Today was our 12th and final day of the trip. We took a long train ride to the Floating Farm in Scheidam, which houses 26 cows in a 25×25 meter perimeter, floating atop the port. 

We first were given a presentation about the current climate crisis, and how the floating farm addresses some of these concerns. The farm uses solar power panels on top of the farm and some on a platform in the water, which powers about 65% of the farm. They also have a rainwater collection system on the roof, which provides the main source of water for the cows. They are also addressing the issue of food waste and incineration by using discarded scraps from local supermarket’s repurposed as food for the cows. According to the presentation, 20% of wasted food is used for energy restoration while 80% is incinerated and put in landfills. Taking the waste from local supermarkets helps them both, because supermarkets don’t want to pay to discard their waste either. They also use and repurpose the waste that the cows create as well. The cows urine is harvested by a robot and then filtered using reverse osmosis, to get a product with no ammonia that is safe for the cows to drink. They also dry and press the cows waste into pellets which can be used as natural fertilizer for city gardens. 

We ended the tour by feeding the cows “cow cookies” from the shop and getting some cute pictures like this. 

The rest of our day was spent at RDM Rotterdam, which is a refurbished building at a port which once harbored the largest influx of ships and was considered the hub of Rotterdam. The old building used to be considered harmful and full of illegal drugs and behavior, so a company partnered with the University of Rotterdam to refurbish the building over a period of 7 years. The building now harbors a plethora of innovative building and makerspaces where students can collaborate. The building also has rentable plots that businesses can rent out and use as a space to create from. We saw multiple impressive innovations from 3-D printed coral, carbon absorbing concrete, and chemical-plant inspecting drones. 

This is one of the students’ made innovations, which is a pipe that funnels hot air from the top of the tall building to the bottom to keep the students warm.

Overall, the trip was amazing, and I am so grateful for Dr. Dukes and Dr. Kerzmann for making it possible.

Goedenavond!