News

After 2 years of restrictions due to Corona measures, the preparatory committee is pleased to be able to organize VC73 again in the renovated lecture halls of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. We wish everyone a warm welcome!

Promovendus Gaby Gründemann berekende de regenval in 2071-2100 voor vier toekomstscenario’s, variërend van een wereld waarin de bevolkingsgroei en de fossiele energiebehoefte blijven toenemen tot een wereld die zich focust op duurzaamheid en een dalende CO2-uitstoot. Hoe dan ook zullen zowel de meest zeldzame buien als de jaarlijkse extreme buien in elk scenario heviger worden.

What if we could capture CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently store it under the ground in the form of solid minerals? Applied Earth Sciences student Elara Redondo Garcia didn’t think twice when she had to opportunity to go to Iceland, where they are researching CO2 mineral trapping.

The EU aims to have a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) economy by 2050. At present, heating and cooling represent around 50% of the final energy demand in Europe and are for a large part supplied by fossil fuel derived energy. Large scale seasonal heat storage is a key strategy to decarbonize heating in order to achieve EU ambitions, because sustainable sources like geothermal and solar provide a lot of heat in summer, while we need it in winter. The PUSH-IT consortium receives this Horizon Europe grant to demonstrate and develop such heat storage systems. PUSH-IT stands for Piloting Underground Seasonal Heat Storage In geothermal reservoirs.

Environmental Engineering student Jessie-Lynn van Egmond is on a thesis adventure, hunting down old groundwater wells to analyse their water quality. So how is the island’s fresh water doing? Has it been subject to salinization or other pollution trends? That’s what Jessie-Lynn hopes to find out.