05/08/2026

Today we got to tour the campus of the University of Twente with a sustainability lens, the wind farm Windpark Groen, and the Medieval town of Elburg.

This morning we got to walk around campus and look at the features that have added to make the buildings more energy efficient and integrated into the environment. Compared to other universities in the Netherlands, Twente is extremely unique for having a separate spread out campus, and because of this layout can have a lot of green space between buildings. In this green space are water features for water management off the river that runs nearby, and some that act as a heat-sink for the cooling systems in buildings, as well as overall contributing to the areas biodiversity.

Before departing to the Wind farm we received a lecture on aerodynamics and windmills from professor Arne van Garrel, this prepared us to appreciate the design of the turbines we would soon get to see. At the wind farm they described how the turbines connected to the local and national energy grids and how their battery system was used to discharge more energy when prices were higher. Since renewable energy like wind and solar are dependent on time of day and weather they fluctuate, meaning the energy market fluctuated rapidly. In the middle of the day when solar energy of produced the most energy prices can drop into the negatives, meaning companies will need to pay to discharge, this bring up the problem of storing energy, which is incredibly difficult for renewables since batteries are a short term storage solution.

After discussing how the farm connects to the grid, we walked to the base of a turbine and got a sense or how massive these structures are. Wind turbines can be built in a week with good weather and are put together with cranes, but during the construction process it can take nearly an hour to climb up the ladders inside the stem. Once they are fully constructed you can use an elevator to get to the generator at the top, which is still a 2 minute ride. While looking up from the ground it may not seem like it, but the box containing the generator on these turbines is about as big as 4-5 shipping containers.

After the wind farm we left for Elburg, a medieval town on the coast that has still retained many of its older buildings and structures, like parts of the old town wall that houses were built up against. To reclaim land from the ocean for farming and to manage flooding, windmills were used along to coast to pump out water.

This town was rebuilt according to the duke in charge in the 1300s and was planned out with straight streets in a grid, reminiscent of roman cities. The wall that surrounded the city was originally less than 2 meters, but as weaponry developed the town deemed it necessary to increase its security by adding to the wall and building a larger moat surrounding the town. Even with strategies to manage water, since the town was built so close to where the coast was, water could rise to the city wall and a gate could be put in place to prevent flooding.