To be continued…

One uncharacteristically hot day this past summer, a young woman wearing a black, two-piece bikini got out of a hot tub, as passersby, many of them young and male, sampled the scene every second or so as she rinsed off in a cold shower and got dressed. As dubious as it sounds, the student-created hot tub was a hit in the 28-degree heat, where it was set up on Llowlab, the innovation island of the Lowlands Festival, held last August in Biddinghuizen, Flevoland. This November, there is an open call to MSc and honours BSc students to participate in the next generation of sustainable development projects, which will be expanded to a larger program of events next year.

One project team from the elective course, ‘Sustainable Innovation in Practice’ (TPM Faculty WM0944TU, 5 ECTS), placed their bets on having cool weather by thinking of the slickest way of warming people up. Solar collectors on the Llowlab pavilion’s roof warmed water, which continued through a closed-circuit, active-pumping system to bring the tub to the right temperature. As little chlorine as possible was used to sanitise the water, while a sand filter did the rest. The students worked in cooperation with the companies HR Solar, Hellebrekers and Dinotec.

Another team of students created a smart grid to monitor the power consumption of the TU’s sustainable energy sources. At one point, the tub required around 1200W, of which the solar collectors provided about 900W, with the rest generated by a windmill and battery. Suddenly, the commercial grid failed, while TU Delft’s grid triumphantly chugged along. Such a viable energy source has potential for other markets. “We’re thinking about making our smart grid technology for cars on campus,” said Bastian Telgen, an aerospace student, in reference to recharging hybrid cars.

The island’s definitive structure was the architecture students’ Bamboo Pavilion, whose innovative features were using bamboo and a simple turnkey structure. In past years, TU Delft built a pallet-based structure, which required two pieces to complexly fit together, but the structure was seamless this year. “We designed it so that when you take this steel rod out, everything comes apart,” said Maarten Plomp, a project member and a third-year honours architecture student. “It was challenging and fun.”

Gijs Houwen, a trainee at TU Delft’s Valorisation Centre and mentor to the students, praised their efforts: “For them to build something so big was really an accomplishment.” The conceptual and building activities started in January and continued at full force into the summer months. On the Monday before the festival, the students transported the materials to the grounds, starting building on Tuesday, and by Thursday, the structure was ready. “There was a really fast learning curve,” Houwen says.

“We’re now looking for project managers, people who can manage all the aspects of the project from a high level, like policy and management students,” says Gertjan van Werk, the sustainable innovation course’s instructor. This year, the focus will be on “smart grid, local food production, water purification and bio-composites.”