Blog - Fossil Free Around the World

January 4, 2026January 4, 2026

A batterybank in every house

We see a sharp curve in the sales of batteries. The lead acid battery is already more expensive per year than the Lithium-ion battery. The latter is unsafe, it can suddenly explode, catch fire, and keeps on burning, sometimes for days. More and more we have to acknowlegde that is not a sustainable battery for the future. Sorry, Tesla drivers. The Chinese BYD cas has the LFP battery. Originally this company was a battery manufacturer, and now it makes cars that cheap, these compete all electric cars in price and quality (again: sorry, Tesla drivers). The only thing that saves the other companies is the tariff wall for Chinese cars, in Europe and in the USA.

Till here the batteries that you need between home and work. Now, let us discuss the future for the batteries at home and work? That is enormous. More and more there is congestion on the electricity networks in many dense populated western areas. We see it all over the world: in California, in Germany, in the Netherlands.

Due to the overkill on publications about the Electric Vehicle, most people think that the (auto)motive is the big user, but please consider that already now the stationary use of batteries is bigger.

Use the grid for transport, not for reliability

Johan Elslin, the president of the IEEE Power Electronics Society and researcher envisions that wer will never ever be able to maintain a reliable grid. Partly because the electricity consumption keeps on growing and partly because So let us stop with the attitude, the ambition, the laws, that that all consumers should have a certain garanteed electricity supply. Let us use it what it is generally built for: the transport of electricity.

He has a point here. The grid can’t keep up, we have to acknowledge that. one has to admit, that most private consumers can live a day without electricity, whereas hospitals can not miss 5 minutes before the first people die.

Perhaps a liberal point of view? Well, It would save a lot of investments on the grid. And now that batteries become more durable, more reliable, his approach is becoming more and more a realistic approach. Let every company check for himself the necessity for a reliable supply. And every consumer who cannot agree with a minimum reliability, will take a home battery. Or, now that the smart grid becomes a succes and the idea of the decentalized holons seem to work, it could be reality.

But, the price of the battery? On the Ya the complete 42,5 kWh batterybank for a stand alone household has cost nearly 20,000 Euros. That is very expensive. Good news: nowadays, so five years later, it would cost 12,000. And prices keep dropping.

Why a batterybank anyway?

There are three reasons.

Right now, hospitals and computer servers companies don’t want their diesel generation system anymore as a backup and they all choose for the battery bank. That is the reliability reason.

Second reason is the congestion. In the Netherlands, the Den Bosch area has so much congestion risk on the grid, that no company can get an electricity connection. So, they are developing their own solutions, with… battery banks.

*The price per kWh of a battery. Check: the LFP has become lower than the Lithium-ion. (source: ourworldindata.org)*

The third and final reason is the economical thing that is looming. Since 3 years, the Dutch Next Energy offers a home battery solution that is paying its money back in some circumstances. The bank is LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate), so not the dangerous Lithium-ion. But most people only get 10-15% back on every kilowatthour, compared to the price of about 40 cents they have to buy it from.

These same high electricity prices deliver the opportunity regenerate your own energy, and to store it. In theory, you can even make a bit of profit. You take electricity from the grid when the supply is too big, such as on a sunny day, and you supply it back when the price is high. But now, for most people that is too costly, or, say it different, the batteries are too expensive.

To a cheap home battery

The market has become large and the growth of 10-15% makes it very interesting. So there are great investments in research and development. This makes the opportunities grow fast now.

A new competitor of the LFP battery is the Sodium-ion battery. It promises to be cheaper and more durable than the LFP, but it can contain less energy.

Another one is the salt water battery. It works very simple, and salt and water are cheap. The life is very long. But it costs a lot of space, too much often to make it fit for an urban house and for a large scale manufacturing and economy. Or, to phrase it differently, it is so cheap and it can be so well customized, that it is difficult to make a business model out of it.

There is a new ‘liquid battery’ promises to make energy storage much more affordable, both for giant batteries for solar farms and for you and me at home. The development of so-called flow batteries is moving fast. These are batteries that work with two liquids that, when combined, produce electricity, and conversely, can be separated by electricity. The Dutch company Elestor has already made significant progress with such a battery. If their pilot battery works as expected, Elestor should be able to supply the first large industrial batteries within a few years.

Flow batteries have tanks in which the liquids are stored separately and a tank where the liquid ends up after mixing. Between them is a so-called membrane. This is a kind of super sieve that allows some ions to pass through and others not. When mixed, electrons are released at the membrane, creating a current that can be used to power machines. The fluids and tanks for the system are inexpensive, so you can build a large battery for little money. But flow batteries also have a drawback: the membranes are expensive and break down over time.

Now, British startup from the University of Manchester, HalioGen Power is working on a fluid battery that no longer requires a membrane. This saves enormously on costs, not only in the initial purchase, but also because no membranes need to be replaced. That’s not the only advantage of the system. They also no longer need separate tanks to store the two fluids. According to HalioGen Power, the fluids their flow battery uses are inexpensive and non-flammable. This makes their system suitable for a wide range of applications. They state on their website that the battery can be used in situations from 10 to millions of kilowatts. This covers everything from an average home to large-scale industrial applications.

It would make a really cheap battery.

A batterybank in every home.

December 27, 2025December 28, 2025

Plastic under the ocean surface

Do you have any idea how much plastic ends up in the ocean, per year, per week, per day? How and what that plastic devastates? Do the quiz! Just 5 questions and you know a lot more.

Plastic is a great material. It is very durable, you can use it again and again. It protects, it is water tight, The diversity of the plastic is great, it can be used for many purposes. But… It is cheap to make and no company takes the responsibility to reuse, or at least, recycle all the plastic they produce. In contrary, the companies lobby in the government quarters to bend the regulations and stay away from this responsibility. The answers of this quiz gives you an idea about where it leads to.

December 21, 2025December 21, 2025

Coppercoat

The regular antifoul paint we sailors put under our ship is ablative plastic mixed with biocides like copper (and other metals, if allowed). Ablative means: it works like soap in the water Slowly the paint dissolves and new biocides come free, killing the next organisms on your boat. The plastic and the biocides end up in the water, on the bottom, slowly poisoining the environment. Every year you have to repaint your hull with some layers. A repetitive process of emitting copper and plastic into the environment.

We put coppercoat on the hull of Ya. Coppercoat is a mix of epoxy resin and copper. It also protects your ship from the growth of foul. You have to put 5 or 6 layers on it. This means that you put about 4 to 5 times more copper on your boat. Every year you sand a picometer of epoxy off and then the stuff works about 10 years, or sometimes even longer. This reduces the emission of copper with 50% or more.. the sanded resin is very little compared to the thick layer of ablative plastic. And, now it is sanded off in a controlled environment; the epoxy ends up in the the boat yards sewer tank and finally in an incinerator.

Dave sanded the bottom for days and days

and here he is painting the primer on it, just finishing

This is the resin (component A and B on the right) , the copper (left) and the special sort of thinner, ready for mixing.

We started in the morning. Simon shows Dave how the mixing works

Peter and Bear (deep under the ship) are putting the layers of coppercoat on the hull, while Dave mixes, the whole day through

At the end of the day we did all six layers. It is reasonably flat, so that is a good thing.

December 13, 2025December 13, 2025

Another sign of Mother Earth

The Ya sailed two times through the Gulf of Panama. There is an invisible ocean system working and last year this failed for the first time in decades—shutting down a natural engine that feeds fisheries and cools coral reefs. Scientists say the collapse may be a red flag for deeper climate disruptions unfolding in silence beneath the waves (source)

Sailing with Ya through the Gulf of Panama, a part of the ocean that is know for its calm sea, but considered a vital system for the Earth.

An equatorial ocean system long considered stable has abruptly failed. For the first time in at least four decades, the Pacific upwelling off Panama—a critical process that brings nutrient-rich deep water to the surface—did not occur during its expected season in early 2025.

The shutdown of this upwelling cycle, revealed through long-term satellite data and direct field measurements, has left tropical waters warmer, less productive, and dangerously imbalanced. It’s a development researchers are calling both unprecedented and deeply concerning.

New findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detail what may be an early signal of larger climate-related instabilities in tropical oceans, ecosystems that support major fisheries and coral reef systems across the globe.

A Key Ocean Engine Goes Silent

Each year between January and April, strong trade winds blowing across the isthmus of Panama create ideal conditions for upwelling in the Gulf of Panama. As surface waters are pushed offshore, cooler, nutrient-dense water from deeper layers rises to replace it. This process fuels phytoplankton growth, bolsters coastal fisheries, and cools coral reef ecosystems, helping them survive seasonal thermal stress.

(A) Typical upwelling and study sites. B) Satellite-derived sea surface temperatures (1985-2025)

But in 2025, that entire system stalled. Satellite records showed little to no chlorophyll presence in the water—a stark indicator of diminished biological productivity. Sea surface temperatures remained abnormally high, dipping below 25°C only briefly in early March, roughly six weeks later than expected.

Researchers aboard the scientific research vessel Eugen Seibold confirmed the absence of vertical water mixing, with deeper cool waters staying trapped beneath a stratified surface layer.

Data spanning more than 40 years revealed that the timing, strength, and duration of this seasonal upwelling had never failed in this way. While previous La Niña events affected the system mildly, none had triggered a total collapse like what was recorded in 2025.

A Drop in Wind Frequency—Not Strength

The investigation pointed to a sharp decline in the frequency of Panama’s wind-jets—short-lived, powerful gusts that historically drive the upwelling process. The number of wind events fell by roughly 74% compared to previous decades. Importantly, wind speeds remained close to historic norms when they did occur, indicating that it was the lack of consistency, not force, that disrupted the system.

Annual cycle of the Panama Low-Level Jet (PLLJ) winds speeds calculated at PLLJmax. The arrows indicate the wind magnitude and direction at 10 m from the surface. (IFREMER-CERSAT data 1992-2018. Credit: Andres Ordonez).

Researchers suspect the shift is linked to changes in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a key atmospheric feature whose northward movement during the 2024–2025 La Niña may have contributed to wind suppression. Still, the report notes that stronger ENSO cycles in the past failed to produce anything comparable, raising the possibility that underlying climate warming may be weakening these wind-driven systems in ways models have not fully captured.

The team behind the study includes scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and several global partners. Their conclusion is clear: tropical upwelling systems may be more vulnerable than previously believed.

Fisheries Shrink, Coral Reefs Overheat

The disappearance of upwelling triggered an immediate biological response. Phytoplankton levels plummeted, depriving the food web of its base. Populations of fish that rely on plankton—sardines, mackerel, and cephalopods—declined in coastal areas, disrupting fisheries that supply both commercial markets and local subsistence communities.

Without the seasonal cooling effect of deep ocean water, coral reefs experienced prolonged thermal exposure, increasing the severity of bleaching events in early 2025. Dissolved oxygen levels also dropped in the water column, compounding stress on benthic and deep-dwelling species.

*Coral in San Blas, Panama. The red still lives, the grey is deteriorating.*

These cascading effects underscore how a disruption in one physical process can trigger widespread ecological damage—particularly in tropical zones where marine systems are tightly linked to seasonal atmospheric conditions.

The Tropical Monitoring Gap

One of the most revealing aspects of the event is that it might have gone unnoticed without long-running ocean monitoring programs in the region. Unlike well-instrumented upwelling systems in temperate zones, tropical areas like the Gulf of Panama suffer from gaps in observational infrastructure.

This lack of visibility has consequences. Upwelling events, despite their role in carbon cycling, fisheries productivity, and climate regulation, receive limited attention in global climate models. If disruptions like this become more frequent, or begin occurring in other Eastern Tropical Pacific regions, researchers warn that climate impacts may unfold faster than anticipated, and with less warning.

The study’s authors advocate for expanded monitoring networks, improved modeling of wind-ocean interactions, and greater integration of tropical data into global systems. The future stability of entire marine ecosystems may depend on it.

December 6, 2025December 6, 2025

refit 2

The mast went down, the electrician checked the lights, the radio specialist the VHF radio, the rigger checked the rigging, and in the meanwhile me and David did the work on the fibre glass and more. We even didnot have time to take pictures of it. But here are some

Every detail is important. Such as what wind sensor is it, to make the replacement easy. The sensor worked about 10 years and Peter never looked at it, since he knows how many knots the wind blows.

Ian, the radio technician measures everything to find where the hiccup in the VHF system is.

Anybody? It comes with “Dutch Warranty” (around the corner). ;

In this refit Peter does the intellectual work, like throwing the old anchor chain away.

November 30, 2025November 30, 2025

Start the refit of the Ya

It has been 6 years since the last refit was made on the Ya. So, it is time for the next one. Whangarei, New Zealand, is an excellent place to do the project.

Here she goes, hauled out with the crane

And then we go straight into the details, like here taking of the Autoprops. The hull still has the antifouling that the Biosecurity of New Zealand required.

All deck panels are taken off, to be replaced. Three of them were broken. The tropical sun is ruthless , the panel connections became to hot. The new ones will be CIGS, a complete different system and technology. It is cheaper and much promising. See the CIGS field test from 2023 .

We did many more work, and so much work has to be done, we keep you updated.

November 22, 2025November 22, 2025

Fossil free superyacht

Superyacht warf Vitters (Netherlands) is working currently on project Zero, a superyacht that will sail fossilfree. Vitters declares that it will change the world of sailing superyachts. She will have no combustion engines and will therefore be zero emission, just like Sustainable Yacht ‘Ya’.

The required energy on board will be generated by solar and wind energy. The yacht has classical lines, with a long lateral plan and long overhangs. She will be ketch rigged.

For us, here on the Ya, it is a feast that a decade after the Ya’s maiden trip, there is a superyacht following us in fossil free voyages.

November 15, 2025November 15, 2025

Inge: our ocean

A few years ago, I was snorkeling in the waters of Bocas del Toro, a beautiful bay in Panama. There, a curious fish looked me straight in the eye. “Hello, I live here, what are you doing here?”

I looked at the situation through his eyes and realized how carelessly we humans treat water in our environment. We build wind farms there, use it as a highway and dumping ground for cargo ships, and as a mining area for precious metals. We discharge our wastewater into the rivers, which then flows to the sea and the ocean. To those fish. For whom that water is vital.

Planetary Boundaries

Looking at the Netherlands as an example, fortunately all sewage systems have been connected to a treatment plant. But worldwide, more than 80% of sewage water flows untreated to rivers, lakes, and seas. And that’s not even counting direct discharges and runoff. It’s truly a miracle that so much life still exists. Nature has an impressive capacity for recovery, but that capacity has limits. Looking at the nine planetary boundaries (as shown in the image), it unfortunately appears that ocean acidification has now also reached a critical level. Source: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/seven-of-nine-planetary-boundaries-now-breached-2013-ocean-acidification-joins-the-danger-zone (internet, October 15, 2025)

Returning from the global issue of planetary boundaries to the Netherlands, we see three groups of substances that are of most concern based on their nature and magnitude:

– PFAS: persistent chemicals that do not break down and accumulate in ecosystems. They are found in firefighting foam, coatings, and even cosmetics.

– Pesticides: pesticides that end up in ditches and rivers via agricultural runoff and are harmful to aquatic life. – Pharmaceutical residues: hormone-disrupting substances and antibiotics that enter the environment via our sewage.

Good news

How much can we ask from the ocean? An overview.

These substances are difficult to remove and remain active for a long time (‘forever toxic chemicals’). Moreover, they not only cause pollution but also indirectly contribute to ocean acidification (see box). So, that all doesn’t sound great. But there is also good news. If we look at PFAS, we see that there is a lot of work being done on innovations in the field of alternative, environmentally friendly materials. Regarding crop protection products, there is increasing attention for conscious dosing and the use of less harmful alternatives. When it comes to removing pharmaceutical residues from sewage, additional purification steps are possible, such as ozonation and activated carbon filtration. These techniques often remove more than 80% of the pharmaceutical residues from the sewage. Adjustments to the treatment plants are therefore possible, but very expensive. That is why it is also important that we are more mindful of our medication use: using fewer medications saves costs and directly leads to less pollution of surface water.

How pollution and ocean acidification interact. Ocean acidification is primarily caused by CO₂, but substances of concern such as PFAS, pesticides, and pharmaceutical residues indirectly exacerbate the stress. They accumulate in the Sea Surface Microlayer (SML)—a crucial layer for gas exchange—and affect microbial processes that regulate the carbon cycle. In coastal areas, often including coral zones, this leads to a dual threat: acidification and pollution. Together, they make the restoration of vulnerable ecosystems even more challenging.

European Guidelines

Two European directives have been developed to protect our surface and groundwater from pollution: the Water Framework Directive and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Every measure to reduce pollution and discharges, every innovation in water treatment, contributes to recovery. The acidifying ocean benefits from this, regardless of all actions to reduce CO₂. If we give the water a chance to remain healthy, it will continue to work for our benefit, as Earth’s inhabitants. And to the benefit of the water dwellers, like that curious fish.

November 8, 2025November 8, 2025

Emissions aren’t the problem; it’s energy hunger.

We’re in a carbon tunnel, writes Frits Verhoef. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions isn’t the solution to the crisis.

The EU aims to be climate neutral by 2050, and the Netherlands has promised to stick to that. But now that the low-hanging fruit has been harvested in the energy transition, we see that it’s becoming increasingly difficult. We’ve already made half of our electricity supply sustainable with solar panels and wind energy, but we’re hopelessly behind in other areas: transport, industry, the built environment. Perhaps because we’re pursuing the wrong goals.

We’re in a carbon tunnel: we think CO2 is our biggest problem. It isn’t. CO2 is merely the result of our energy hunger.

Our society has become unprecedentedly complex in 200 years. Not because we are more intelligent than 200 years ago or because the capitalist system is superior. We were able to build this complex society because of a surplus of cheap and easily accessible energy. Historically, we owe our prosperity primarily to an abundance of readily available energy.

Those who focus solely on reducing CO2 emissions apparently assume that we will also have this surplus of energy available in the future, with which we can maintain our complex society. That is an illusion. We don’t have a CO2 problem, we have an overconsumption problem.

The American thinker Nate Hagens calls this the Great Simplification: the inevitable moment when the energy foundation of our economy crumbles. Today’s society will not be the first to collapse due to a lack of surplus energy.

To ensure a smooth transition to this Great Simplification, a different sustainability objective is needed. Not emissions, but our energy hunger should be the benchmark.

2000 watts per person

I therefore advocate for a maximum amount of energy per person, not in total consumption, but in average power: 2000 watts per person. This equates to an annual consumption of 17,500 kWh: enough for heating, transportation, and comfort, provided we make conscious choices. This idea has existed in Switzerland for years. It means you might make your belongings last a little longer. It means you might consider flying and the alternatives. Not out of scarcity, but because there is a limit.

In Zurich, there are 2000-watt neighborhoods: well-insulated homes with shared facilities and smart energy use. The idea is powerful because it is concrete. Unlike CO2 targets, 2000 watts per person is a tangible goal.

What the Earth Can Handle

Moreover, this target does more: Spreading and limiting energy use reduces the pressure on the electricity grid. And by adhering to the same standard worldwide—2,000 watts per person—a fair guideline is also created: not based on historical privilege or purchasing power, but on what the Earth can handle.

Such a target only works if we also account for indirect energy. This is the energy needed to produce goods, build infrastructure, grow food, or manufacture wind turbines. Indirect energy accounts for 75 percent of our total energy consumption.

The beauty of a cap on energy use is that it helps us tell a new story. Such a cap also challenges our assumption of infinite growth. A story in which progress doesn’t equate to more, but to enough. In which we don’t blindly continue to grow, but seek balance. 2,000 watts per person is an invitation to recalibrate our definition of enough. As the Swiss say: In a society with 2,000 watts per person, scarcity doesn’t prevail, but sufficiency.

Frits Verhoef is an entrepreneur and author of Courage and Courage, for a climate of hope and action

This is an opinion article of Vincent Dekker, based on Nate Hagens’ Great Simplification theory and with the practical follow ups such as the 2000 Watt societies, and the work of Dutchman Frits Verhoef, a Dutch entrepreneur and writer.
From the article in Dutch in Trouw: https://www.trouw.nl/opinie/opinie-het-probleem-is-niet-co2-maar-onze-honger-naar-energie~bffa14b7/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F

November 1, 2025November 2, 2025

biking in Whangarei

“So you want to get yourself a car?” a New Zealander asked me, when I told him about my situation being on a boatyard and then do shopping so now and then.
“What about a bike?” I asked him.
“Ah, never thought of that”

Have a look at my beautiful bike I bought at a second hand shop.

I couldnot help it and gave 150 NZD for it.

I went for the bike, because it is better for my health, and for your health (less fumes from cars). Also for my wallet. If you hire a car for 2 days with a minimum insurance, you pay more.