Dutch trains become 100% wind-powered

[suffragette]

Source: Agence France-Presse in The Hague


All Dutch trains have become 100% powered by electricity generated by wind energy, the national railway company NS said yesterday.

“Since the first of January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy,” said NS spokesman, Ton Boon.

Dutch electricity company Eneco won a tender offered by NS two years ago and the two companies signed a 10-year deal setting January 2018 as the date by which all NS trains should run on wind energy.

“So we in fact reached our goal a year earlier than planned,” said Boon, adding that an increase in the number of wind farms across the country and off the coast of The Netherlands had helped NS achieve its aim.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/10/dutch-trains-100-percent-wind-powered-ns

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. I knew the Dutch sailed ice boats, but now trains with sails! Wow

wink

[suffragette]

2. Lol.

[packman]

19. Damn, you beat me to it

[suffragette]

6. On a more serious note, I found this older article that goes more in depth on how the plan

For this worked.

Impressive that they not only achieved their goal, but did so a year earlier than planned.


http://www.railway-technology.com/features/featuremichel-kerkhof-of-eneco-discusses-the-dutch-rail-networks-renewable-revolution-4647194/

According to Michel Kerkhof, account manager at Eneco, the deal has the potential to revolutionise how renewable energy is procured and utilised, both in the rail sector and other primary industries.

"What makes this contract and partnership unique is that a whole sector decreases its CO2 footprint enormously and sets an example for other sectors to follow," he states. "Mobility is responsible for 20% of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands, and if we want to keep travelling, it is important that we do this without burdening the environment with CO2 and particulate matter. This contract offers all Dutch citizens the option to make a climate neutral trip, regardless of distance."

~~~
As the Netherland's premier rail operator, NS handles 1.2 million journeys a day and is something of a pioneer in the arena of climate-neutral travel. The firm has cut energy consumption per passenger per kilometre by roughly 30% since 2005 using new trains and more efficient driving techniques.

Dutch rail travelers also appear to support the concept of sustainable rail travel; in a recent survey, 80% of NS riders indicated that green energy was preferable to traditional forms of traction power.

More info at link.

[trof]

18. Just where I went.

[meow2u3]

3. I see what's going on now

Every time Trump opens his piehole, he powers a train in the Netherlands.

[riversedge]

4. with all of Trumps hot air, that is very possible. Meanwile Congrats to the Dutch

[suffragette]

9. Love the innovation! Combine that with solar paths and now looking to bring that to California.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/150510092535171.html

Engineers in the Netherlands say a novel solar road surface that generates electricity and can be driven over has proved more successful than expected.

Last year they built a 70-metre test track along a bike path near the Dutch town of Krommenie on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

In the first six months since it was installed, the panels beneath the road have generated over 3,000kwh. This is enough to provide a single-person household with electricity for a year.

~~~


The group behind the project is now in talks with local councils in the Netherlands to see if the technology can be rolled out in other provinces. A cooperation agreement has also been signed with the US state of California.

[eggplant]

15. Solar paths are a terrible idea.

Solar collectors *along* roadways (rights-of-way) is an excellent idea. But solar roads themselves simply can't take the abuse, get filthy pretty much immediately (limiting their effectiveness), and don't actually face towards the sun so they are crappy at generating power.

The trials that have been done have had almost immediate failures. Why replace a simple, well understood, and inexpensive technology (asphalt) with something much more costly and complex, with terrible reliability and not very effective at their actual goal?

Oh, and by the way, asphalt is remarkably recyclable. Grind it up, melt it down, pour a fresh road. And alternative composites made with recycled glass and/or rubber additives work great to lower materials cost and improve performance.

[suffragette]

22. I think it's important to try and to start in multiple places. At every beginning, there are

mistakes. That's how they will find what works and what doesn't.
That's worth the effort.

[suffragette]

8. And blows everything else off the tracks.

[Javaman]

5. there is a screen door in bathtube joke in here somewhere, never the less, good on them! nt

[suffragette]

14. Yes, good on them. They are demonstrating it can be done, ahead of schedule no less.

[Plucketeer]

7. Trump uses tweets

to propel his lies and hatred along. There's a start!

[benld74]

11. Beat me to it!!!!

[MythosMaster]

10. And in this the "greatest nation"

the guy who is going to make it great again is pushing medieval coal and 1800 era oil solutions...

[suffragette]

20. Yep, going backward while others go forward.

[lambchopp59]

12. When I witnessed the BART system being built in the late 1970's

I couldn't wait for the day I could wait for the BART train to Los Angeles. Or Seattle. Wow was I naive.
Most of BART's power, if I'm not mistaken, comes from clean hydroelectricity.
Then RayGun. And the Bush's. Now Frump. All big oil's puppets. Keep people in their isolation of the car, where the RW radio can tell them they are doing the right thing polluting the planet beyond survivability, beyond sustainability, beyond all common sense... or progress.

[suffragette]

13. Didn't realize how green BART is, but it makes sense. Yes, more of this please!

https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2015%20Green%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20electronic_0.pdf

Yeah, it is discouraging the steps we will be taking back given Trump and his appointments.

I hope that we can at least keep working on local projects to effect change.

I posted above about how the people in the Netherlands who have been developing solar bike paths are now looking to collaborate on some projects in California.

Hopefully, Jerry Brown can help make more of that happen.

[SunSeeker]

16. Very cool.

[suffragette]

21. Yes, it is!

[Hortensis]

17. Thanks for this, Suffragette. Nice to hear.

[suffragette]

23. Thank you! It is great to hear about positive steps forward, isn't it.