Weekly recap: From coal to sun and wind in eight years’ time, Poland can do it

Why we write about this topic:

In our weekly recap on Sunday, we, as editors, look back at the past seven days. We do this at the suggestion of our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, makes a drawing, and we take it from there. If you would also like to receive this weekly recap in your email every Sunday morning, just subscribe here.

The cartoon is based on this interesting article. In Albert Jan’s dreams, the wind blades have already beaten the coal factories… In the story, for which our colleague Maurits Kuijpers went to Belchatow, Poland, we present research showing that Europe’s most prominent and dirtiest coal-fired power plant can be replaced by 80% by solar and wind power within eight years. Even more green power is possible by 2036. Great news indeed.

More highlights and at least one other city caught our attention: Maastricht is the winner of our “most heat stress-resistant inner city in the Netherlands” competition. Utrecht lost the battle, with temperatures up to 55 degrees Celsius. Maastricht beat runner-up Amsterdam and third-placed Dordrecht. Read the whole series here, or go directly to the final article:

Maastricht has the most heat stress-resistant inner city in the Netherlands – Where are the heat islands in Dutch inner cities? With this question and a whole heap of cartographic fireworks, our colleague Jelmer Visser took a deep dive into some very interesting NASA data.

Then the weekly overview. Below is a small selection of our lavish offerings from last week. Don’t fancy this editorial selection? All good; here is the complete overview of last week.

Master’s students invent transport drones that can carry heavy loads to remote regions – Drones are being talked about as the means of transportation of the future. They could reduce inner-city traffic congestion and help people in distant disaster places.

Sustainable bra made of recycled material that grows along with young girls – The start-up Arkai, founded by a few Commercial Science students from the University of Hasselt (UHasselt) in Belgium, has developed a bra made of recycled material that can grow with your body.

Blockchain technology can eliminate ticket fraud and the black market – It was a personal experience that gave Georg Müller the idea for B.A.M. Ticketing GmbH. He discovered that there were massive problems in the ticketing market, but they could be solved with blockchain technology.

New medical dummy has adjustable pupils and can sweat heavily – The Flevo Hospital is the first in the Netherlands to have the latest generation of this medical dummy: the SimMan 3G Plus.

Enjoy your Sunday, and have a safe and innovative week!