Dance powered

It is not easy to find a link between "dance club" and "renewable energy". But at WATT, a Rotterdam disco, even night clubbing is environmentally sustainable.

Among the features envisioned for the green club are energy-generating dance floors, with a generator that can transform dancers' movements into electricity, as well as toilets flushed with rainwater, walls that change color in response to temperature fluctuations, and a rooftop garden where clubbers can enjoy an organic beer with friends.

Aryan Tieleman, the owner of several posh restaurants in Rotterdam, bought the club about two years ago. When Sustainable Dance Club (SCD) approached him with the idea of renovating the place into a fashionable venue with modern green technologies, Tieleman thought it would worth a good investment.

"Young people do not come to a club for sustainability. They come for fun. But it's definitely wonderful to combine the both," says Tieleman.

The energy-dance floor now covers an area of 21 sq m, which can generate about 10 percent of the total electricity used in the club. But Tieleman is hoping for more installations in the future.

SCD, the organization promoting the idea, believes this can not only lessen the environmental impact of an activity that's traditionally pretty self-indulgent, and also build awareness among the young and hip.

In the Netherlands, everybody is talking about sustainability. It is not difficult to come across creative and interesting ideas for sustainability like "responsible dancing" in the country.

Also, although a small country in terms of territory, the Netherlands is one of the world's leading countries in green technologies.

Why is this the case?

As a geographically low-lying country, with about 27 percent of its area and 60 percent of its population located below sea level, the Netherlands has been fighting the water for several centuries.

The high density of population also forced the country to reclaim land from the sea, while making good use of the limited land.

Now the country is facing the mounting challenge of global warming.

Although the observed effects in the Netherlands are limited and haven't led to serious problems for the country as yet, climate change and its effects are expected to accelerate over the next few decades.

As a result, finding new solutions, either technologies, or the management instruments to slowdown global warming, have been given high priorities in the country, which, as the Dutch people believe, can also bring competitive bonuses for the economy.

Algaelink, a manufacturer of biodiesel machines and bioreactors to grow algae, is one of Holland's examples of technological innovation.

Algae is not strange to Chinese people. In the recent years, excessive growth of blue algae has occurred time and again in several Chinese major lakes, such as Taihu and Dianchi.

The rapid growth of blue-green algae in stagnant water removes oxygen from the water, killing fish and other aquatic life, which then decay and release toxins. The foul smelling water is unfit for humans and animals.

But algae also has a good side. Rich in oil, algae has been recognized by scientists as an ideal plant for making biodiesel, an alternative to fossil fuels. Some types of algae have oil contents from 30 percent to 70 percent or more.

Farming algae doesn't require much space or good cropland, so it avoids the fuel-for-food dilemma that has plagued first and second generation biofuels like corn and palm oil.

Algae grows fast and can adapt to all kinds of water resources. Scientists have found out that theoretically, algae can double its population within seven hours, and that it can survive in polluted water, seawater and farm runoffs, according to Peter van den Dorpel, chief operating officer of AlgaeLink.

Meanwhile, the growing process of algae absorbs lots of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas resulting in global warming.

"Growing 1 kg of algae needs 3 kg of CO2, so actually growing algae actually provides the cheapest and easiest way of capturing CO2," says Peter van den Dorpel.

His company has developed a closed system of growing algae in tubes, compared to the traditional methods of farming them in open ponds.

With a patterned cleaning system that keeps the tube transparent, thus ensuring enough light for photosynthesis, and an online monitoring system that uses 12 sensors to make the environment suitable for algae growth, Algaelink has become one of the leaders in the burgeoning algae farming industry.

As one of the small-and-medium-sized companies in the environmental industry, Algaelink has transformed the state-of-the-art technology into business.

But not all the enterprises working to promote sustainability in the Netherlands rely on technology. Smart and innovative thinking can help them excel in a Dutch society that has strong environmental awareness.

Greenwheels has developed a business model for temporary car ownership that resembles the old vehicle rental service, only it has a more quick response system.

Users of the Greenwheels system can book their car online or through a call center just one minute before they use the car. The system is so widespread that people can find a Greenwheels car every 500 m.

"The benefits are obvious. People can save their money for buying the car, and the pay parking spaces," says Jan Borghuis, a founder of Greenwheels.

Now the system is providing service in about 70 cities in the Netherlands and has reached out to other European countries.

(China Daily 10/13/2008 page5)