Multilayer blue-green roofs as nature-based solutions for water and thermal insulation management

Green roofs have been widely recognized as sustainable nature-based solutions to mitigate floods in urban areas, which, in the last decades, are increasing due to the combination of intense worldwide urbanization and climate change. Besides flood mitigation, green roofs provide additional benefits for the urban environment (e.g., reducing the...

Plant siting and economic potential of ocean thermal energy conversion in Indonesia a novel GIS-based methodology

Indonesia strives for a renewable energy share of 23% by 2025. One option to contribute to this goal is Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). Despite a global theoretical potential of up to 30 TW, its economically deployable share remains unknown. This paper proposes a novel methodology, which enables to determine OTEC's economic potential...

Urban River Water Level Increase Through Plastic Waste Accumulation at a Rack Structure

Plastic debris in water systems is a major challenge for our ecosystem, because it is extremely persistent in the environment. Apart from the importance of reducing the amount of plastic entering the ocean, clearing the rivers from debris is important for societal concerns, such as flood risks. Plastic waste accumulation at trash racks leads...

The impacts of heating strategy on soil moisture estimation using actively heated fiber optics

Several recent studies have highlighted the potential of Actively Heated Fiber Optics (AHFO) for high resolution soil moisture mapping. In AHFO, the soil moisture can be calculated from the cumulative temperature (T_cum), the maximum temperature (T_max), or the soil thermal conductivity determined from the cooling phase...

Systematic high-resolution assessment of global hydropower potential

Population growth, increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves necessitate a search for sustainable alternatives for electricity generation. Hydropower could replace a large part of the contribution of gas and oil to the present energy mix. However, previous high-resolution estimates of hydropower potential have been local...

Polders

These lecture notes are part of the course entitled ‘Polders’ given in the academic year 2014-2015 by the Water Resources Section of the faculty of Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology.

Online estimation of flood damage in The Netherlands

This paper presents a recently developed model in the Netherlands for the online estimation of damage caused by floods. The model attempts to fill the lack of a consistent framework for the assessment of damage for all water authorities and all floods in the Netherlands. A framework was necessaiy to be able to evaluate the cost and benefit of...

Potential contribution of hydro power plants to the energy consumption of East Asian islands

Population growth, increasing energy demand and depleting fossil fuel resei-ves put a pressure on conventional methods of electricity generation. Hydropower is an alternative energy source that is known to have a large capacity potential. However, previous estimations of the potential capacity have been inconsistent and incomplete. In this study...

Act of despair or full-fledged experiment: Retrospective research on the 1945 Wieringermeer flood

The present state-of-the-art in flood risk assessment focuses on breach models, flood propagation models, and economic modelling of flood damage. However, models need to be validated with real data to avoid erroneous conclusions. This reference data can either be historic data, or can be obtained fi'om controlled experiments. The inundation of...

Double-ended calibration of fiber-optic Raman spectra distributed temperature sensing data

Over the past five years, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) along fiber optic cables using Raman backscattering has become an important tool in the environmental sciences. Many environmental applications of DTS demand very accurate temperature measurements, with typical RMSE < 0.1 K. The aim of this paper is to describe and clarify the...

Aanpak wateroverlast in polders op basis van risicobeheer

The subject of this dissertation is flooding in lowland areas caused by intense precipitation. The probability of flooding will increase when we do not adapt our water systems. For example because of expected changes in climate and the consequences of subsidence, sea level rise, and urbanization. While the probability of flooding will increase,...