Natural gas extraction from the Groningen gas fields in the Netherlands used to be a non-controversial activity, but became highly contested over the past few years. In addition to a political mandate to commercially operate the Groningen gas fields, NAM needs approval from local residents and society at large. In this study, we analyse how NAM attempted to maintain its social license
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For centuries, natural gas has been one of humanity’s main energy sources. The gas sector is still heavily reliant on natural gas production; however, as natural gas fields contain only a finite quantity of gas, its continued extraction is leading to the resource’s depletion. Furthermore, natural gas production has become a subject of debate, with many considering continued utilisation incompatible with the achievement of international and European climate goals. The need for alternative gases that are less damaging to the environment is becoming increasingly evident. Biomethane has shown itself to be a reliable alternative to natural gas, and if sourced and manufactured responsibly results in no new CO2 emissions. Another alternative, hydrogen, can, through the process of methanisation, be converted into synthetic natural gas (SNG). This chapter discusses the legal aspects of the production and use of biomethane, hydrogen and SNG.
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GasTerra is, als exclusieve verkoper van het gas uit de Groningse bodem, een cruciale ketenpartner in de energiesector in Nederland. Om deze strategische positie goed te kunnen vormgeven wil GasTerra de beeldvorming in de Nederlandse samenleving over gas en GasTerra analyseren. Men wil inzicht in of en hoe de rol van gas in de Nederlandse samenleving besproken wordt. GasTerra vraagt daartoe naar een verdiepende analyse van de vorming van de publieke opinie rondom de positie en het imago van gas en GasTerra in het bijzonder. Het lectoraat Communication & Sustainable Society van de Hanzehogeschool Groningen heeft opdracht gekregen onderzoek te verrichten. Een verdiepende discoursanalyse naar de kracht en werking van frames moet inzicht geven en richting geven aan de tone of voice die GasTerra hanteert in haar communicatiestrategie. Ook is er een Rapid Evidence Assessment uitgevoerd om inzicht te verkrijgen in de meest actuele wetenschappelijke stand van zaken rond het gasdebat en opvattingen daaromtrent.
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ABSTRACT: Local homebuyers in the Groningen earthquake regionIr. Hieke T. van der KloetHanze University of Applied Sciences GroningenResearch Centre for Built Environment NoorderRuimteh.t.van.der.kloet@pl.hanze.nl0031-50-595-2015The earthquakes after the natural gas extraction in the Groningen region of the Netherlands have a significant impact on the housing market and sustainability of the communities in this region. Since the strongest earthquake around the community of Huizinge in August 2012, with an magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale, it became clear there is a relation between natural gas extraction and earthquakes due to soil subsidence. As a consequence houses in the region get damaged and after research it gets obvious housing prices decline and the region will become unattractive to potential buyers of houses, damaged or not. Therefore the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM) since April 29th 2014 offers a compensation for the loss of the housing price before and after the earthquake of Huizinge to property owners who want to sell their home. They only get the compensation after a sales deal and only if they agree with the proposed compensation. Since the compensation for the decrease in house prices has been introduced, the number of participants of the regulation is lacking behind the actual sales of houses. Our study aims to contribute to the research on the consequences of earthquakes by natural gas mining on the real estate market in the northern part of the Netherlands, especially the Groningen region. First of all we want to declare why relatively a large part of the property owners (about 60% until 2015) don’t request for the compensation regulation. Our second question concerns the buyers of the (damaged) houses in the earthquake area. Why would they buy a home in a region full of risks? Who are these buyers? We use a mixed-method approach for data collection which leads to an analysis of a unique dataset on notarial deeds of house sales in nine municipalities in the Groningen earthquake region according to The Land Registry of the Netherlands during the period 2013 until the end of 2015 as well as discovering common patterns of interview results with residents and experts. First results show that the majority of the homebuyers originate from the local earthquake area in the Province of Groningen. Reasons why property sellers after the house sale don’t opt for the compensation regulation concerns the complexity of the regulation, the used valuation model and the expected long control time afterwards.From the first results we conclude that the Groningen earthquake region still has its attractiveness for local residents and buyers. Otherwise the regulation for compensation doesn’t reach enough property sellers in the nine municipalities of the Groningen earthquake region. Advise to the Dutch government should be to generously compensate the residents of the Groningen earthquake regions for the loss of value of their dwellings, damaged or not. This will help to improve the regional development and attractiveness of areas that are effected by earthquakes.
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This qualitative study examined how the complex institutional context of gas extraction in Groningen affects relations and processes of trust, and seeks to better understand what is necessary for restoring trust. In the Groningen gas case, responsibilities for dealing with multiple negative consequences of gas extraction are shared by many different organizations who together form a complex institutional system. Numerous professionals are doing their best to help solve the problems. As individuals, case managers and other professionals are seen as benevolent and hard-working people. But as representatives of (large) institutions these professionals struggle to be seen as trustworthy because of persistent problems with institutional performance, with professionals themselves feeling they have insufficient discretionary power. More than interpersonal trust, a different form of trust appears to be at stake here: confidence in the system itself. According to many respondents, confidence in the system is low because the perceived interests of the institutions that shaped this system are not aligned with those of residents and the region. In addition, the positions of power and responsibility within this system are opaque to both residents and professionals. Moreover, the institutional system is perceived to be based on a distrustful attitude toward citizens in general, resulting in elaborate procedures for accountability, control and monitoring. These factors have become obstacles to restoring confidence in the system, no matter how well residents and professionals get along as individuals.
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The earthquakes after the natural gas extraction in the Groningen region of the Netherlands have a significant impact on the housing market and sustainability of the communities. Since the strongest earthquake around the community of Huizinge in August 2012, with a magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale, it became clear there is a relation between natural gas extraction and earthquakes due to soil subsidence. As a consequence houses in the region get damaged and after research it is obvious that housing prices decline and the region might become unattractive to potential buyers of houses. Therefore the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM) since April 29th 2014 offers a compensation for the loss of the housing price to property owners who want to sell their home. Since the compensation has been introduced, the number of participants of the regulation is lacking behind the actual sales of houses. Our study aims to contribute to the research on the consequences of earthquakes by natural gas mining on the real estate market in the Groningen region. First of all we want to declare why relatively a large part of the property owners (about 60% until 2015) don’t request for the compensation regulation. Our second question concerns the buyers of the (damaged) houses in the earthquake area. Who are these buyers? Why would they buy a home in a region full of risks? We use a mixed-method approach for data collection which leads to an analysis of a unique dataset on notarial deeds of house sales in nine municipalities in the Groningen earthquake region according to The Land Registry of the Netherlands during the period 2013 until 2015 as well as discovering common patterns of interview results with residents and experts.First results show the majority of the homebuyers originate from the local earthquake area in the Province of Groningen. Reasons why property sellers after the house sale don’t opt for the compensation regulation concerns the complexity of the regulation, the used valuation model and the expected long control time afterwards.We conclude the Groningen earthquake region still has it’s attractiveness for local residents and buyers. Otherwise the regulation for compensation doesn’t reach enough property sellers in the Groningen earthquake region. Advise to the Dutch government should be to generously compensate the residents of the Groningen earthquake regions for the loss of the value of their dwellings, damaged or not. This will help to improve the regional development and attractiveness of areas that are effected by earthquakes.
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In Groningen, the Netherlands, induced earthquakes occur in a relatively densely populated area, the so-called Groningen gas field. Many houses and other buildings have been facing damage, from minor cracks to severe damage. The gas extraction company (NAM, a joint venture of Shell and Exxon Mobil) is held responsible for the earthquakes and has a legal liability to compensate for the damage. In addition to damage, several houses in the area are thought to be unsafe (not allowing occupants to leave their houses alive in case of a major earthquake). Both NAM and the Dutch government play a crucial role in the gas problems; where NAM is responsible for damage, the government has to guarantee citizens’ safety. Government has given orders to develop a strengthening operation for thousands houses.For many inhabitants, the practice of damage repair and strengthening has not been very effective and satisfying. First, the system of damage compensation, is neither simple nor expeditious; many citizens experience long waiting times, arbitrariness in causality and damage judgements and, as a result, unfair treatments. Second, after plans had been launched to inspect and eventually strengthen thousands of houses, the Minister decided to gradually reduce gas extraction. Immediately after that, he also decided to pause the intended strengthening operation, leaving many inhabitants in uncertainty about the current safety of their houses. In short, Groningen citizens don’t feel taken seriously by NAM, government and executing agencies, they are dissatisfied with damage settlements and their confidence in private (oil/gas companies) and public parties (government) has reached an all-time low. This situation has turned out to be very obstinate and difficult to turn. Our statement is that the architecture of the damage and strengthening operation is based on a systematic flaw. Although several minor changes have been made in the damage settlement and strengthening system, they have been limited to executing agencies and are not substantial. Therefore it is argued that, unless this structural flaw is being solved, the Netherlands will stay confronted with Groningen citizens whose trust in government is a far cry and will eventually lead to feelings of alienation.
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Mycotoxins are small (MW approximately 700), toxic chemical products formed as secondary metabolites by a few fungal species that readily colonise crops and contaminate them with toxins in the field or after harvest. Ochratoxins and Aflatoxins are mycotoxins of major significance and hence there has been significant research on broad range of analytical and detection techniques that could be useful and practical. Due to the variety of structures of these toxins, it is impossible to use one standard technique for analysis and/or detection. Practical requirements for high-sensitivity analysis and the need for a specialist laboratory setting create challenges for routine analysis. Several existing analytical techniques, which offer flexible and broad-based methods of analysis and in some cases detection, have been discussed in this manuscript. There are a number of methods used, of which many are lab-based, but to our knowledge there seems to be no single technique that stands out above the rest, although analytical liquid chromatography, commonly linked with mass spectroscopy is likely to be popular. This review manuscript discusses (a) sample pre-treatment methods such as liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), solid phase extraction (SPE), (b) separation methods such as (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and capillary electrophoresis (CE) and (c) others such as ELISA. Further currents trends, advantages and disadvantages and future prospects of these methods have been discussed.
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This systematic review aims to get insight into the feasibility of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in patients with cancer prior to a physical exercise programme. We will focus on quality (defined as the adherence to international guidelines for methods of CPET) and safety of CPET. Furthermore, we compare the peak oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak) values of patients with cancer with reference values for healthy persons to put these values into a clinical perspective. A computer aided search with ‘cardiopulmonary exercise testing’ and ‘cancer’ using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Pedro, CINAHL® and SPORTDiscus™ was carried out. We included studies in which CPET with continuous gas exchange analysis has been performed prior to a physical exercise programme in adults with cancer. Twenty studies describing 1158 patients were eligible. Reported adherence to international recommendations for CPET varied per item. In most studies, the methods of CPET were not reported in detail. Adverse events occurred in 1% of patients. The percentage V̇O2peak of reference values for healthy persons varied between 65% and 89% for tests before treatment, between 74% and 96% for tests during treatment and between 52% and 117% for tests after treatment. Our results suggest that CPET is feasible and seems to be safe for patients with cancer prior to a physical exercise programme. We recommend that standard reporting and quality guidelines should be followed for CPET methods. The decreased V̇O2peak values of patients with cancer indicate that physical exercise should be implemented in their standard care.
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The aim of this research is to assess the potential impact of the CO2 Performance Ladder on CO2 emission reduction. The CO2 Performance Ladder is a new green procurement scheme that has been adopted by several public authorities in the Netherlands; it is a staged certification scheme for energy and CO2 management. The achieved certification level gives companies a certain competitive advantage in contract awarding procedures. While the scheme has been widely adopted by companies in the construction industry, other types of companies in the supply chain of the commissioning parties also participate. Currently, more than 190 companies participate in the scheme. The aggregate CO2 emissions covered by the scheme are around 1.7 Mtonnes, which corresponds to almost 1 % of national greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands. Since the introduction of the scheme the total CO2 emissions have decreased substantially. Nevertheless, these emission reductions should be interpreted with caution since emission reductions are dominated by a few companies and are affected to a large extent by economic activity. Companies participating in the scheme have set different types of CO2 emission reduction targets with varying ambition levels. The projected impact of these targets on CO2 emissions is in the range of a 0.5 %-1.3 % absolute emission reduction per year, with a most likely value of 1.1 %. The CO2 Performance Ladder can therefore make a substantial contribution to achieving the CO2 emission reductions for non-ETS sectors in the Netherlands up to 2020.
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