Nuna 5

After a second place in the World Solar Challenge, Nuna5 may go to the Dream Cup () in Japan, possible to show the WSC's winner (Tokai university) to show who really should have won in Australia

I really don't know anything about the Dream Cup, and it doesn't help that their website is in Japanese only. According to Nuon Solar Team's website (/) about 90 teams are competing, and that makes it a lot bigger than the WSC. A difference is that the WSC is held on public roads and that the Dream Cup is held on the circuit of Suzuka ().

I'll keep an eye on it and report what I know!

Before we start, I would like to make one thing absolutely clear: this is in no way a voting advice. Firstly: I wouldn't dare tell anyone what to vote, everyone should make that choice for him- or herself. Secondly, I think the choice for which party to vote should be based on much more than just a single topic. The only thing I strongly recommend is to go and vote on March, 3rd. Read all the party programs below (each party in the list below has a link to the election program and its website) and if something is not clear, just ask at the party in question.

----------

Listed below are all local political parties that will participate in the local elections in March 2010, in random order. I copy/pasted all text that had to do with sustainability and traffic. I did my best but do not guarantee correctness and/or completeness.

CDA (christian democrats): election program () / website ()

• The CDA wants to "make plans" about the traffic situation, but there are no specific ideas in the program.
• More attention for "clean driving", examples given as electricity and natural gas.
• They advocate a high-quality, rapid public transit system (lightrail) connection between Hilversum and Huizen.
• Free public transport continued as it is now (I have no idea how it is organised now).
• The CDA thinks Hilversum should be as accessible for bicycles as possible.
• More energy conservation in buildings, houses and public places. The municipality sets the example and practively informs citizens and companies.
• New buildings will be built with sustainability in mind. The goal is to build energy efficient houses and if at all possible energy neutral houses.
• The municipality offers a a free energy scan to building administrators. To execute the conservation measures the municipality will develop attractive loan constructions.
• The municipality stimulates renovation of existing houses with energy-conserving measures and also stimulates renewable energy generation (for instance solar panels).
• Newly built buildings in Hilversum have to be of high quality and long longevity, both esthetically and sustainably. That keeps the maintenance costs low and together for the energy efficiency this keeps the cost of living for the inhabitants low.
• The future new buildings on Anna’s Hoeve have to meet the most stringent environmental and sustainable demands possible. The goal is to build energy efficient houses and if at all possible energy neutral houses. The new quarter will have an example function that goes beyond the region.

----------

VVD (liberals): election program () / website ()

• Reduce rat-run traffic through Hilversum.
• Keep measuring particulate matter in the air.
• A high-quality, rapid public transit system (lightrail) connection between Hilversum and Huizen.

a

a

----------

SP (socialists): election program () / website ()

• More bicycle racks in places where a lot of people go. Improve the safety of the cycling infrastructure by for instance improving cycle paths, safer crossings, etc.
• More free bike parking facilities in the city centre with charging point for electric bicycles.
• Hilversum has to be connected to the night train system of the Dutch reailways.
• Extend free public transportation.
• Establishing environmental zones and/or a ban on freight traffic through Hilversum. Transfer stations near the Arena and Kerkelanden where truck cargo can be transferred to smaller, preferably electric, vehicles.
• Establishing transferiums (transfer station between automobiles to public transport and bicycle) at the edges of the city.
• Parking space for carsharing-cars in every neighbourhood.
• Rental corporations have to take their responsibility for measures that reduce energy consumption in rental homes and apartments.
• Make better use of incentives.
• Take more and more effective measures that reduce energy consumption in schools and municipal buildings.
• Deploy LED lighting wherever possible.

----------

PvdA (labour): election program () / website ()

• Make current houses more energy efficient, which will make them more affordable for people with low incomes.
• The PvdA wants to extend the ‘go free by bus’-experiment within Hilversum.
• The need for a good public transportation system between Huizen and Hilversum is obvious to the PvdA. The PvdA can only agree with a lightrail connection if that becomes part of a new rail connection between Utrecht and Almere, with a branch into Hilversum.
• The PvdA is very clear about this: solutions for Hilversums traffic problems cannot come at the expense of the green arear surrounding Hilversum.
• Hilversum must become the bicycle city of the Netherlands.
• Shorter waiting times (for bicyclists and car drivers alike) at the small railroad crossing, more and better bicycle parking places at the train stations and in the city centre, continuous improvement of the bicycle lanes.
• Towards a climate neutraal Hilversum. Our goal is a sustainable municipality with a low energy consumption and a lower CO2-emission. The municpality must have the goal of being totally climate neutral in 2030.
• Sustainability must a part of all measures taken by the municipality.
• Public lighting (reduced energy consumption with LED-lighting), the energy effiency of new buildings (schools, houses, offices), promote the use of public transportation and bicycles.
• The municipality leads the way, for instance by buying green electricity (all street lighting in Hilversum must be powered by green electricity) and by using only the most efficient cars for its organisation.
• The municipality should communicate more clearly with the Hilversummers to stimulate the citizens and the companies to make sustainable choices.

----------

Leefbaar Hilversum (lit. 'livable Hilversum', local party): election program () / website ()

• Leefbaar Hilversum wants to promote public transportation, but they don't want a light rail connection which is forced upon us by the province and of which it is not at all clear that is is viable.
• We want to establish the Hilversum Sportpark train station as a regional bus transportation hub.
• Traffic in Hilversum must be safer and better organised. No unnecessary traffic jams and their CO2-emissions..

----------

GroenLinks (green party): election program () / website ()

• The municipality makes energy-performance agreements with the rental companies about measures that reduce energy consumption and sustainable energy production in existing (especially older) houses.
• GroenLinks wants that owners of houses and office buildings can get a low-interest loan from the municipality for environmentally friendly measures (for instance insulating glazing windows, vegetation roof, solar panels, heat/cold storage, small wind turbines).
• The municipality will actively stimulate energy consumption reduction by companies. Entrepeneurs can go to a single municipal window with their questions about reduction of energy consumption and sustainable enterprise.
• The municipality will monitor issued environmental permits, the energy efficiency of new buildings and also the law that companies must take measures with a pay back time of less than five years. The municipality will set strict energy efficiency rules for terrace heaters.
• The fundamental idea of the vision will be energy neutrality of the business area, a fitting charisma, fitting companies, transport management by the companies, application of parking management, efficient use of space and as many working places per square meter as possible.
• The municipality of Hilversum will set the example with energy comsumption reduction and the application of renewable energy: it's own organisation has to be climate neutral in 2015. On municipal buildings (town hall, schools, sports hall, swimming pool, etc.) and installations solar panels and small wind turbines are installed. For its own use the municipality will only buy green elektricity. Street lighting will be made much more efficient by using LED-lamps. And the municipality will use clean and efficient cars.
• Bedides reduction of energy consumption GroenLinks wants to increase the generation of renewable energy. Not only on the municipality's own buildings, but also in business areas and office buildings. Or consider geothermal energy. The municipality will start a local renewable energy company and will therefore explore cooperation with house rental companies, commercial companies and private cooperations which generate renewable energy.
• Hilversum geeft voorrang aan de fiets! Fietsers en voetgangers krijgen prioriteit bij de inrichting van verkeersstromen. Fietspaden worden goed onderhouden en verkeerslichten worden fietsvriendelijk afgesteld.
• De gemeente komt met voorstellen om te zorgen dat woningen en voorzieningen een bushalte hebben binnen 400 meter afstand. Voor scholen, zorginstellingen en (woon)voorzieningen voor ouderen wordt de afstand binnen 200 meter. GroenLinks wil in ieder geval schone en stillere bussen met liefst elektrische of anders aardgasaandrijving.
• Veel werknemers uit Huizen reizen naar hun werk via Hilversum. Een goede hoogwaardige openbaar vervoerverbinding (HOV) met Huizen langs de spoorlijn door Anna’s Hoeve ontlast de verkeersomvang op de Soestdijkerstraatweg en draagt bij aan het reduceren van automobiliteit.
• De auto is nog heel dominant aanwezig in het Hilversummer straatbeeld. Parkeren wordt zoveel mogelijk uit het zicht georganiseerd en waar mogelijk ondergronds. Het sluipverkeer door woonwijken wordt ontmoedigd door fysieke maatregelen en een maximumsnelheid van 30 km/uur. Op belangrijke fietsroutes worden dertig kilometerwegen ingericht als fietsstraten.
• Hilversum moet actief werk maken van transferia, om te beginnen bij het Arenapark. Deze transferia kunnen ook een rol spelen bij het anders en beter organiseren van stedelijke distributie en bevoorrading van winkels en bedrijven. De mogelijkheden om alleen het meest schone vrachtverkeer toe te laten worden daarbij ook onderzocht.
• In gebieden met een gemengd rioolstelsel (hemelwater en afvalwater in één buis) wordt door afkoppeling het (schone) hemelwater buiten het riool gehouden en direct naar het oppervlaktewater afgevoerd. De rioolzuivering wordt daardoor ontlast en het grondwater wordt op natuurlijke wijze aangevuld.
• Bij nieuwbouw en herstructurering ligt de komende jaren het accent op woningen voor jongeren en ouderen met een goede kwaliteit (duurzaam, energiezuinig en met Woonkeur).
• De gemeentelijke gelden worden duurzaam belegd. Ze worden uitgezet bij banken met duurzame fondsen. Zo wordt voorkomen dat gemeentelijke gelden worden aangewend voor wapenproductie of klimaatschadelijke activiteiten.

----------

D66 (democrats): verkiezingsprogramma / website

• Concrete maatregelen om energie te besparen en meer gebruik te maken van duurzame energie.
• Het maken van concrete afspraken met het bedrijfsleven over duurzaamheid.
• Het stellen van strenge milieueisen aan inkopen en vervoersmiddelen van de gemeente Hilversum zelf.
• Invoering van een duurzaamheidtoets bij alle bouw- en infrastructurele projecten.
• Klimaatneutraal en duurzaam (ver-)bouwen, onder andere door plaatsing van zonnecollectoren bij nieuw- en verbouw.
• Betere prestatieafspraken tussen de gemeente en de woningcorporaties onder meer over de bouw en behoud van
  betaalbare woningen, maar ook over duurzaamheidmaatregelen.
• Veilige fietsroutes en meer fietsvoorzieningen. Meer fietsenrekken en gratis bewaakte fietsenstallingen in het centrum. Een extra
  ondergrondse fietsenstalling bij het station.
• Het uitbreiden en verbeteren van het fietspadennetwerk in en rond Hilversum.
• Realiseren van Hoogwaardig Openbaar Vervoer (HOV) in de regio. Zo snel mogelijk via een (light-) railverbinding als onderdeel van een verbinding Almere – Huizen - Hilversum – Utrecht.
• Onderzoek naar realisering van Park en Ride (P&R) voorzieningen/transferium bij HOV-haltes.
• Voortzetting van een project voor gratis busvervoer in Hilversum, in ieder geval voor 65+’ers en WMO-pashouders.
• Gebruik maken van innovatie en technologische vernieuwingen in mobiliteit.
• Lobby bij de NS voor een nachttrein tussen Hilversum en Amsterdam.

----------

Christenunie (conservative christian democrats): verkiezingsprogramma / website

• De gemeente moet in overleg met de energiebedrijven het voortouw nemen bij de aanleg van stopcontacten om elektrische auto’s op te laden met groene stroom.
• De gemeente moet bij inkopen van goederen en diensten nog meer aandacht besteden aan duurzaamheid van de producten. Dan gaat het om enerzijds de energiezuinigheid, anderzijds de milieuvriendelijkheid van de materialen en de arbeidsomstandigheden van de mensen die de producten produceren.
• De gemeente moet haar invloed aanwenden om zoveel mogelijk nieuw te bouwen gebouwen klimaatneutraal te laten zijn. Hierbij kan gebruik worden gemaakt van duurzame energie, zoals Warmte-Koude opslag en zonnepanelen.
• Omdat Hilversum relatief veel oude, soms monumentale woningen en scholen heeft, moet veel aandacht uitgaan naar energiebesparing van de bestaande bouw. De gemeente moet hierin een actieve, stimulerende en subsidiërende rol op zich nemen. Om resultaat te behalen willen wij kijken of de vrijblijvendheid hiervan verminderd kan worden.
• Nieuwe gemeentelijke voertuigen moeten zo zuinig en milieuvriendelijk mogelijk zijn. Deze eisen moeten ook gesteld worden
  aan leveranciers en aannemers die voor de gemeente werkzaam zijn.
• Bij het regulier vervangen van openbare verlichting moet gekozen worden voor energiezuinige varianten, zoals LED-verlichting.
• Het gebruik van de fiets moet gestimuleerd worden. Verkeerslichten moeten fietsvriendelijk worden afgesteld. Op alle rotondes moeten fietsers eenduidig voorrang krijgen.
• Gebruik van de OV-fiets en soortgelijke initiatieven moeten door de gemeente positief gestimuleerd worden, zodat het aantal uitgiftepunten uitgebreid kan worden.
• De gemeente Hilversum moet een duidelijke visie ontwikkelen op het openbaar vervoer in Hilversum. Omdat het meeste openbaar vervoer plaatsvindt over de gemeentegrenzen heen zal hiervoor samengewerkt moeten worden met omliggende gemeenten, bijvoorbeeld in het Gewest Gooi en Vechtstreek.
• Wij staan achter het principe van een Hoogwaardig Openbaar Vervoer Verbinding tussen Hilversum en Huizen. Daarbij geldt voor ons wel een aantal belangrijke randvoorwaarden. De eerste is dat de HOV baan goed ingepast dient te worden, ook bij het station. De tweede is dat er een betrouwbare prognose wordt gegeven over het reële aantal te verwachten reizigers. De derde is dat het tracé zodanig toekomstvast is dat het in de toekomst makkelijk omgebouwd kan worden tot een lightrail. De vierde is dat er een keuze gemaakt moet worden tussen de eventueel te realiseren ‘Stichtse spoorlijn’ en het HOV tracé, waarbij wij een sterke voorkeur voor de HOV hebben.
• Het experiment met gratis busvervoer moet geëvalueerd worden. Bij een positieve evaluatie willen wij dat vooral busgebruik door ouderen op bepaalde momenten gratis wordt.

----------

Hart voor Hilversum (lit. 'Heart for Hilversum', local party): verkiezingsprogramma / website

• HvH introduceert het Buurtbedrijf waar buurtbewoners o.a. terecht kunnen voor adviezen over energiebesparing.
• Initiatieven voor een fijnmazig netwerk van kleine elektrische stadsbussen met hoge frequentie worden bevorderd. Indien mogelijk dienen lege dieselbussen worden geweerd.
• Het thans voorgestelde tracé van de HOV-lijn wijst HvH af.
• De besparing van 3 procent op gemeentelijk energieverbruik kan flink omhoog.
• Daar waar mogelijk moet de Gemeente Hilversum innovatie op het gebied van energiebesparing en energiewinning toepassen.
• De gemeente Hilversum moet inwoners helpen met het aanvragen voor subsidies voor isolatie en energiebesparing.
• De gemeente Hilversum moet inwoners helpen met besparen door bewust gebruik van energie. HVH wil dat Energiemeters gratis te leen zijn bij het buurtburo.

----------

Puur uit nieuwsgierigheid heb ik elk partijprogramma doorzocht op een paar steekwoorden en daar een tabelletje van gemaakt. Ik heb alleen de relevante voorbeelden geteld, dus bij bv. 'klimaat' heb ik het woord 'ondernemersklimaat' niet meegeteld.

Opvallend is dat de begrippen klimaat, CO2 en duurzaam vrij veel aandacht krijgen, maar dat fossiel en peak oil in de verkiezingsprogramma's helemaal niet voorkomen. Omdat ik toch benieuwd ben naar hoe de diverse partijen denken over peak oil en de afhankelijkheid - ook van Hilversum - van goedkope fossiele brandstoffen denk ik dat ik alle partijen eens aanschrijf met een paar vragen daarover. Als er voldoende interessante reacties terugkomen zal ik die publiceren.

I do plan to cover the World Solar Challenge () in 2011 in as much detail as possible on this website.

Snow on the solar panels

When I looked up yesterday morning when I left home for work, I saw that our roof was still covered with snow while our neighbours' roofs were clear.

I think that's because the hatch I mounted in the stairwell to the attic, which prevents warm air from rising and being lost through the roof.

The disadvantage is that snow takes longer to melt and thus covers the solar panels for a longer period, but because the panels produce very little energy in this season that's really no problem. The amount of energy saved in natural gas will almost certainly be more than the amount of energy the solar panels would have generated without the snow.

Stemmen

The 2010 local elections will be held on March 3rd, that's just over a month away. How local politics deal with things like the environment, sustainability and energy is just as important as the nationwide and European politics (). Local politics have much influence ons issues like traffic but also rules for energy-efficiency of renovated and newly built buildings

I live in Hilversum (), here are some issues that come to mind:

• Traffic. Hilversum is known, nationwide, as the city you don't want to go to by car 'because it's a continuous traffic jam'. And yes, it's true that especially during rush hour it can be very congested on Hilversum's road-system. The local newspaper spend a considerable amount of page space on these traffix issues. A common opinion is that the traffic problems can be solved by technical means like more and wider roads, one-way traffic on some roads, ramp metering, etc. It's clear to me that these can be temporary stopgaps at best, the basic problem is simply that too many cars are trying to squirm themselves over a road-system that was never designed to handle that much traffic. For a (very) long time there have been plans for a high-quality public transit connection to neighbouring Huizen, but that just can't seem to get off the ground.
• Energy. Hilversum doesn't have much 'dirty' industry with smoking smokestacks, but it's economy depends nearly completely on the national broadcasting stations and many media companies. Those called be called clean with some justice, but they are extremely dependent on reliable and cheap energy. I wonder how this sector will cope with rapidly rising energy prices. This sector is also directly tied to the traffic problems as many employees live outside Hilversum and so have to commute every day, often by car.
• Residential energy consumption. Hilversum has a lot of houses from the '30 (the city's first growth period when a railway arrived) and the 50's (fast growth after the Second World War)). Many of these houses have pretty bad insulation, leading to an unnecessarily high energy consumption. New houses are being built here and there which are much better insulated, but I wonder if it isn't possible to look ahead to the future. A energy-zero house isn't that difficult to build, and even energy-plus houses are possible if the local regulations would enforce it.
• Incentives. Hilversum has, at this time, several financial incentives for things like insulation, solar panels, solar hot water systems, energy saving glass, etc. That's all very well but wonder what all the different parties are planning to do in this respect in the coming period 2010-2014.
• Landscape/growth. Hilversum would like to grow, and many people and companies are hungrily eying the surrounding green landscape. This has been an issue of much debate for many years.

I am very curious how the different local parties think about these subjects. I will carefully read the party programs of all the participating local parties and publish an overview on this website. If the programs are not specific enough I may very well write to all those parties and ask them specific questions. I wonder, for instance, if they know about Peak Oil and how they are incorporating it in their policy.

Kombikraftwerk

Many German words have this powerful sound to them. 'KOMBIKRAFTWERK'. This word doesn't only sound powerful, it also has a powerful meaning.

A much-heard argument against the widespread use of electricity generation from renewable source like sun and wind is that the production is unpredictable. This means, so it is often said, that for every MW of renewable capacity that is installed a same number of fossil MW capacity must be built, to ensure reliable electricity at all times, even during cloudy weather/darkness/calm winds. This argument sounds reasonable at first view, and that's why many people usually accept this argument.

It's really not a good argument, for two reasons:

1. Up to about a 20-25% share of renewables in the total electricity production there is no problem at all. The fluctuations in production are no more a problem than the normal fluctuations in consumption. To put it another way: the fossil plants are not troubled at all by the renewable generatin capacity, besides having to throttle back or switch off more often - which is of course exactly the point.Even at higher shares of renewable capacity, I've read 40-50%, doesn't present much problems. The weather can be forecast with quite high level of accuracy a few days ahead and that makes it easy to also predict the amount of available electricity at a given time. If there is a shortage, electricity can bought from neighbouring countries, for instance through the submarine NorNed-cable () from Norway. Because Norway has an unusually high share of hydropower this allows something very convenient: if there is an electricity surplus the hydro plants can pump the water uphill into their reservoir, thus storing energy.
2. But even at much higher shares of renewable capacity - up to 100% - we could manage without fossil power plants. The secret? A smart grid. Kassel university, in Germany,  researched ways to maintain a stable grid which is fed exclusively with renewable sources. The experiment took three wind parks, twee biomass plants, a number of solar plants and a hydropower plant with storage possibility and coupled these with a computer network. The goal was to generate, for a longer time, a fixed percentage of the total German electricity consumption, only from renewable sources. To do this, Germany's total electricity was constantly monitored and the renewables sources were managed to generate exactly the predetermined percentage of consumption. For instance, if it were to be cloudy in southern Germany, depressing the electricity production there it would very likely be windy in northern Germany, allowing the wind park there to compensate. If all the wind and solar plants couldn't produce enough electricity to match demand the biomass plants could be switched on, resulting in a very reliable grid. Not only shortages have to be avoided: a surplus can also destabilise the grid. This is where the hydropower plant comes into play. If, at any one time, demand was low and production was high (for instance if it is both sunny and windy at the same time) the hydropower plant could pump water uphill into its reservoir, storing it for later use in electricity generation at a time of shortage. This allows energy to be stored, further stabilising the grid.

This experiment proves that, in theory, the electricity demand of an entire country can be met by renewable source. When the term "in theory" is used it usually means "not really" but I think this experiment shows that it can really be done. Of cource, sufficient renewable generating capacity must be available to really run a complete coutry. In Germany they are working hard towards this goal - while in the Netherlands we are unfortunately getting ever more behind.

Anyway, this is a very interesting experiment which show that if we really wanted to we could switch out entire electricity consumption over to renewable sources. This short movie explains how it works:

TW4XP

A few people who are directly and indirectly involved with Twike are developing a successor, which currently listens to the rather unprosaic name "TW4XP" (). The name stands for  "ThreeWheeler 4 X Prize" and after some research it becomes clear what's behind both the car and its name.

The X Prize Foundation () was founded to finance large competitions to force breakthroughs in several high-tech areas. For example, the Foundation paid US$10 million to the winner of the 2004 Ansari X Prize (), the company Scaled Composites () which succesfully launched the first non-government-sponsored (albeit suborbital) spaceship.

The Foundation is currently running the Progressive Automotive X Prize () in which teams can compete with designs for ultra-efficient vehicles. The vehicles will be judged by efficiency, safety, handling qualities, usability and the ability to be mass-produced. The winning teams in the several classes will receive a certain sum of money to help them to start op mass-production.

The TW4XP (you can win $1000 () by coming up with an original name) is, just like the Twike, a three-wheeled electric vehicle with support from pedal power. I am not a big fan of the whole pedal power thing, I thought the Twike without pedals drove easier but according to Twike they sell about 90% pedal-versions so it must appeal to many people. The site is a bit light on the technical details of the vehicle, and it even seems that there is not physical protoype yet, only a few renderings. The specifications () state that the top speed will be above 80mph (= ± 130 km/h), which is substantially higher than the Twike current top speed of 55mph (= ± 85 km/h). The energy consumption seems to be considerably higher than that of the Twike: 16 kWh per 100 km vs. 5 kWh per 100 km, but I guess that's to be expected at higher speeds. I do hope that the designers will keep to the design philosophy of the Twike by keeping the vehicle very light. Light vehicles use less energy (both during construction and while being driven) and are also much safer for truly sustainable road users like pedestrians and cyclists.

I hope we will hear a lot more about this.

The broadcast was not uninteresting, but the discussion starts to resemble a stuck recording. The people who are actually working in the sustainability-business are very dissatisfied with the current rules, laws and incentives surrounding the area of sustainability. The politicians, on the other hand, say that things are going as planned and everything is fine...

The broadcast is repeated on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, and can also be viewed online ().

I wish everybody lots of health and happiness, and lots of sun on the your solar panels and wind on your windturbines. Let's hope that we can finally make some progress withe sustainability in the Netherlands, as we are getting more and more behind with each passing year. Maybe that the falling prices of solar panels can achieve what the clumsy SDE-incentive program cannot: much more blue on the Dutch roofs.

About good intentions: I hope I can find the time and rest to write interesting articles for the website, that can start the construction of a rainwater collection system () and that we can keep the energy consumption of our household low, or maybe even lower it some more.