Zoekresultaten

Status: Draft 0.2 - for Platform21 book

The transformative power of community energy: between theory and practice

Contribution to the conference: International Conference on New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage, 6-7 June 2019ABSTRACTThe community renewable energy is often seen as the way to address the societal challenge of energy transition. Many scholars foresee a key role for community energy in accelerating of the energy transition from fossil to renewable energy sources. For example, some authors investigated the transformative role of community renewable energy in the energy transition process (Seyfang and Smith, 2007; Seyfang and Haxeltine 2012; Seyfang et al. 2013; Seyfang et al. 2014; Smith et al. 2017; Martiskainen, 2017; Ruggiero et al. 2018; Hasanov and Zuidema, 2018; de Boer et al. 2018). Recognising the importance of community energy many scholars studied different internal and external conditions that contribute or hinder the success of local renewable energy initiatives (Walker et al. 2007; Bomberg and McEwen, 2012; Seyfang et al. 2013; Wirth, 2014; Hasanov and Zuidema, 2018; Ruggiero et al. 2018). One of such conditions contributing to the success of community energy initiatives is the capacity to adopt and utilize new technologies, for example, in the area of energy storage, which would increase flexibility and resilience of the communal energy supply systems.However, as noted by Ruggiero et al. (2018), the scholarship remains unclear on “how a very diverse and relatively small sector such as community energy could scale up and promote a change in the dominant way of energy production”. What is then the real transformative power of local renewable energy initiatives and whether community energy can offer an alternative to the existing energy system? This paper aims to answer these questions by confronting the critical review of theory with the recent practice of community energy in the Netherlands to build and scale up independent and self-sustaining renewable energy supply structures on the local and national scale and drafting perspectives on the possible role of community energy in the new energy system.

Plaats vergaan

‘Het atelier’ is in de kunstgeschiedenis meermaals doodverklaard – eerst door de opkomst van conceptuele kunst, later door de digitale revolutie. Maar wie naar de hedendaagse kunstpraktijk kijkt, ziet dat kunstenaars en cultuurwerkers hun werkruimtes onverminderd hard nodig hebben. Ook beleidsmakers blijven, om hun eigen redenen, gek op ateliers. Zij zien atelierbeleid als duizenddingendoekje om leefbaarheid op te krikken, ondernemerschap te stimuleren of gentrificatie aan te jagen.Deze network notion verkent de politiek en praktijk van atelierontwikkeling. Het brengt de wereld in kaart die schuilgaat achter misleidend therapeutische beleidstermen als ‘doorstroming’, ‘placemaking’, ‘broedplaats’ en ‘talentontwikkeling’. Het laat zien dat het ateliervraagstuk verknoopt is met andere – grotere – vraagstukken, zoals de verdeling van stedelijke ruimte; veranderende opvattingen van het kunstenaarschap; de organisatie van arbeid in de cultuursector en de creatieve industrie; demografische en economische krimp en groei. En tot slot probeert het een breukje te forceren in de black box van het beleid. Want één ding is duidelijk: atelierbeleid kan en moet in de toekomst meer pluriform, meer gebruikersgericht en minder precair zijn.

Contract Automation: Experiences from Dutch Legal Practice

Organizations in legal practice, under pressure to do “more for less,” are searching for ways to automate legal work, to improve efficiency of legal service delivery. Automated drafting of contracts (or: contract automation) is one of the areas where technology is—partly—replacing legal professionals. In Dutch legal practice, the number of organizations that are actively deploying contract automation is still relatively small, but growing. This chapter looks at experiences with contract automation of organizations from various sectors in Dutch legal practice. Contract automation can improve legal service delivery to consumers and SMEs, as well as contracting processes within organizations. Several organizations report positive results. However, successfully implementing contract automation, especially for internal use within organizations, is not simple. Tight budgets, resistance to change and poor integration with other software are some of the problems that organizations may encounter. Generally, human and organizational factors are often at least as important as the technological aspects. Successful implementation of contract automation requires design thinking, a proactive approach and process-oriented (legal) professionals. Regardless of these difficulties, the use of contract automation software in Dutch legal practice can be expected to increase, due to several factors. The number of organizations that are offering contracts (and other legal documents) online to SMEs and consumers has grown rapidly over the last years. Contract automation is not only offered to consumers and SMEs by commercial parties, but also by branch organizations, as a service to their members. Consumers and SMEs will become used to these self-help solutions for legal matters. Legal publishers are also increasing the offering of automated contracts and other legal documents. In addition, law firms and consultants are promoting the use of contract automation within client organizations. Finally, many corporate organizations are increasingly exchanging experiences on improving legal operations and the use of Legal Tech, including contract automation. Eventually, increased use of contract automation may drive further harmonization of contracts within sectors and facilitate other technological applications, such as the automated analysis of contracts.

Swings and roundabouts: The impact of legal drafting on the language and understanding of copyright law and the need for educational materials

Legislators face the challenging task of drafting copyright law, which takes into account the views of various stakeholders, intended policy and technological developments, whilst ensuring that the wording and language that is used is accurate and precise. Meeting these objectives means that the law in its legislative form can be hard-to-understand, complex and not easily accessible to the layperson. This article explores steps, which have been put in place by various organisations and online resources, to assist in the understanding of copyright for the public and schools, with particular focus on education and teaching materials – as presented on Copyrightuser.org.

Why Train Together When Racing Is Performed Alone? Drafting in Long-Track Speed Skating

Purpose: In long-track speed skating, drafting is a commonly used phenomenon in training; however, it is not allowed in time-trial races. In speed skating, limited research is available on the physical and psychological impact of drafting. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of “skating alone,” “leading,” or “drafting” on physical intensity (heart rate and blood lactate) and perceived intensity (perceived exertion) of speed skaters. Methods: Twenty-two national-level long-track speed skaters with a mean age of 19.3 (2.6) years skated 5 laps, with similar external intensity in 3 different conditions: skating alone, leading, or drafting. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed differences between the 3 conditions, heart rate (F2,36 = 10.546, P < .001), lactate (F2,36 = 12.711, P < .001), and rating of perceived exertion (F2,36 = 5.759, P < .01). Results: Heart rate and lactate concentration were significantly lower (P < .001) when drafting compared with leading (heart rate Δ = 7 [8] beats·min–1, 4.0% [4.7%]; lactate Δ = 2.3 [2.3] mmol/L, 28.2% [29.9%]) or skating alone (heart rate Δ = 8 [7.1] beats·min–1, 4.6% [3.9%]; lactate Δ = 2.8 [2.5] mmol/L, 33.6% [23.6%]). Rating of perceived exertion was significantly lower (P < .01) when drafting (Δ = 0.8 [1.0], 16.5% [20.9%]) or leading (Δ = 0.5 [0.9], 7.7% [20.5%]) versus skating alone. Conclusions: With similar external intensity, physical intensity, as well as perceived intensity, is reduced when drafting in comparison with skating alone. A key finding of this study is the psychological effect: Skating alone was shown to be more demanding than leading, whereas leading and drafting were perceived to be similar in terms of perceived exertion. Knowledge about the reduction of internal intensity for a drafting skater compared with leading or skating alone can be used by coaches and trainers to optimize training conditions.