With a mix of sadness and relief we have finally arrived at the end of our short stay here in the Netherlands. Writing from my gate at Schiphol airport and very thankful for the extension on this final blog post, our last day in Rotterdam saw us visit the Floating Farm in the old harbor and later RDM, a once waterfront drydock repurposed into event and warehouse space under the purview of the Rotterdam Port Authority. RDM partners with local universities to give their students hands-on practical experience, as well as hosting work space for innovative tech companies that the Port Authority finds beneficial to their operations as the busiest trade port in Europe.
With an early start we headed out to the Floating Farm by tram to get an intro to their facilities and the breadth of sustainability issues their company targeted. Inspired by the food shortages in New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Floating Farm was specifically constructed to provide a local and resilient source of food that could aid desperate communities in the event of a catastrophic disaster. The structure sits on a pontoon that floats in the old harbor and is anchored in place by two tall poles embedded in the soil and mud below the water. These poles keep the raft from drifting off while till allowing vertical movement alongside the ebb and flow of the tide. There are three main platforms on the raft: the upper floor hosts the cattle and their feeding pens; the mid-level contains the manure drying machines and storage as well as the dairy processing center, and the lower level maintains the structure’s agricultural production and cheese aging and storage. The apparatus is powered by an array of solar panels floating adjacent to the farm, and the roof collects and processes rainwater for the cows to drink. On board a waste collection robot patrols the cattle pen to collect urine and manure for similar processing into drinking and irrigation water for the cows and plants as well as fertilizer to either be reused in the facility or sold to external corporations.
The practice of sustainable farming was at full display at the Floating Farm through this top-down use of circular farming. All products, even waste, are fully utilized reducing inefficiencies, pollutants, and collecting profit from what would be otherwise disposed of potential revenue streams. Even the inputs make use of what we consider ‘waste products’ such as beer broth from local breweries and grass clippings from the soccer stadium in Rotterdam. Nearby the farm they run a small shop to sell their and other local businesses’ products in-person, otherwise opting for online retail for their direct-to-customer sales. With plans to expand into another float raising poultry, the proof of concept that is the Floating Farm is paving the way toward a new mindset when it comes to farming and showing that the cost of sustainability is viable and worth the price.
Following a brief break for lunch we returned as a group and headed off to RDM, or the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (Rotterdam Drydock Society) to see not only the workshops for student projects but also the various setups run by different companies addressing various topics related to sustainable and efficient development in the Netherlands and abroad. A host of different technologies were on display from pressurized platforms to aid in wind turbine blade repairs to algorithmically derived facsimiles of coral to promote ecosystem recovery to vaccuum-sealed hyperloop transport tubes and 3d printed metal products and drone scans for 3d modeling for industrial plants and so much more. It’s hard to express how, coming from an engineering background, how cool it was to see all sorts of innovations and technical applications all working together to match a similar goal of better, cleaner, and more efficient processes. Showcased alongside the above was a new application of radar used to map out spaces underwater opposed to sonar pulses. Instead of the typical process of sailing over a grid and continuously tracking sonar responses, the radar system would instead detect the way waves on the non-visible spectra would deflect and morph as they came into contact with surfaces in the area. This allows ships to scan with a diameter in the kilometers as they pass over certain stretches of water making the mapping process faster and easier than ever. This also has interesting applications within the defense industry as countries have been working for decades to make their submersibles invisible to sonar through certain construction techniques, however this new technology completely bypasses that work through the novel way in which it detects surfaces.
While we discussed the merits of the innovations we also discussed alternative applications outside of their respective value propositions, displaying the ways international developments can be used and bettered through diverse perspective from different cultural and even individual backgrounds. Plus3 has at all times stressed the importance of these differing viewpoints and it has been incredible to see the conflux and convergence of such across these past two weeks, even among the differing opinions and responses to content toured within our small group. Each of my peers has at one point brought up a question or comment that I had never had the mind to even think of let alone debate, and learning through those revelations has been inspiring to no end. While I am ready for our return trip I will miss this time and companionship we’ve shared here in the Netherlands and will gladly use this experience to inform the many decisions I’ll yet face in my future as an engineer.
Thank you everyone; Plus3. Have a fantastic summer.
– Duncan Dockstader