Fantastic news: Blue Harvest Netherlands is selected as finalist in the ASN Bank World Prize 2017!!
Elvira of Goodget pitched the project yesterday to a very critical jury at ASN Bank Head Quarters. The next step to winning the ASN Bank World Prize of 20.000 Euro is another in-depth conversation with the jury on the 1th of November, and then it is on to the last step: the grand final on the 15th of November in Rotterdam. A home match…
Just to refresh your memory, this is what Blue Harvest Netherlands is all about:
Feeding cows a special tropical species of seaweed could slash global greenhouse gas emissions. Goodget wants to develop a method to grow this special seaweed called Asparagopsis Taxiformis.
Greenhouse gas emissions in The Netherlands amount to 200 megatons of CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) a year. The greenhouse effect caused by methane is 25X stronger than CO2. 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions comes from agricultural activities – and half of this is caused by cows. Cows are even more polluting than all the cars in the world!
Cutting methane emissions from cows is therefore crucial in preventing global warming & climate change.
Adding a small amount (max. 2%) of dried seaweed to a cow’s diet can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces by up to 99%, according to a study by the James Cook University in Australia.
We want to make A. Taxiformis available as soon as possible so (organic) cows can burp along as much as they want. It is too expensive to harvest the seaweed in the wild, therefore we will develop a method to grow A. Taxiformis on a big scale. After a 1-year pilot in BlueCity010 we are going to scale to large indoor water basins in the Rotterdam area. These water basins are heated by residue heat from industry and server parks (with Warmtebedrijf Rotterdam and DELL). Farmers in the Rotterdam area will be the first to test this unique food supplement in co-operation with our partners ECN and WUR.