More solar power in the Netherlands but networks may be unable to cope

DutchNews, September 21, 2018

Solar batteries background

The  Dutch electricity network is unable to cope with the growing amount of solar power in the country and this may hamper the growth of this alternative source of energy, the NRC reported on Friday. 

NRC paper says the government has pledged subsidies for some 5,000 megawatts of production capacity in the coming years which would double the number of solar panels. 

But network operators Liander and Enexis told the paper they have already had to limit, or stop, the amount of energy they are processing, a measure that affects some twenty solar farms. 

The problem lies with 15 substations which have reached maximum capacity. Increasing that will take two to five years, which could hamper the growth of solar power in the Netherlands. 

In less densely populated areas, such as the northern provinces, the network cables are ‘thinnest’ and particularly vulnerable, the operators say. They also have the lowest land prices and space to build solar power farms, which are proliferating there. 

‘These networks are now handling big volumes. (..) and if the sun shines all solar farms will generate more and create peaks in volume as well,’ Daan Schut, network development manager at Liander, told the paper. 

Subsidies

A complicating factor is that the subsidies depend on a solar farms being productive within three years. ‘If we fail to get a connection to the network in time the subsidy is off,’ solar farm developer Gerben Smit told the paper. 

Smaller solar power projects, such as solar panels on roofs of businesses, are also facing delays when it comes to feeding electricity to the network. 

Roland Pechtold, solar power projects director at GroenLeven, says the problems will be even bigger next year. Some dozens of megawatts of electricity would not be fed to a network, he said. ‘And one megawatt would be enough for a thousand households.’ 

Network operators have said they want more say from the government about where solar power farms are going to be built, so they know where the network needs strengthening. It also wants assurances that a change to the infrastructure is profitable. 

For the moment network operators are connecting as many solar farms as possible, with restrictions as to the amount of energy they can offload until the capacity problems can be solved, the NRC said.

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20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

"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.”

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

Anger grows in Italy as bridge toll hits 39

Yahoo – AFP, Remi BANET and Vincent-Xavier MORVAN, August 15, 2018

The disaster left one driver's green lorry perched precariously close to the precipice.
The 37-year-old driver told Italian media how he had escaped the "hell" of the
bridge collapse (AFP Photo/Valery HACHE)

Genoa (Italy) (AFP) - Italy's government on Wednesday blamed the firm that operated the collapsed Genoa bridge for the disaster in which at least 39 people died, as it announced a state of emergency in the city.

Search operations, meanwhile, were due to enter a second night with rescuers digging through mountains of crushed concrete.

A vast span of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port city on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 metres (150 feet) onto railway tracks below.

Children aged eight, 12 and 13 were among the dead, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said, adding that more people were still missing. Sixteen people were injured.

The driver of a green lorry left precariously close to the edge told Italian media how he had escaped the "hell" of the bridge collapse.

"It was raining very hard and it wasn't possible to go very fast," he told the Corriere della Sera daily.

"When a car overtook me I slowed down... (then) at a certain moment everything shook. The car in front of me disappeared and seemed to be swallowed up by the clouds. I Looked up and saw the bridge pylon fall," he said.

"Instinctively, finding myself in front of the void, I put the van into reverse, to escape this hell," he added.

Three Chileans, who live in Italy, and four French nationals were also killed.

The tragedy has focussed anger on the structural problems that have dogged the decades old Morandi bridge and the private sector firm Autostrade per l'Italia, which is currently in charge of operating and maintaining swathes of the country's motorways.

Deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said the tragedy "could have been avoided".

"Autostrade should have done maintenance and didn't do it," he alleged.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also confirmed that his government would push to revoke the company's contract for the A10 motorway, which includes the bridge, while Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the company should be fined up to 150 million euros ($170 million).

The firm, which said the bridge had been undergoing maintenance work, however, released a statement refuting accusations of underfunding of motorway infrastructure.

"In the last five years (2012-2017) the company's investment in the security, maintenance and strengthening of the network has been over one billion euros a year," it said.

'I went down with the car'

Survivors recounted the heart-stopping moment when the bridge buckled, tossing vehicles and hunks of concrete into the abyss.

Davide Capello, a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari, plunged with his car but was unscathed.

The bridge has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which 

has led to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts

(AFP Photo/Piero CRUCIATTI)

"I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car," he told TV news channel Sky TG24.

As cars and trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan truck driver, just managed to stop in time.

"I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped too, locked the truck and ran," he told AFP.

While around a dozen apartment blocks that stand in the shadow of the viaduct were largely spared the impact of the falling concrete, the Liguria regional government said some 634 people had been evacuated.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the homes would have to be pulled down.

'A tragedy waiting to happen'

The incident is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of a faltering economy.

The Morandi viaduct, completed in 1967, spans dozens of railway lines.

The bridge has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which has led to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts.

On Tuesday engineering website "Ingegneri.info" called it "a tragedy waiting to happen".

Conte also announced after a cabinet meeting Wednesday that a national day of mourning was being planned.

There would also be a 12-month state of emergency in Genoa, he said, with five million euros of funds going into recovery work.

Dutch civil engineering group BAM buys majority stake in Tidal Bridge

DutchNews, May 29, 2018

Illustration: Tidal Bridge

Building group BAM has acquired the majority stake in Tidal Bridge of Eindhoven from construction company Strukton, BAM said in a statement on Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Tidal Bridge designs and builds floating bridges equipped with tidal turbines which generate power. The turbines are powered by the ebb and flow of the tide. 

Tidal bridges are ideal in remote areas where they can serve as stand-alone power plants. The company is active in Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, most of them requiring electricity plants. 

Tidal Bridge started a feasibility study last year for the construction of a $225-million floating bridge on the Indonesian island of Flores known as the Palmerah Tidal Bridge project. Turbines beneath the bridge will generate up to 30 megawatts from the tidal movements, providing electricity for over 100,000 people in the region. 

The share transfer is related to a strategic decision by Strukton to discontinue its activities in the Indonesian market. 

BAM International, which has been active as a construction and infrastructure contractor in Indonesia since 1970, is seen as the ideal partner for the realisation of the Palmerah Tidal Bridge project as well as the international dissemination of the Tidal Bridge concept, the Financieele Dagblad said.

Related Articles:

Dutch firm to help build world’s biggest tidal energy plant

"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.”

"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.  …”

Magnetic fields possibly linked to childhood leukemia: Dutch health council

DutchNews, April 18, 2018

Children living in the vicinity of overhead power lines may have a greater chance of contracting leukemia, a report by the national health council said on Wednesday. 

One case every two years could possibly be linked to the effects of the magnetic fields surrounding the power lines, the council said. While a causal relation with magnetic fields has not been proven, ‘there are indications for such a relationship’, the council said. 

The report is an update of earlier research by the advisory body and was commissioned by the infrastructure ministry. Apart from cancer in children, the council will also look into the data available on cancer and diseases of the central nervous system in adults. 

Some 135 children are diagnosed with leukemia each year in the Netherlands. According to the council’s data analysis, there are indications that children who live near overhead power lines are twice as likely to fall victim to the disease. 

The council also analysed the data on other types of cancer in children and found a possible link between brain tumours and the strength of magnetic fields. However, again the higher instances could be down to coincidence, the council said. Both the distance from and the strength of magnetic fields were looked at. 

Danger zone 

Although hard and fast evidence for a link with the effects of magnetic fields is lacking and coincidence or other factors may play a role, the council says it cannot be ruled out. Current government policy is not to build homes too close to the power lines and offer compensation to people who already own a home in a presumed danger zone so they can move. 

The council now recommends an extension of the present preventative policy to include underground cables. Magnetic fields from these cables are not stopped by the soil or building materials. 

‘We already have a preventative policy in place on overhead power lines. If the government wants to be consistent it will also have to find ways of protecting people from exposure to magnetic fields from other sources of the electricity network, such as underground cables and transformer stations,’ spokesman Eert Schoten told broadcaster NOS.

Read a summary of the report, in English

Related Article:

"The A in Kundalini" – Oct 23, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) – (Subjects: What is Ascension, Ascended Consciousness, Ascension on cellular level (Biology), Activate/higher Efficiency DNA (90%), Air/Electromagnetic pollution in the air, Children will be born with bigger livers for pollution protection, Children will start to have instinct (like animals), 21-12-2012, Stop Aging, Ascension of Gaia, …etc.)

Kryon Q&A

(9) Question: Dear Kryon: I've read your books (only the ones that are translated in Dutch), and I have a French friend who also reads them. She tells me that it's not healthy to live near electric wires. She says that the cactus (which normally lives in the desert or tropical countries) helps eliminate the negativity of this electricity. Is that so, and is there any particular plant that can help eliminate the negative effects of electricity?

Answer: Indeed, we've admonished you to at least make a measurement (easily done) to see if you live in a magnetic field caused by the proximity to high-voltage lines that are often strung in the air near where you live. Not all these wires are bad. Some carry only communications, and some are lower voltages. The ones that are the most dangerous to you are those that are very large and that carry the power from city to city.

It's also true that certain kinds of plants carry energy that can help shield or void magnetics. This is actually a part of what you call "radionics," which we will leave for another discussion. This is not well known to the people reading this, however, and your friend is correct. Some cacti have water in them, which changes the situation slightly. However, if you're near a very large magnetic source, we still recommend moving instead of growing a lot of cactus. Even though the cactus "knows" what you're trying to do and might help reduce the risk, unfortunately, today's technology presents a far stronger field than can be voided by this plant.

Also know that there is now scientific validation to support the danger of the effects of long-term magnetic-field exposure on both plants and animals. It's not balancing for you to remain in a magnetic field. You should instead be exposed only to the one you were born in... the one that surrounds you and the earth, and which science is now beginning to understand is needed for your health and well-being... the earth's magnetic field. To have another one around you is to stop the flow of the balance that you need and deserve.

Micro-apartments movement big hit in Netherlands, and not just for students

DutchNews, April 16, 2018

Project developers are rolling out complexes of micro-apartments in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and even Leidsche Rijn near Utrecht in an effort to head off the shortage of homes for newcomers on the housing market, the Telegraaf said on Monday. 

Micro-apartments usually measure between 29m2 and 32m2, or the size of a large master bedroom in a more traditional home. Nevertheless, all are equipped with a kitchen, toilet and shower and come complete with shared facilities such as a launderette, cafe and even guest accommodation.

IC Netherlands, for example, has just delivered two enormous complexes for students and starters in Amsterdam: Little Manhattan and De Spartaan which have more than 1,200 micro-apartments. 

The company has just started work on Don Bosco in Amsterdam-West which will have 429 units for young professionals. Cobana with 385 micro-apartments is underway in Rotterdam.

Could a custom made tiny house could be your affordable new home? 

De Lofts, now being built in Amsterdam’s Amstelkwartier, will have 212 living units of just 32 m2, but more than 1,000 signed up when the project went public.  And some 10,000 people expressed interest when property developer Change announced its second micro-apartment complex with 596 units in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. 

While Change develops projects for the social rental market most micro-apartments are rented out for above the €710 rent-controlled threshold. IC’s micro-homes, for example, cost €885 a month, including service costs, heating and internet. 

Last year there was a major row in Amsterdam when it emerged a private developer was renting out a complex of 120 apartments of some 30 m2 in Noord for €1,250 each. The city council had originally approved the development for student accommodation.

Russian governor resigns over deadly mall blaze

Yahoo – AFP, Anna SMOLCHENKO, April 1, 2018

At least 64 people including 41 children died in the mall fire in Siberia
last weekend (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Moscow (AFP) - The longtime governor of a Russian region where a huge mall inferno killed dozens of people -- most of them children -- resigned on Sunday after bitter criticism over his response to the tragedy.

Aman Tuleyev, who had been at the helm of the coal-mining region of Kemerovo since 1997, said in a video address that he could no longer remain at his post with "such a heavy burden" and that quitting was "the only right choice".

The Kremlin swiftly said that President Vladimir Putin had accepted his resignation.

Tuleyev's move is unusual as top officials in Russia rarely resign over failings in the emergency response to deadly tragedies.

But the huge fire which ravaged a shopping centre in the Siberian industrial city of Kemerovo last Sunday, killing at least 64 people including 41 children, plunged Russia into shock.

Some parents lost all their children, and the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy.

Many people who lost relatives have said they perished because of inaction by firefighters and police lacking the necessary equipment and skills, while some said a cinema door was locked, trapping children inside.

Kremlin about-face

Tuleyev, who himself lost a young relative in the blaze, came under heavy criticism for failing to visit the scene of the tragedy in the first few days or meet with angry relatives.

Putin had initially refused to sack the 73-year-old governor despite a rare protest which saw thousands of people pack a square in Kemerovo on Tuesday, the same day Putin travelled to the scene of the tragedy.

Aman Tuleyev, shown with Putin after a mine explosion in 2010, was one of 

Russia's longest-serving top governors (AFP Photo/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY)

Tuleyev apologised to the president over the rally -- where protesters also called for Putin's resignation -- calling its organisers troublemakers.

Officials have said that multiple safety rules were violated, the fire alarm system was not working and staff did not follow correct emergency procedures.

The four-storey shopping mall was redeveloped several times and previously housed a sweet factory.

Seven people have been arrested in the aftermath of the blaze, investigators said.

The ailing Tuleyev had long been expected to leave the post.

The Kemerovo region of around 2.7 million people has traditionally been considered one of Russia's most troubled areas and some have feared that Tuleyev's departure could spark a leadership crisis there.

Tuleyev, who first became governor in the era of president Boris Yeltsin in 1997, is one of Russia's longest-serving top officials.

A makeshift memorial has been set up in tribute to the victims of a deadly shopping 
mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

He was credited with helping pacify the region which was beset by miners' strikes in the turbulent 1990s but had come to symbolise the worst excesses of authoritarianism in his later years, critics say.

'Hated by everyone'

Lev Shlosberg, a former lawmaker and rights activist, said Tuleyev "had become senile", adding that the tragedy had clearly shown that Russia turned into a "mafia" state.

"This is not an emotional or symbolic but a very concrete state of the authorities: they do not represent people and absolutely do not defend the interests of citizens because they do not depend on them in any way and do not hear them," he wrote in a blog.

"The life of an ordinary man in a mafia state costs nothing."

"Tuleyev is an example of how one climbs down from the throne after failing to leave on time: disgraced and hated by everyone, with stains of blood and someone else's tears," one commentator said on Twitter.

Opposition politician Vladimir Milov said it would take "decades" for the region to recover from Tuleyev's 21-year rule.

Thousands of people packed a square in Kemerovo to protest over the Russian 

authorities' response to the deadly mall fire (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Sergei Tsivilyov, who has been Tuleyev's deputy since March, has been appointed acting governor, the Kremlin said.

Tsivilyov is a business partner of one of Putin's closest lieutenants, Gennady Timchenko, who has been under sanctions imposed on Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict.

Tsivilyov's behaviour in the aftermath of the blaze has raised eyebrows.

Igor Vostrikov, a man who lost his wife, sister and three children aged two, five and seven years, accused the authorities of treating people "like dirt".

Tsivilyov responded by accusing him of a "PR stunt" but later went down on his knees in front of the crowd massed in Kemerovo, asking for forgiveness over the fire.

Polls to elect a new governor will be held in September.

Two million Dutch homes to be gas free by 2030, as energy transition takes shape

DutchNews, March 26, 2018

Income from gas was down considerably. Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Dutch government has set a target of ensuring one in four Dutch homes no longer relies on gas for heating or cooking by 2030, according to Diederik Samsom, the former Labour party leader who is part of the team charged with negotiating the energy transition.

Instead, homes will be heated via geo-thermal pumps or sustainable city heating networks which either generate heat directly or use excess heat from industry, Samsom says. 

Samson has been asked by the government to reach agreement on the necessary measures with business and interest groups. In an interview with Trouw he describes the target as ‘realistic and ambitious’. 

In the first year of the project, 50,000 homes should be cut off from gas and the rate of transition ramped up in the following years. In addition, no more new homes should be connected to the gas network, Samsom says. 

In Amsterdam, for example, two new residential districts are being built without gas and some 70,000 homes in the city are already on district heating networks. 

Relatively new, well insulated homes can start running on heat pumps and electricity – preferably green energy from wind turbines and solar panels. For older districts that will often be expensive and complex, says Samsom. With some extra insulation, they should switch to large-scale heat networks using clean geothermal energy. 

The government said earlier it wants housing to be completely gas free by 2050.

Building site fatalities on Dutch construction projects double in two years

DutchNews, March 22, 2018

The number of job-related deaths on building sites in the Netherlands has doubled in the past two years, according to the social affairs ministry inspectorate SZW. 

In 2017, there were 20 fatalities, up from 16 in 2016, public broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday. 

The increase is attributed to the fact that there are far more subcontractors – independent contractors known as zzp’ers in the Netherlands – working on Dutch building sites in addition to foreign workers who lack knowledge of the Dutch language and unqualified workers. 

‘Previously there was always one major contractor with a safety coordinator, but nowadays there isn’t and this has led to big problems,’ the inspectorate said. 

The building sector leads all others in terms at workplace fatalities. There were 162 deaths on construction sites over the past eight years and that represents 30% of the total.

Engineer warned of cracking in US bridge before deadly collapse

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR, March 17, 2018

The pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Miami had only been installed over
the weekend (AFP Photo/Antoni BELCHI)

Miami (AFP) - The chief engineer of a Florida bridge project warned authorities of cracking in the structure days before it collapsed, killing at least six people, the southern US state's department of transportation said Friday.

Chief engineer Denney Pate left a voicemail on a Florida Department of Transportation employee's landline on March 13, two days before the pedestrian walkway came crashing down on the major road beneath, the department said in a statement.

The voicemail -- which was not heard until Friday because the employee it was left for was out of the office -- mentioned a problem, but did not warn that structural failure was imminent.

There was "some cracking that's been observed on the north end of the span," Pate said, according to a transcript of the call.

"Obviously some repairs or whatever will have to be done but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue there," Pate said.

At least eight cars were trapped when the 950-ton (tonne) bridge suddenly gave way on Thursday, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief Paul Estopinan said.

The walkway, which connected Florida International University to a student housing area, had been raised less than a week ago but was not expected to be operational until 2019.

Death toll could rise

Miami-Dade county police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta told reporters that on Friday rescue operations shifted to one of body recovery, with engineers fearing the support structures at either end of the bridge could also come down.

"The entire bridge is in jeopardy," Zabaleta said.

Juan Perez, director of the Miami-Dade police department later told reporters that a team of government prosecutors was on the scene as part of the investigation, but stressed it was too soon to say whether criminal charges would be brought.

Emergency personnel searched for victims at the scene of a bridge collapse in 

Miami (AFP Photo/Miguel GUTIERREZ)

"It is important that we understand, this is a homicide investigation. That's all it is," he said. "That means that somebody died... It does not mean there (are) criminal charges looming or pending or anything like that."

The death toll meanwhile was likely to go up when authorities extracted and identified the remains of victims in vehicles trapped under the rubble, Perez said.

Ten people were taken to hospital after the bridge collapse, Zabaleta said.

Video footage showed the concrete structure suddenly crashing onto the road below.

Police detective Juan Carlos Llera said when the bridge came down, it "sounded like an explosion. A huge bang."

"It looks like a disaster area. It looks literally like a bomb went off," Llera told AFP.

Miami Fire Chief Dave Downey emphasized there was no hope of finding survivors.

Loose cables

The bridge was suspended from cables which came loose, and while they were being tightened the whole thing collapsed, Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.

The university had just celebrated the walkway's construction, which bridges a busy and dangerous section of highway that students said had been the scene of accidents.

It was raised using an accelerated modular building method that enabled the bridge to go up in the space of a day.

FIGG Engineering Group, one of the partners involved in the walkway's construction, said it was "stunned" by the bridge collapse, and vowed in a statement to "fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why."

Munilla Construction Management, which was also involved, issued a statement of condolence. Bridge collapses in the United States are rare despite rising risks associated with aging infrastructure.

The deadliest such incident this century was in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2007, when an eight-lane bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.