Mega project brings water from south to Beijing

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-12-28

The water arrives at Tuancheng Lake's open channel in Beijing, Dec. 27
(Photo/Xinhua)

The water from a south China river flowed into Beijing on Saturday after a journey of over 1,200 kilometers along the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

It took 15 days for the water to arrive in Beijing from its source — the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, China's largest waterway.

Saturday's delivery marks the completion of the middle route's first stage, construction of which began exactly 12 years ago.

The project will have significant economic, social and environmental impacts, said E Jingping, chief of the State Council's South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission Office.

Next year, about 800 million cubic meters of water will be sent to Beijing from the south.

Beijing, on average, consumes 3.6 billion cubic meters of water annually and the project will eventually deliver 1 billion cubic meters of water to Beijing. The water resource per capita in Beijing is one eightieth of the world average.

The project will alleviate the pressure Beijing faces to meet demand, said Sun Guosheng, director of the project's Beijing office, but the project would not completely solve Beijing's water issues. Additional measures must be taken.

Dean of Beijing Normal University's College of Water Sciences, Xu Xinyi, said Beijing and other places along the project's route must promote water conservation in industry, agriculture and at the municipal-administration level.

Similarly, Zhang Tong, deputy chief of the Beijing Institute of Water, urged the city to place restrictions on industries that require large quantities of water.

Beijing mayor Wang Anshun promised citywide water conservation promotion efforts to limit wastefulness.

The middle route's first stage starts at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in the central province of Hubei.

The middle route will supply 9.5 billion cubic meters of water annually to northern regions, including the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and provinces of Henan and Hebei.

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

Sumitomo Wins Contract for Pertamina Geothermal Project

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 12, 2014

Trucks at Patuha Geothermal plant in Bandung, West Java. Indonesia holds
40 percent of world's geothermal potential. (JG Photo/Reza Estily)

Sumitomo, a Japanese trading company, won a contract to construct two geothermal generation units at a station in Indonesia for Pertamina Geothermal Energy.

The Tokyo-based company and Rekayasa Industri will work together to add the two units at Lahendong station, Sumitomo said in a statement today. Each unit will have 20 megawatts in capacity.

Fuji Electric will supply steam turbines and power generators, according to the statement.

Construction is expected to be completed by March 2017 and loans will be provided by the World Bank, Sumitomo said. The company has constructed and delivered three other units at Lahendong.

Bloomberg

Related Article:

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

PLN Next in Line for Management Shake-Up After Pertamina, Minister Says

Jakarta Globe, Dec 08, 2014

Two workers fix an electricity network operated by state-owned electricity firm
Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) in Semarang. (JG Photo/Dhana Kencana)

Jakarta. State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno confirmed on Monday that the government was planning a management shake-up at the state power utility.

The move is part of a series of reforms initiated by the administration of President Joko Widodo aimed at boosting confidence in Indonesia’s economy.

The minister said the management of Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) would be restructured similar to that of state energy firm Pertamina, which last month saw its entire board of directors dismissed and a new chief appointed. Six new directors were added this week.

“We first performed an analysis in terms of restructuring Pertamina’s management and we’ll try to do the same for other SOEs in the future,” Rini told reporters, declining to elaborate on the time frame of the planned changes.

“The extent of the changes will depend on the activities of the SOEs themselves,” she said, adding that PLN, which has a monopoly on electricity distribution across the archipelago, would be next.

The management changes could come this month and would include a partial or total replacement of PLN’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoted by Reuters.

Joko’s administration seeks to accelerate electricity connectivity in the country to support his 7 percent annual growth target.

The government plans to build new power plants to add an additional 35,000 megawatts to the national grid between 2015-2019, boosting Indonesia’s electricity generating capacity to 85,7000 MW.

The plan will reportedly cost around Rp 980 trillion ($80 billion), with Rp 545 trillion expected from PLN. The remainder is expected to come from the private sector.

PLN plays a key role in Indonesia’s economy as it is not only a power producer, but also the biggest electricity distributor.

Rini, former head of Indonesia’s biggest auto distributor Astra International, also called for an end to SOE dividend payments to the government, saying profits will be used for capital expenditure.

Reuters & JG

Related Article:

Indonesia Clears Path for Geothermal Energy as Power Needs Rise

Indonesia Clears Path for Geothermal Energy as Power Needs Rise

Nation plans 25 tenders for new geothermal sites next year and aims to boost geothermal to 10 percent of power mix

Jakarta Globe, Michael Taylor & Wilda Asmarini, Nov 21, 2014

Jakarta. Indonesia has unveiled ambitious targets to triple geothermal power output this decade, introducing a series of land and regulatory reforms aimed at becoming the world’s largest producer of the fossil fuel alternative.

Sat atop the volcanic Pacific Ring of Fire, the world’s fourth-most populous nation is anxious to exploit geothermal energy as a clean and abundant power source as it races to attract investors and meet soaring power demand.

“With Indonesia increasingly having to import oil, coupled with a growing electricity demand, it is critical that it diversifies it base for electricity generation,” said Chris de Lavigne of consultancy Frost & Sullivan. “Indonesia has the potential to become the world’s largest producer of geothermal.”

As the world’s third-biggest geothermal producer with a capacity of 1.4 gigawatt (GW), Indonesia lags behind the Philippines and the United States with capacities of 1.9 and 3.4 GW each. Indonesia aims to up its capacity by 4.9 GW by 2019.

Yet progress has been slow due to red tape, uncompetitive power tariffs and uncertainty over asset ownership. The 25 years it has taken from the planning stage to breaking ground on its latest project show the formidable barriers the sector faces.

The government says reforms to curb the power of regional authorities to intrude on projects, as well as to make it easier to build in forest areas, should accelerate development of 25 project sites due for tender in early 2015.

“There are no more obstacles in this sector. It’s time for us to work. It is a business opportunity,” said Tisnaldi, director of geothermal, directorate general of renewable energy and energy conservation at the energy and mines ministry.

Geothermal investors hope the new government of President Joko Widodo will follow up with plans to reform power price caps in the same way it reduced subsidies for transport fuel, as well as tackle other obstacles.

“If you can lift the hurdle behind land acquisition and permits, that will help,” said Fazil Alfitri, president director at Medco Power Indonesia, a firm active in geothermal power.

Geothermal projects typically tap heat below the earth’s crust by pumping water into deep wells where it is converted into steam to drive turbines.

But they are susceptible to red-tape given they usually need long-term, complex government policy commitments. They also came under Indonesian mining laws, restricting developments in forest areas until recent amendments.

Indonesia’s plans could see geothermal meet 10 percent of power demand by 2020, up from 3 percent today. Currently about half of power supplies are met by coal, a fuel it is keen to use less in order to boost exports. Gas makes up about 20 percent and oil 12 percent.

Many geothermally active countries are planning new plants, with global capacity jumping from 2 to 12 GW since 1980.

Frost and Sullivan’s Lavigne said Indonesia’s geothermal capacity could be as high as 29 GW, almost two-thirds of the country’s current overall generation.

‘Game changer’

The $1.6 billion Sarulla project in North Sumatra, the world’s biggest, saw construction start this year, 25 years after it was first planned, delayed largely by a lack of finance and red tape.

Describing Sarulla as a “game-changer”, Shamim Razavi, an energy lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright, said it would mean financers would be prepared to look for new projects.

Most of the biggest existing plants, such as Chevron’s Salak, are on densely populated Java island.

Sarulla will connect to the national grid, although some plants in remote spots are restricted to serving local areas. The 25 new sites set for tender in early 2015 are mostly in forest areas in Java and Sumatra. Sarulla will have a capacity of 330 MW, enough to power about 330,000 homes.

If successful, Indonesia could follow its Southeast Asian neighbor the Philippines, where geothermal fuel meets a quarter of electricity use, reducing pollution and fuel imports.

Reuters

Seminar on Israel water technology to be held in Taipei

Want China Times, 2014-11-12

A K. B. Recycling Industrials booth at a new energy and technology expo
in Air port city, Israel, Feb. 19. (File photo/Xinhua)

A seminar on Israel's water technology will be held in Taiwan later this month to promote exchanges in the area, the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said in a recent statement.

The seminar, slated to take place Nov. 28 in Taipei, will bring together representatives of eight Israeli companies who will share their technologies and products with Taiwanese firms in an effort to seek potential cooperation, said the office, which is co-organizing the event with Taiwan's Water Resources Agency.

The agenda will include discussions on desalination, waste water management, quality management of drinking water and recycled water, the office said.

As the government is planning to begin collecting water pollution control fees starting December, how to effectively handle waste water has become an important issue.

Israel has developed advanced technologies to deal with its waste water, 97% of which is reused for irrigation. It has also been exporting its water technologies, including desalination, waste water recycling and drip irrigation, to other countries, the office said.

Business meetings will also be arranged for Israeli and Taiwanese companies to explore cooperation opportunities, it added.

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

Power Grid Needs a Jump-Start

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, Nov 05, 2014

Two workers fix an electricity network operated by state-owned electricity
firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) in Semarang. (JG Photo/Dhana Kencana)

Jakarta. Indonesia needs more than 35,000 megawatts of additional electricity supply in the next five years to support the 7 percent economic growth, the target set by President Joko Widodo.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy now has nearly 52,000 MW of installed electricity capacity nationwide to support its population of over 250 million people.

About 91 percent of current capacity is comes from power plants built and owned by state-run utility company Perusahaan Listrik Negara, while the rest comes from other sources including independent power producers (IPP), who sell the electricity to PLN.

“In the next five years, there should be at least an additional 35,000 MW of capacity to support economic growth of between 6 percent and 6.5 percent. If we want up to 7 percent growth, then we must add more than 35,000 MW of capacity,” the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources’ director general for electricity, Jarman, said in remarks at event for Indonesia Infrastructure Week on Wednesday.

He added that demand for electricity is growing by about 3 percent every year.

PLN president director Nur Pamudji said the company, which controls most electricity distribution nationwide, can contribute about 15,000 MW of additional power, while the remainder (20,000 MW) is expected to come from IPPs.

President Joko called on Tuesday for investments in the electricity sector as the country needs more power plants to support the economy and people’s welfare.

“Power plants are really needed throughout our archipelago. The problem is electricity. If the electricity is available, industry and manufacture can enter,” the president said at the national working meeting in the State Palace.

Indian children asked to blow whistle on open defecation

Yahoo – AFP, 2 Nov 2014

Indian men wash in a toilet complex run by an NGO Sulabh International at
a railway station in New Delhi on April 23, 2011 (AFP file)

Children armed with whistles will soon be patrolling villages in central India to try to shame those defecating in the open, a report said Sunday.

Madhya Pradesh state government is expected soon to launch the unusual sanitation initiative, in which schoolchildren will blow their whistles loudly when they spot someone squatting in the open instead of using a toilet.

Open defecation has long been a major health and sanitation problem in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying every household should have a toilet within four years.

But a Madhya Pradesh official said many preferred to relieve themselves in the open rather than use a toilet, requiring unusual efforts to halt the practice which spreads disease.

"It is not just enough to make 'pucca' (proper) toilets to stop the practice of open defecation in rural areas," Sanjay Dubey, a divisional commissioner for Indore region, told the Press Trust of India (PTI).

"There is also a need to launch an effective social drive in such areas to check it," Dubey said.

Children in the Indore region will be educated about the need to keep their surroundings clean, before being handed the whistles and asked to roam their neighbourhoods, he told the news agency.

"This (blowing a whistle) would make that person feel shameful and would help to check this practice."

Modi has stressed the need to clean up India, which has a reputation for poor public hygiene and rudimentary sanitation.

A recent report by the UN children's fund UNICEF estimates almost 594 million -- or nearly 50 percent of India's population -- defecate in the open.

In addition to those who choose to do so, some 300 million women and girls are forced to squat in the open at night, exposing themselves to harassment and assault.

The issue was highlighted in May when two girls, aged 12 and 14, were attacked as they went into the fields to relieve themselves. Police are investigating if they were gang-raped before being lynched.

Related Article:

This Man Is Modi's Best Chance To Make India Sanitary

Bangladesh inquiry under way into nationwide blackout

The West Australian – AFP, November 2, 2014

Bangladesh inquiry under way into nationwide blackout

Dhaka (AFP) - An inquiry was under way Sunday into Bangladesh's nationwide blackout, which plunged homes, businesses and even the prime minister's office into darkness.

Power was restored across the country by Sunday morning, a government minister said.

"There is no power shortfall anywhere in the country. The supply is now fully normal across the country," junior power minister Nasrul Hamid told reporters after the outage which hit just before midday on Saturday.

"We've set up a probe committee to investigate. The committee has already started work and will submit its findings in three days."

Loud cheers could be heard in Dhaka late Saturday as the lights came back on in phases, after residents spent hours outdoors or on their roofs.

Dhaka, with a population of 15 million, had resembled a ghost town as dusk descended, with homes, businesses and government offices plunged into darkness, and hospitals and the international airport forced to use backup generators.

Water supplies were hit as most of the pumps which supply groundwater could not function.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Chowdhury Alamgir Hossain, a director of state-run Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, blamed the failure of a transmission line from India for the blackout.

All cities and towns linked to the national grid had been hit, Masud Alberuni, a senior power ministry official, told AFP.

Alberuni said the grid "tripped" and "all the power-generating stations in the country automatically shut down in a cascading effect".

The outage marked the first time the entire country has been without power since November 2007 when Bangladesh was hit by a devastating cyclone.

The country's garment and other industries were largely unaffected because many of the thousands of factories were closed on Saturday.

Electricity supplies in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries with a population of 155 million, are vastly overstretched at the best of times.

Bangladesh, like many developing countries, has an expanding middle-class and increasing industrialisation which is imposing heavier loads on limited generating capacity.

To boost supply, Dhaka began importing power from India late last year through a line stretching from India's eastern state of West Bengal to southwestern Bangladesh.

But India itself struggles to produce enough power, with a major blackout in 2012 hitting two-thirds of its states.

In Bangladesh, the presidential palace, the prime minister's office, government offices and television stations were among premises hit by the outage.

But many people in poor rural parts of the country, accustomed to regular power cuts lasting many hours, did not even know that the blackout was nationwide.

'Great wall of Jakarta' plan to combat floods

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves, 15 Oct 2014

Children residing in the slum area play along a dyke as construction of the

Jakarta sea wall begins, October 9, 2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

Jakarta has launched a multi-billion-dollar scheme to build a huge sea wall to combat flooding as the Indonesian capital sinks, but there is scepticism about its chances of success in a country with a history of corruption and failed megaprojects.

The 35-kilometre (22-mile) wall, across the Bay of Jakarta off the city's northern coast, is the centrepiece of a project that will cost up to $40 billion over three decades, and also includes reclaiming land for 17 new islands.

The whole project will form the shape of a Garuda, the mythical bird that is Indonesia's national symbol.

Children residing in the slum area play 

along a dyke as construction of the 

Jakarta sea wall begins, October 9, 

2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

While the aim is to prevent floods, it is hoped up to one million people will live and work on the islands, and help take pressure off a crowded city notorious as one of the world's most uninviting urban sprawls.

Supporters of the project, which officially got under way last week and is run by the Indonesian government with help from Dutch experts, say it is the only long-term solution.

"It's a life-and-death situation," said Purba Robert M. Sianipar, a senior economics ministry official with a key role in the project, adding hundreds were at risk of losing their lives from severe flooding if action was not taken.

However, some wonder whether such an ambitious plan will ever be completed, given Indonesia's bad record on infrastructure projects, such as plan to build a monorail in Jakarta that was embroiled in a storm of corruption six years ago.

Chief Economics Minister Chairul Tanjung suggested as much at last week's launch event, saying disagreements with future governments could knock the project off schedule.

Others question the approach entirely, saying the project will not stop the city from sinking, while graft is also a major danger, with officials sometimes awarding tenders to unsuitable firms in exchange for large kickbacks.

Jakarta has long been hit by floods during the rainy season, when tropical downpours cause rivers to burst their banks and deluge inadequate drainage systems, forcing tens of thousands out of their homes.

Residents gather along a dyke in Jakarta

as construction of the Indonesian capital's

 sea wall begins, October 9, 2014 (AFP/

Photo By Romeo Gaca)

However in 2007, a new type of flood set alarm bells ringing.

Rivers could stop flowing

Slum neighbourhoods were inundated when a high tide surged over sea defences in northern Jakarta, something that had never happened before and which highlighted the severe land subsidence in many areas.

As Jakarta has rapidly grown to a population of about 10 million, increased water extraction for drinking has caused the ground to compact and parts of the city to sink, a problem seen in other coastal conurbations, such as Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok.

Parts of coastal north Jakarta, which is built on soft clay, are sinking as fast as 14 centimetres (5.5 inches) a year, meaning they could be metres below sea level in a few decades, according to those behind the sea wall project.

"Basically we are pumping ourselves into the ground," said Victor Coenen, from Dutch consultants Witteveen and Bos, which devised the master plan for the project.

The subsidence also means the 13 rivers in Jakarta may sink below sea level and stop flowing, increasing the risk of inundations.

After the 2007 floods -- which forced hundreds of thousands out of their homes -- officials scrambled to come up with a plan.

It involves strengthening the current, low sea defences over the next few years to provide temporary protection for north Jakarta, home to more than four million people.

A wall of giant iron reinforcement pipes is installed during the construction

of the Jakarta sea wall, October 9, 2014 (AFP/Photo By Romeo Gaca)

Work will then begin on the main wall, which will sit six to eight kilometres (four to five miles) from the coast and will be seven metres (23 feet) above sea level.

Construction of the wall will be finished between 2025 and 2030, while development on the islands -- which will have a mix of high-end and low-cost housing -- could take another decade.

A huge reservoir will be created between the islands and sea wall, where water from downpours can be stored so it does not flood the city, and into which rivers will be able to flow freely.

Plans are also in progress to slow the land subsidence by providing piped water to Jakarta from other areas and stop extraction of ground water.

Related Articles:

Groundbreaking event starts work on Jakarta's ambitious 40 billion coastal development NCICD project

Jakarta to Start With Ambitious $34b Giant Sea Wall Project

Draft of the Master Plan for National Capital Integrated Coastal Development. 
(JG Screen Grab courtesy of the website of the Coordinating Ministry of
Economic Affairs)

Ikea kitchens help sell insulation to Dutch – and UK could be next

Dutch consortia Energiesprong could give zero carbon retrofits to social homes across England, using innovative wrap-around insulated panels, if EU funding is approved

The Guardian, Arthur Neslen, Friday 10 October 2014

Dutch energiesprong (‘Energy Leap’) pilot project in Tilburg in the Netherlands.
Photograph: Rogier Bos/Energiesprong

More than 100,000 homes across the UK could be given a carbon-neutral retrofit by 2020 if the EU approves funding for a ground-breaking green social housing project this month.

The first pilot projects are due to start within a year on council estates and housing association properties in London, Birmingham and southern England and are set to save 1,950GWh of energy.

The Energiesprong (Energy Leap) initiative involves completely wrapping houses with insulated panel-facades that snap on like Lego. Insulated roofs adorned with 24 high-efficiency solar panels each are fastened on top, while heat pumps, hot water storage tanks and ventilation units are stored in garden sheds.

On the Woonwaard housing estate near Amsterdam, tenants whose homes have already received the upgrade say that the final effect is like living inside a ‘tea cosy’.

“This new house is great,” former social worker Astrid Andre, 58,told the Guardian. “You can’t hear the traffic from outside anymore. It feels as if I’m living in a private home, rather than social housing. Before, the wind used to go through the house in winter. I have arthritis and when the weather was colder, it became worse. But my bones are better now, more supple.”

Former social worker Astrid Andre, who lives near Amsterdam, says that both
noise and draft levels have improved since the retrofit. Photograph: Arthur
Neslen for The Guardian

The programme has already won a contract from the Dutch government to provide a wave of 10-day makeovers to 111,000 homes on estates mostly built in the 1960s and 70s. It is now bidding for €10m (£7.8m) from the EU’s Horizon 2020 money pot to extend the project to the UK and France.

Partners in the bid to bring the Dutch Energiesprongdevelopment team to the UK include the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc), The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and the National Federation of Housing Associations (NFHA).

“The Netherlands has a head start but the basic logic is the same,” said Jasper van den Munckhof, Energiesprong’s director. “If you have political will, government support, and a housing association sector that can put up a strong volume for conceptual development, then there is a profitable case for builders to step in.”

Materials used for wall isolation in renovated houses by Dutch Energiesprong
in Arnhem. Photograph: Frank Hanswijk/Energiesprong

The deceptively simple idea behind the initiative has been to finance the roughly 300,000 mass-produced renovations from the estimated €6bn of savings from energy bills that they will make each year.

In the Netherlands, upfront capital comes from the WSW social bank, which has provided €6bn to underwrite government-backed 40-year loans to housing associations. These then charge tenants the same amount they had previously paid for rent and energy bills together, until the debt is repaid.

The prefabricated refurbishments come with a 40-year builders’ guarantee that covers the entire loan period, and a 5.25% return is guaranteed to participating housing associations.

But the renovations can only be done if all tenants in a block agree to it, and that spurred the invention of an unlikely environmental incentive: free bathrooms, fridges and Ikea kitchens, with electric cooking.

“Everyone has been talking about it since last December,” said Bianca Lakeman, a 32-year-old office worker and single mother on the Woonwaard estate. “They’re saying how the front facade is very modern but most of all they are talking about the beautiful Ikea kitchens.”

Tenants can choose the kitchen’s colour and design and, because the construction companies are contracted to provide maintenance for the next four decades, the new installations work out cheaper than the anticipated costs of servicing mid-20th century kitchens into the mid-21st century.

“When we started, there was a period where not everybody was keen,” said Marnette Vroegop, a concept developer for the Woonwaard housing association. “The main doubts were about whether it was realistic.”

Pierre Sponselee, director of Woonwaard housing association. Photograph:
Arthur Neslen for The Guardian

“There is one block of six houses here and one person still says no,” Pierre Sponselee, the association’s director said. “The man had lived here only for a year and came from another house where he’d had a renovation and he didn’t want another one. It is a pity for the rest of the neighbours.”

Minor complaints from tenants about the refurbishments have included noise from garden shed installations and increased awareness of internal house sounds, as floorboards become proportionately louder when outside noises are muffled.

Bianca’s block is due to be renovated this month in the latest construction round on the estate that will see another 50 zero energy homes created. “I’m very excited about it because it can keep my cost of living under control and reduce the effects of climate change,” she said.

Around 40% of Europe’s carbon dioxide emissions come from heating and lighting in buildings and the EU has set a zero energy requirement for all new house builds by 2021. But these only make up around 1% of the continent’s housing stock and how to persuade the construction industry to renovate to new and untried standards had been a vexed question.

With support from the Dutch government, Energiesprong dangled the carrot of secured long-term contracts for a market of up to 2.3m homes, and then asked a depressed construction sector what solutions they could come up with.

Energiesprong renovated building in Groningen. Photograph: Rogier Bos/
Energiesprong

The result was the beginnings of a reindustrialisation of the Dutch building sector, with construction companies taking 3D scans of houses to offer factory-produced refurbishments tailored to each house’s dimensions.

“We have to think like a manufacturer,” said Joost Nelis, the director of BAM, the Netherlands’ biggest construction company. “We want to shrink the garden power units like Apple did the iPad,” Nelis says.

The company is also experimenting with apartment blocks run on DC electricity, which increases solar panel efficiency by about 30%. Almost all buildings in the Netherlands run on AC, but few tower blocks have room for enough solar panels to generate electricity for more than five floors of homes.

While trade unions have enthusiastically signed up to Energiesprong, energy companies that use fossil fuels could lose out on the gathering transformation, according to Nelis. Tenants in places such as Woonwaard can already sell their excess electricity back to the grid and may one day be able to use electric cars to power their homes.

Ambitious though it is, Energiesprong says its programme of building renovations should be seen as a means to a low-carbon transformation of the building sector, rather than an end in itself.

Last week, a similar deal was signed with the Netherlands biggest mortgage banks, real estate surveyors and government, to take the project into the private sector too.