Human Power Plant

Dredging Colony Friesland -- The Exhibition

Dredging Colony Friesland re-introduces human power as an energy source in the Netherlands. Dredging by hand is sustainable and provides work for thousands of people, who all become an active part of the landscape.

Human Powered Dredger

Dredging Colony Friesland -- The Movie

In late May we organised a manual dredging workshop in Drachten, the Netherlands. The aim was to calculate how many people would be needed to dredge out the province and the whole country by hand. Here are the results. 

How to Dredge Out the Netherlands without Fossil Fuels

The dredging industry has been the backbone of the Dutch economy for centuries. If canals, harbours and rivers weren't dredged out for a few years, the whole country would literally grind to a halt.

Today, dredging happens with oil powered ships. However, the Dutch waterways were dredged mostly by hand for centuries, using simple but ingenious tools. Could it be done again?