Today we took a train to the famous technical institute, The University of Delft. The campus was beautiful, and we were first offered a tour of their Green Village, a part of the campus which has looser laws and regulations for permits to innovate. The space was full of innovations pertaining to sustainability, either made by students, the university, and companies who want looser regulations. 

Some of the first innovations we saw were a bridge made by intersecting the stone parts, like the Roman bridges. The bridge saved money and emissions spent on glue and other materials. We then saw houses where students can dorm with the exception that they are a test subject for the innovations. Then, we moved on to a 3D printed concrete sewer top, which saved on materials used to make traditional hefty sewer tops. 

My favorite part of the Green Village was the H2 harvesters which helped power the onsite homes in which the students lived in. In short, the sun hits the solar powered panels on the top which boil water molecules and separate the H2 from the oxygen. The H2 is then collected and stored in tanks at 350 bars of pressure, where it can be harvested and turned back into water, producing electricity for surrounding homes. 

After the Green Village, we got a quick lunch at the cafeteria and headed to the Climate Fresk. The idea of the Climate Fresk was to lay out cards relating to climate change in cause-and-effect order and visualize the relation between the cards. Seeing the cards in this order helped me visualize the effects of human activity and how the trickle down, causing a plethora of harmful side effects and even coming back to hurt us. We colored some drawings and named our Fresk “Death and Taxes” because those are the two so-called fixes to climate change. Either we as humans don’t harm the planet by not being here, or we tax and subsidize to incentivize action against climate change. The Fresk gave me a sense of despair and hopelessness but reminded me that I am a part of the problem and have a piece of responsibility in the problem.

TU Delft was super fun, and I picked up a sweater on the way out to rep when I get back to Pitt. Today was great. 

Goedenavond!