BambooLogic’s Post

🌱 BLUE GATE ANTWERP business park is unlocking the Future of Sustainable Construction with #Biobased #Materials 🌱 This innovative business park stands out yet again, this time with the #cultivation of 8 hectares of #hemp on-site. This initiative aligns seamlessly with the 'Blue Triangle' mission and vision of BLUE GATE ANTWERP, which focuses on: ✅ Synergy on the site ✅ Circular building practices ✅ Circular business models The construction sector is responsible for a staggering 40% of global #carbon emissions, making it crucial for us to seek innovative solutions to combat this challenge. #Biobased construction materials, like hemp, are emerging as key players in #reducing these emissions. By producing the required biomass locally, we can significantly minimize supply chains and transport energy, promoting both circularity and sustainability. Imagine being able to grow the city’s traffic signs IN the city—now that’s true circularity! The #EUGreenDeal emphasizes that "Improving energy efficiency in the building sector will play a key role in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050." Hemp, with its versatility and eco-friendly properties, is poised to play a vital role in this transition. For more info on the benefits of cultivating hemp, contact Frederik Verstraete 🌱 At BLUE GATE ANTWERP, settlers operate from #futureproof buildings designed with high #renewable energy capacity, #rainwater recovery, and a commitment to sustainable and circular materials. And this is where #hemp truly shines. Together, we can reshape the construction landscape and enhance urban sustainability. Let’s build a greener future! 🌍💚 #Sustainability #BiobasedMaterials #CircularEconomy #Hemp #ConstructionInnovation #ESG #BlueGateAntwerp #GreenDeal #FutureProofBuildings

THE PLEISTOCENE CLIMATE CYCLE IS A NATURAL RESPONSE SYSTEM BETWEEN VEGETATION COMPOSITION AND THE THICKNESS OF THE STRATOSPHERIC OZONE LAYER. So when we use biofuel we reinterate the mitigation of the Pleistocene cooling phase. This mitigation takes place through natural fires frequency. Our industry produces more heat and fire dust than burning forests at the top of the glacial maximum. This means we reiterated the warming conditions that take us from the glacial maximum to the interglacial maximum. So our industry brought us back into the warming phase of a Pleistocene climate cycle, on top of the interglacial we are at. And what do we do? We burn more wood instead of keeping pollutants and heat down. Why? Because someone made us believe that hot industrial emissions do not ascend to the stratosphere, but stay in the troposphere, and as that does not fit our measurements of the atmospheric CO2 concentration we decided that the WARMING oceans do not release CO2, but take it up. That is not possible because (chemical law): “the solubility of gasses in water depends on temperature”. No biofuel!

Dutch article: What can the Netherlands learn from their southern neighbors about achieving water quality goals? Farmers can reduce nitrate residue in the soil after harvest through goal-oriented measures. In Belgium, this has been practiced for years, yet the country still fails to meet nitrate targets for improving water quality. Why is that, and what can the Netherlands learn from this? Read the full interview with Gerard Velthof: https://lnkd.in/dtMVnj-U

Happy national tap water day! Today marks the 5th Nationale Kraanwaterdag in the Netherlands, where Dutch water companies are teaching children the benefits of tap water over bottled alternatives, which contribute to billions of tonnes of plastic waste each year. A recent Grohe AG study shows 89% of Dutch respondents prefer tap water, the highest among surveyed countries. However, 42% also expressed concern about its future availability, highlighting a need for more focus on water conservation during Nationale Kraanwaterdag. The increasing scarcity of drinking water requires immediate attention. The UN predicts that by 2024, 2.3 billion people globally will face water shortages. Despite this, research by GROHE found that 40% of people in the Netherlands lack knowledge about how to conserve water. In response, we are supporting GROHE Team Ocean in launching two rowing expeditions to promote "aquawareness" and inspire positive change. During their journey, Team Ocean will filter seawater into drinkable water themselves, highlighting the challenges even water-rich nations like the Netherlands face: to make all the water surrounding us drinkable, a lot of technological investment is needed. That's why we shouldn't take tapwater for granted! Let's use this day to reflect on the value of water and the actions we can take to conserve it. Team Ocean #Aquawareness

#WasteManagement #SteelSlag #TheNetherlands (and relevant elsewhere) It is one of the largest industrial waste flows in the Netherlands: steel slag, a contaminated, stone-like material that is created during the making of steel. At some point the classification of steel slag was officially changed from a 'waste product' to a 'by-product', allowing it to be freely used as a building material. 🙌 Is this 'by-product' harmless? In The Netherlands the main source of steel slag is Tata Steel. Tata sells the so-called 'by-product' to contractors through an intermediary. The steel slag is used in the construction of roads and in coastal reinforcement projects, for example in the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde. There have been concerns about the use of steel slag for some time. Last year, a study by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) showed that steel slag may be more harmful than previously thought ➜ link in comment box This is what is known based on a 2022 study ➜ link in comment box 'Steel slag is created during the production of steel and resembles stone. The Netherlands uses this material in large quantities as a building material. For example, as a subsurface for roads and to fill or raise dikes, noise barriers and landfills. When steel slag comes into contact with rain or groundwater, harmful substances are released and end up in that water. Almost all conceivable heavy metals then end up in the soil or surface water via this "leach water". The rinse water also has a very low acidity. These effects are harmful to the environment.' In a 2021 documentary episode 4 of De Vuilnisman Teun Van De Keuken visits various infrastructure projects where the use of steel slag causes serious nuisance to people and the environment. Local residents have complaints and farmers have to keep their cattle in stables. If it is removed from one municipality after a protest, it is dumped a few kilometers away. The use is even encouraged so much that contractors who want to use steel slag are given money. Is it useful to make building with waste a revenue model? ➜ link in comment box 🔴 In the news April 2024 A new study by Wageningen University & Research will take place into the mass mortality of the Oosterschelde lobster: 'New research into the mass mortality of the Oosterschelde lobster' https://lnkd.in/efDQipMW #Transparency #Environment #Ocean #MarinePollution

'' On 3 December, the petition 'Save the coniferous forests' will be handed over. Provinces and land managers are converting forests to sand and grassland, and in doing so alone accounted for 64% of deforestation in the Netherlands. A large part of the harvested wood is sold as biomass to polluting energy companies. Burning woody biomass releases more CO2 than burning coal, in addition to a large number of hazardous substances such as NOx, SO2, HCl, HF, (ultra)fine particles, ammonia, metals and dioxins/furans, which are not released when burning gas, for example. Subsidies are provided for both the felling of forests and the burning of wood that were originally intended for truly sustainable solutions for the restoration of the climate and nature. Thanks to the paid #biomassalobby, those subsidies are now used to sponsor polluting companies, at the expense of your health, nature, the climate and therefore the future of our children. Do you also want this to stop? Sign this petition: ''

Some interesting findings from the Netherlands by Wageningen University & Research and Koeien & Kansen. Initial findings from their research study has found that enteric methane emissions from fresh grass were on average 1% lower across the 16 farms participating in the cows and opportunities program. A further point of interest was that the reduction in enteric methane production varied with the proportion of fresh grass in the feed intake. For example, on a farm fed 3100 kg dry matter of meadow grass per cow per year, the farm saw methane emissions drop from 23.8 to 22.9 grams of methane per kg of milk, a 4% reduction. Whereas, on a second farm fed only 370 kg dry matter of meadow grass per cow, the methane reduction was only 0.5%. Based on the findings from this study, the research group proposes to reduce the emissions factor for fresh grass from 19.2g of methane per kg of dry matter to 17.7g for grazing cows and from 23.3g to 21.6g for housed animals fed fresh grass during the summer, to improve the accuracy of future estimates of enteric methane emissions from fresh grass. For further information, please see the post below, there is a link to a Koeien & Kansen article in the comments. The post and articles are in Dutch, but can easily be translated using the functionality in your browser.

How innovation and sustainability are combined to future-proof the potato sector. A glimpse of Ministry Wiersma's visit to our company (in Dutch), where the importance of the potato sector for the province of Zeeland was highlighted. "Innovative techniques are being worked hard here to solve the various challenges such as water availability, salinisation and drought,’ she said. 

🌍 Join us in making a difference! At Paradox, we’re proud ambassadors of #CleanWaterGlobal, transforming paint wastewater into clean, drinking-quality water and use the residues as a raw material for primers and putty #cicularindustry There’s many water cleaning systems, I have learned through my professional life but mainly in the last 6 months where I have delved in more and became educated by Timmy Bours and his team. Also there’s a lot of sense and non-sense in the systems currently in use, with the best intentions. But if we really want to make a diffference as an industry, we need to raise the bar before the norms will be more stringent, leaving most of those conventional coagulation systems behind in the desert. Clean Water Global provides effective solutions for contractors, distribution centers, wholesalers, and construction sites, with systems for paint production in the works. We’re seeking passionate, like-minded partners and facilitators to join this fast-growing network and protect the environment, one drop at a time! 🌿♻️ Contact: jb@paradox-concepts.com Visit: www.cleanwaterglobal.eu #Sustainability #WastewaterRecycling #EcoFriendly #PFASfree

Today is a historic day for nature; our forests and biodiversity 🌳🦉 We are at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to challenge the European Commission on its approach to labelling biomass for energy as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘zero emission’ and ‘sustainable’ in the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Regulation. The truth is that the biomass industry is leading to forest destruction at the expense of people, animals and nature, instead of ‘substantially’ contributing to sustainable solutions, as the taxonomy requires. For more and the Press Release 👇