Human Power Plant

Human Powered Neighbourhood: The Shopping Street

It's a sunny Saturday afternoon in 2030 and the residents of the first carbon-neutral neighbourhood in the Netherlands are flocking to the main shopping street. They do this on their own, without the use of fossil fuels or electricity.

Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands. Collages: Golnar Abbasi & Arvand Pourabbasi.

Human Powered Neighbourhood: Food and Firewood

The former roof park in Bospolder-Tussendijken is teeming with life in 2030. It is the place where food and firewood are grown and stored.

Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands. Collages by Golnar Abbasi & Arvand Pourabbasi.

Human Powered Neighbourhood: The Communal Kitchen

It's 2030 and the 14,000 residents of the first carbon neutral neighbourhood in the Netherlands gather at the communal fires, where they cook and eat together. 

Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands. Collages by Golnar Abbasi & Arvand Pourabbasi.

Human Powered Neighbourhood: The Public Bathing and Laundry House

It's an ordinary day in 2030. In Bospolder-Tussendijken, the first carbon neutral neighbourhood in the Netherlands, the residents gather on public squares, to brush their teeth, take a shower or a bath, wash their clothes, and hear the latest gossip. 

Human Powered Neighbourhood: The Household of the Future

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We are in 2030 and the Dutch neighbourhood Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu) is 100% carbon neutral. To radically reduce energy use, all household tasks are organised communally. Cooking, eating, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, showering, brushing teeth, going to the toilet: it all happens outside the individual household. Consequently, energy use in individual households has become so small that they can be disconnected, not only from the gas network but also from the power grid.

This Dutch Neighbourhood Runs 100% on Human Power, Biomass, Sun and Wind

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We are in 2030. Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu), once one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, has become completely independent of fossil fuels. The neighbourhood has achieved this without the use of expensive technology and infrastructure. Energy production relies entirely on locally available resources: human power and biomass, supplemented by wind and solar power if the weather allows it. Energy use has decreased radically, while welfare has increased spectacularly.

Human Power Plant: Energy Poverty

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In a new scenario, the Human Power Plant will convert an entire area in Rotterdam into a fossil fuel free society. Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu) is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, and has been selected as a testing ground for the energy transition. Because it is not clear who will pay for the government's high-tech plans, we propose an alternative that is affordable.

A first impression of the neighborhood in 2030.

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.