Do-inc

Guest lecture at Imperial College London

Claudia — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:57:41 +0000

Claudia gave a lecture to the last year students of the Environmental Science course. The talk brushed up the students’ theoretic knowledge about the CDM and then quite quickly moved to explain how it works in practice. Cases from Do-inc’s practice were discussed to answer the questions: ‘reductions but compared to what or when?’, ‘is my project truly additional?’, ‘how do I monitor my reductions?’ and most importantly ‘who buys my credits?

As grander theme Claudia discussed the current state of the carbon market and the future of the Clean Development Mechanism. Students turned out to be greatly interested especially in the real live cases and dilemmas.

Renewable cooking for Tanzanian households

Lourdes — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:48:29 +0000

Do-inc consultants Kim van der Leeuw and Katrin Heer travelled to Tanzania for a carbon emission reductions programme aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from household energy use.

In Tanzania, the largest part of a typical household’s energy demand is for cooking. Most households rely on firewood or charcoal to meet their cooking energy needs. Traditional three stone fireplaces or simple charcoal stoves are common practice.

However, current cooking practice has many inconveniences. The firewood and charcoal used as cooking fuel is mostly produced from non-renewable biomass thus emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when being burned. In addition, wood resources are becoming scarce and many regions in Tanzania face great difficulties in meeting their energy needs. Deforestation and resulting soil erosion is widespread. Prices of wood and charcoal have been constantly increasing over the last years putting high pressure on households who are forced to spend an ever increasing portion of their available income on energy. Last but not least, current cooking methods represent a considerable source of indoor air pollution with serious health risks to end-users.

Together with Tanzanian company ‘Technologies for Renewable and Efficient Energy Ltd. (TREE)’, Do-inc works on the development of a programme that will overcome above problems. The programme is set up around a new type of gasification cook stove developed by TREE that runs on biomass pellets. By introducing the pellet stove, a complete shift to renewable biomass can be achieved, since pellets are made from agricultural residues such as rice husk and Jatropha seed press cake. Firewood and charcoal as cooking fuel will thus become obsolete.

The programme is scheduled as a CDM Programme of Activities (PoA) that will cover all Tanzania. Carbon market revenues will be used to subsidise the retail price of the stove thus making it affordable to end-users. So far three districts have been identified to pilot the programme. The three districts (Singida, Bariadi and Arusha) will be the first CDM project activities (CPAs) to be included under the overall programme. In each district, local production facilities for stoves and pellets will be put in place to reduce costs and to ensure involvement of local communities.

As part of the programme’s development, a Local Stakeholder Consultation was held in each of the identified pilot districts. This was to present the programme and to solicit feedback from stakeholders (such as members of the respective district councils, potential biomass suppliers, potential sales agents and local stove distributors, participants in the stove field testing, local women’s groups, etc.).

The feedback received during the consultations was very positive supporting the project team in its vision to develop a high impact programme.

Do-inc at Amsterdamse Innovatie Motor 2012

Lourdes — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:41:47 +0000

On the 15^th of March, Do-inc made its debut at the Amsterdam Innovation Motor (AIM). AIM has been the key driving force in bringing together the most innovative businesses, governmental and educational institutions in the area of Amsterdam.

As you might now, Do-inc’s is expanding to providing sustainability services and at the AIM we were seeking to promote them. Geared with our orange gerberas, tangerines, posters and flyers our stand looked outstandingly orange. Our added value? Free sustainability advice in 3 minutes!

An interesting speaker was Marco Derksen who talked about Innovation 3.0. Businesses are moving from a closed innovation towards a more open system, in which businesses and individuals meet and build upon each other’s ideas to make innovative products and services for society.

All in all, we met lots of inspiring people, there was an energetic atmosphere and it was a great learning experience for Do-inc!

New office manager Andrew Southwold

Lourdes — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:38:59 +0000

Andrew Southwold is the administrative rock of Do-inc. He has a supporting role in ensuring all HR, administration and general office matters are carried out as smooth as possible. Though of anthropological stock, Andrew studied medicine at the AMC-UvA, before settling on more hands-on projects for the long-term unemployed. Besides administrative and organisational skills, Andrew has a strong affinity for language, cultural diversity and human-centered development.

International development has been of interest to him from a young age and he is looking forward to increasing his knowledge base and coming to grips with the minutiae of this fascinating field. He considers facilitating others in attaining concrete improvements to people’s lives to be greatly rewarding and, furthermore, it enables him to ‘travel vicariously through the expenses claims of colleagues.’

Outside Do-inc office hours, Andrew also works at De Fietsdienst Amsterdam. A foundation where inducing personal development in an environmentally and socially sustainable way are the core. Goals close to those of Do-inc and congruous with its values.

In his spare time Andrew takes care of his increasingly demanding dog and cat. Pets permitting, he enjoys reading, music and catching up with friends.

Do-inc made a social footprint at Dutch Night IV

Lourdes — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:53:28 +0000

One of the core values that Do-inc wants to advocate is having fun. Last Monday 5th of March, Do-inc had attended a social gathering at Café Werck in Amsterdam. This informal setting was organized by the Holland Financial Centre and sponsored by 11 partners as a welcome pre-gathering to all the attendees of the Argus European Emissions Markets 2012 conference. Naturally, all carbon emissions of this event had been arranged.

Companies that were present were: ABN- AMRO, Carbon Rooster, Climex, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V., Do-inc., Eneco Energy Trade, FairClimateFund, Holland Financial Centre, ING Commercial Banking, Simmons & Simmons, Statkraft and STX Services.

It was a great evening, we came, we saw and made our social footprint impact.

Student Lourdes Villarico joins Do-inc

Danielle — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:02:27 +0000

Lourdes Villarico is an undergraduate International Communication Management student from the Hague University. She successfully finished a minor in Sustainable Management in November 2011 and became passionate about the concept.

During this period, she had made up her mind that she wanted to work for a company which works and breathes sustainability, the triple P- way: people, planet and profit. Do-inc has provided her this great opportunity to be part of their team and to further develop her knowledge and skills.

She is eager to learn more about sustainable development projects and to conduct her research and final paper on a marketing communications topic. Alongside, she carries responsibility and assistance for online and offline communications such as online platforms and hard-copy material.

In her spare time, Lourdes enjoys dining, reading and organizing fun gatherings with friends.

Training on the EU Emission Trading Scheme in Croatia

Claudia — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:23:06 +0000

Last week in Croatia, Edwin Dalenoord gave a training on the EU-Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) at a sugar factory. Goal of the training was to prepare the staff of the factory on the rules and regulations of the EU-ETS.

Croatia will be the 28th EU member state and is scheduled to access into the EU on the 1st of July 2013. Due to Croatia’s accession, the acquis communautaire (all of the EU legislation) is to be implemented in Croatia. Part of this legislation is the cornerstone of EU’s climate policy: the EU-ETS.

Currently a learning phase is underway, where companies in Croatia can train on the use of Allowances to cover greenhouse gas emissions. After the accession the ‘third phase’ EU-ETS rules are to be applied. Under these relatively new rules EU Allowances (EUAs) are allocated to companies based on a benchmarking approach. The benchmarks are based on the 10% most efficient installations in Europe and is centrally approved by the EU.

During the training Edwin worked with the staff to determine the benchmarks for the sugar factory, to determine the free allocation. Furthermore the potential financial effects for the implementation of energy efficiency measures and a fuel switch have been discussed.

The training is an example of how Do-inc translate policies to a practical use.

WakaWaka raised € 75.000 with crowdfunding

Danielle — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:16:14 +0000

Below an excerpt of a press release about the WakaWaka, the exciting initiative that is partly owned and run by Do-inc. The full press release can be downloaded here. Or click on the continue reading link below.

Sustainable business developers raise 75.000 Euro on Symbid and serve a 1.5 billion people market.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – February 2, 2012 -‐ Off-Grid Solutions, a solar energy developer from the Netherlands, raised 75.000 Euro for their WakaWaka Solar Light using equity-‐based crowdfunding platform Symbid. The WakaWaka Light was able to attract 320 investors from all over the world. Off-‐Grid Solutions will use the 75.000 Euro to invest in solar LED-‐light development in developing countries.

This success shows the promise of using crowdfunding as way of raising capital for small companies.

WakaWaka focuses on the ‘base of the pyramid’: the 1.5 billion people living without electricity. According to Off-‐Grid Solutions, their WakaWaka light will help people get out of poverty, breathe clean indoor air, get better school results and much more. The quality of the light is better, compared to the current kerosene-‐lights there are no toxic fumes, it prevents severe burn incidents, the LED light has no operating costs and climate change is suppressed. Not only is it environmental friendly, the WakaWaka solar LED-‐light provides 8 hours of bright light, 16 hours of reading light or 80 hours safety light and its battery is up to three years operational. It’s no wonder that such a magnificent initiative has been fully funded in as little as 5 weeks.

Not only their product is well thought out, so is their crowdfunding strategy. Maurits Groen, one of the three founders, says: “After we used up most of our own savings, we needed additional funds for further development and pre financing initial order runs. We realized we could not and did not want to wait for the perfect moment to start talking to investors. I am fortunate enough to know a few media people who have given a significant boost to our campaign. But other than that it has been a lot of hard work. My fellow co-‐ founders Camille van Gestel and Kim van der Leeuw have both put in a lot of effort making our campaign personal. Spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter and personal networks. Though the real work starts now, we made a good start through Symbid”.

This crowdfunding transaction is special because all investors become actual shareholders in Off-‐Grid Solutions. Symbid, the platform used for this campaign, offers the first international equity based crowdfunding service in the world. Investors become actual owners of the company, and receive a return on investment in the form of dividends and have the ability to sell their shares. This way, everyone benefits.

About WakaWaka

WakaWaka is a highly efficient solar LED-‐light thanks to Dutch Intivation technology. Currently the WakaWaka team is working hard to service prospects from over 40 countries. Coming June the first WakaWaka’s will be received by off-‐grid families in Africa, India, Indonesia and elsewhere. For more information http://www.wakawakalight.com

About Symbid

Symbid is the first investment platform where investors can directly invest from as little as € 20,-‐ in the equity of start-‐ups or existing businesses. Any entrepreneur is able to achieve growth or to raise capital via Symbid. Symbid recently reached the finals of the Shell Live Wire Award and is among the most innovative companies in the Netherlands. For more information http://www.symbid.com

Transforming energy use in commercial buildings

Danielle — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:41:36 +0000

In December, Lucas Koolschijn travelled to Mumbai, India for a carbon emission reductions programme aimed at reducing emissions from electricity, cooling and heating demand from commercial buildings.

Together with India’s economy, its commercial building sector is growing rapidly, bringing with it a surge in demand for electricity, heating and cooling.

Mumbai at night

To meet this demand, commercial buildings generally rely on the Indian electricity grid.

However, electricity consumption from India’s electricity grid, which is dominated by coal-fired power plants, results in high emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG), particularly CO2.

Electricity tower under construction

To tackle this issue and reduce GHG emissions from commercial buildings, Do-inc is working together with Standard Bank Plc and the Indian energy services company Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd, in setting up a platform programme under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism.

The programme involves installation of so-called cogeneration systems that run on natural gas.

By installing these cogeneration systems:

Electricity is derived from natural gas combustion, instead of the more carbon intensive electricity grid;
Cooling is derived from the waste heat left over from the natural gas combustion and no longer from the electricity grid;
Heating is derived from the waste heat left over from the natural gas combustion and no longer from the electricity grid (or diesel generators in case of boilers).

Cooling via electrical chillers

Cooling via electrical chillers (shown in this picture) connected to the grid will be replaced by cooling from waste heat remaining from natural gas combustion

Banner for the Stakeholders' Consultation

As part of the programme’s development, a Local Stakeholder Consultation was held on 15 December, to present the programme and solicit feedback from and answers questions of stakeholders (such as building owners, tenants, cogeneration equipment suppliers, energy distribution companies)

Lucas Koolschijn presenting

Stakeholders

The programme will contribute to India’s economic sustainability through the more efficient use of electricity sources. India’s power demand is expected to increase strongly over the next years due to economic growth and rising electrification levels.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), attached to the national Ministry of Power of India, estimates that the national electricity demand will double during the next ten years reaching a total of 1,915 TWh in 2020/2021. Demand Side Management (DSM) – as foreseen by the programme – provides for a cost-effective way to cope with the increased electricity demand in India. It will effectively contribute to reducing the pressure on the Indian power system.

Central Electricity Authority, Report on the 17th Electric Power Survey of India (2007).

Student Mas Yoris de Vaal joins Do-inc

Danielle — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:36:55 +0000

Mas Yoris has a background in Human Geography and is currently conducting his graduate research at Do-Inc for the master program Environment & Resource Management at one of the Universities of Amsterdam (VU).

The research focuses on post 2012 mechanisms to combat climate change in developing economies from a private sector perspective. Since the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is coming to an end this year, it is time to make up the balance sheet and investigate what possible post 2012 mechanism is most suitable for the private sector.

During non-office times Mas Yoris works in an art-house movie theatre in the center of Amsterdam; he lives next door. He enjoys playing football in the weekends and likes to go out with friends to concerts and parties. And occasionally he just likes to be home and read a good book.