whole new building, just improving the one you already have.

Interesting read on locally generated and stored energy. An insight that the Amsterdam Arena started a few month ago through a collaboration with Nissan to reuse Nissan Leaf batteries in huge stacks to store energy partly generated by the solar panels on the roof of our Smart Stadium.

Last month EnGoPlanet was honored to receive an invitation to present its Smart Solar Street Lights and Smart Solar Benches at Viva Tech conference in Paris. This conference will gather more than 7000 CEOs and 1000 investors from all over the world.

This year at Viva Tech conference main topic will be Smart City concept. If there’s one word that can describe Viva Technology (or “VivaTech” for short), it’s that it’s a ginormous conference. While it was just the first edition last year, 45,000 people made their way to Paris to talk about all things tech. VivaTech is back again this year, June 15-17.

EnGoPlanet will participate in Smart City panel that will discuss solutions and products that can make our cities more smarter and energy efficient. In addition, this panel will focus on trends that are happening in Smart Solar Street light arena and also touch base on a potential of Smart Solar Benches to become standard urban furniture in Smart City concept.

Another big event that is happening these days is the Energy EXPO in Astana, Kazakhstan. EnGoPlanet was also privileged to be invited to presents its Smart Solar Street Lights and Smart Solar benches at this huge event. On June 10, 2017 the International Specialized Exhibition “Astana EXPO-2017” will open its doors. 100 countries and more than 10 international organizations will take part in the preparation of the pavilions.

The main theme of EXPO-2017 is “Energy of the Future”. It reflects the preoccupation of the international community with the problem of energy consumption, which is having an increasing impact on our planet. The main objective of the exhibition is to call for responsibility, to foster a discussion and to develop knowledge enabling people to plan and control energy consumption on our planet and to minimize damage to the environment.

It is expected that the exhibition will be visited by 2 million tourists, and the total number of visits will be about 5 million. It is planned that 85% of the total number of visitors will be citizens of Kazakhstan, and 15% - foreign nationals, most of which will come from the CIS countries and China. A significant number of tourists is also expected to arrive from Europe, Turkey and the United States.

The International Specialized Exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana will start its work on June 10, 2017 and will end on September 10, 2017.

We can't wait to be at both events and we will write again with out impressions and feedback that we received.

Amsterdam's views are overwhelmed with parking places full of bicycles.
1. To diminish space taken up by parked bicycles , collapsible bycicles should start being promoted.
2. Also, bycicles can be parked facing each other, where front wheels overlap. That saves space by 50%.
3. In areas that allow it ( park, grassy areas), ground surface should be turned into an underground–like covered parking for bycicles. That means lifting walkable part of a surface through building plaza or alley over it (of whatever material ) but tall enough so under this cover bycicles can be parked. With time areas of the city do get raised anyhow because of cultural layer. If we create raised areas artificially, we have then empty space under them to use as bicycle parking. Besides utilitarian solution, it can also hide the multitude of bycicles from the eye. Those raised areas can be arcitecturally stractured so smartly, that they remind mostly of a curved landscape, modern architectural elements rather than invisible parking lot. :)

There are already circular economy and smart city solutions being implemented all around, check out how Stimergy that recycles the heat generated by data centers will help the city of Paris to reduce their carbon footprint by 45 tons a year and save 250MWh of energy

Circular Economy is a buzzword. Many people use it whenever they feel like it. People claim to be working towards a totally circular economy, but do not really know what it means. Vague definitions need to become more specific. Do not get me wrong; it is a tough ambition to achieve.

Two weeks ago Jan Jonker and his fellow scientists connected to the Radboud University of Nijmegen, presented his research on the ‘circular status of the Netherlands’. You can see a preview of his book in the link of this post.

Circular Economy is a buzzword. Many people use it whenever they feel like it. People claim to be working towards a totally circular economy, but do not really know what it means. Vague definitions need to become more specific. Do not get me wrong; it is a tough ambition to achieve.

Two weeks ago Jan Jonker and his fellow scientists connected to the Radboud University of Nijmegen, presented his research on the ‘circular status of the Netherlands’. You can see a preview of his book in this link:

http://www.duurzame-producten-diensten.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Een-zwaluw-voorspelt-veel-goeds_Preview.pdf

We were there and would like to share our insights and the results of the research.

The starting point of the Circular Economy is the organization of chains of resources, materials, parts or products. Collaboration of different parties is always key. The goal of closing these chains is value creation.

Many companies are not there yet, and this research gives a couple of reasons:

• Closing chains it is a difficult organizational task for companies
• Companies struggle with designing a strategy to become circular
• Traditional revenue models and the traditional linear economy are strongly founded and therefore difficult to concur
• Value creation is often limited to recycling, energy efficiency and resource reduction
• Companies often look inside their organization to become more circular. Outside collaboration is not as common as it should be
• Circular Economy is buzzing, but it lacks of practical implementation. We know a lot about the subject in theory, but it unfortunately ends there

Companies that are seriously working on circular economy call the following three points that impede realization:

• Conflicting regulations
• Not every stakeholder in the value chain is ready for this change
• Lack of financial resources

But let’s not focus on the negative. What can we do to accelerate the Circular Economy? There is unfortunately not an easy, generic answer to this question.

What we do know is that it all starts with the acknowledgement of chain dependency, no matter what kind of industry you are in. Circular organizing is not a marketing tool; you cannot do it in a day and you really need to organize in a different manner. Some situations ask for a slightly different way of working, other situations require a totally new business model.

Accept the linear environment you are in, but think circular.

Have a clear business model. It can be out of the box, but it must be understandable.

I know it sounds like a difficult task, but there are some great examples of how it can work. Let’s take a look at Roof2Roof.

Roof2Roof organizes and facilitates the recycling of bitumen roofing material. Goal is to do this as sustainable as possible, from Roof to Roof or Roof to Asphalt. Their method is unique in the world – they use new technology and integrated chain collaboration. The recycled bitumen is used to replace fossil raw materials in the production of new roofing rolls and asphalt. The management of the total recycling process is done by Roof2Roof. This ensures the quality from roof inspection to the finished product. Roof2Roof has developed a professional platform and specialist network, consisting of roofing companies and slope contractors. An infrastructure has been set up for the collection and recycling of bitumen roof waste.

Recycling of bitumen roofs has been converted into action using a clear business model. As you can see, the Circular Economy can be implemented and is not impossible. It just takes some creative thinking and collaboration. Look around you. Who or what do you need to close your chain?

Do you want to know what kind of opportunities are out there for your organization? Please feel free to contact me!

http://www.duurzame-producten-diensten.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Een-zwaluw-voorspelt-veel-goeds_Preview.pdf

Together with Amsterdam &Co and OBA Amsterdam we are organising Het Ideeenlab#5: Energy. A pitch contest for Amsterdam residents and entrepreneurs with briliant ideas or innovations concerning sustainable energy or energy saving.

Sign up, pitch your idea and win €1.000,-
You can apply till June 12. via this link.

Het Ideeenlab #5: Energy takes place at June 29 at OBA Amsterdam.

Today the Landschapstriënnale (https://landschapstriennale.com/) launches its call for projects. Help creating new value in the Dutch landscape... Join in!

Today the European Commission has unveiled a package of proposals designed to modernise European mobility and transport. The aim is to help the sector to remain competitive in a socially fair transition towards clean energy and digitalisation. 'Europe on the Move' is a wide-ranging set of initiatives that will make traffic safer; encourage fairer road charging; reduce CO2 emissions, air pollution and congestion; cut red-tape for businesses; fight illicit employment and ensure proper conditions and rest times for workers. The long-term benefits of these measures will extend far beyond the transport sector by promoting jobs, growth and investment, strengthening social fairness, widening consumers' choices and firmly putting Europe on the path towards low emissions.

5G promises data speeds in the tens of megabits per second. No more buffering, no more slow connections, no more lagging teleconferencing. It will provide data transmission as fast as the best hard-wired connections. That sounds impossible, but it’s not. And it’s something we need. Brussels might become the first European city with a 5G network. Belgian Telecomregulator BIPT lengthened the license of operator Broadband Belgium with five years until 2024.

* Incredibly fast Internet
* Huge amounts of data
* Necessary to connect the IoT
* The challenge: an entirely new infrastructure

Het is je vast niet ontgaan dat afgelopen weekend het Arenagebied volstroomde met >100k bezoekers voor de concerten van Anouk, Eddie Vedder en de (4) Toppers.

Het OMC verzorgde als mobiliteitscentrum samen met haar partners de operationele veiligheid, gastvrijheid, social response en dienstverlening in het gebied middels de inzet van de Mobility Portal en LiveCrowd.

Super toffe en innovatieve vorm van samenwerken door te doen en data te delen. Diverse media deed verslaglegging, oa op locatie. Check hier het nieuwsitems bij de NOS en BNR radio met Hidde Salverda (directeur evenementen Amsterdam Arena).

NOS 20.00 uur journaal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMj9cAKZ-4&t=6s

BNR: https://www.bnr.nl/player/audio/10061716/10323763

Let it Grow is calling all entrepreneurial teams that use flowers and plants to turn cities into happier and healthier places, to apply for its second five -month Incubation Programme. You will receive €10,000 (no equity is asked in return), a dedicated mentor, training and access to an extensive network of professionals. You can apply until 10 September 2017 at letitgrow.org/apply