Tires are an important vehicle component, as car handling, safety and fuel economy depend for a major part on the tire composition and construction. As a consequence, tires are improved continuously. The most prominent improvement in the recent past was the use of a silica-silane filler system in passenger …

INAUGURAL LECTURE The world is in disarray. Species are extinct, climates are changing, we are becoming unhealthier. To liberate ourselves from this doom scenario we need to take care of ourselves and our environment. The solutions of former generations offer no future solace. Moreover, these caused …

The need to reduce carbon emissions calls for more use of renewable generation, particularly distributed resources. The intermittency of renewable generation, and concerns about energy security, require us to become more independent of central grid operation by use of local or regional (micro-grid) electricity …

The 2018 IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C once again highlighted (and with increased urgency) the benefits of immediate, extreme decarbonisation efforts in order to minimise the negative impacts of climate change. Achieving such demanding global targets requires concerted national, subnational, …

Forests, both natural and planted, can provide multiple benefits to human society. The loss of these ecosystem services due to deforestation and forest degradation is of global concern and of particular importance to rural populations that rely on natural resources for their livelihoods. One of the (international) …

Past decades traditional agricultural landscapes characterized by a wide variety of grasslands, field boundaries, watercourses, and trees started to disappear. Population growth required an ever-increasing demand for food and traditional agricultural systems were converted to monocultures. With this …

The primary purpose of this thesis is to show entrepreneurs in the Netherlands that the companies in the country import protein, mostly in the form of soy and use them to grow animals. These animals where eaten for their protein content, this is not a efficient way and is causing an unnecessary exhaust …

This chapter introduces the concept of sustainable development and the environmental sustainability of the freight transportation sector. The focus then turns to freight transportation terminals. Freight transportation terminals are crucial links in the supply chain. Given the growing awareness of environmental …

Dark homogenous fungal-based layers called biofinishes and vegetable oils are keyingredients of an innovative wood protecting system. The aim of this study was todetermine which of the vegetable oils that have been used to generate biofinishes onwood will provide carbon and energy for the biofinish-inhabiting …

Climate change has caused dilapidation of the environment, droughts and floods leading to reduced yields, productivity and ultimately food insecurity for human consumption. Unfortunately, it is our contact with the environment that has led to all this, but most people are not aware. The three gases contributing …