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Welcome to my portfolio website. My name is Lydia Heida. I’m an independent journalist and photographer based in the Netherlands. My work is focused on resource efficiency, recycling, renewable energy and food.

I write on a weekly basis about the most important technological innovations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Europe for the online publication Engineeringnet.be.

In the last fifteen years, I have written a lot about the world’s best hi-tech solutions for environmental problems.

My articles have been published in various international media, such as Professional Engineering Magazine, Yale Environment 360 and Spektrum der Wissenschaft.

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Investigated topics include:

  • The world’s first industrial-scale plant to recycle carbon dioxide from flue stack emissions into fuel by using renewable energy.
  • Looming metal scarcity as a threat to sustainable energy.
  • The dismantling and recycling of oil and gas platforms.
  • The first technology worldwide to dye textiles by using supercritical carbon dioxide instead of water.
  • Fraud in the organic vegetables industry.
  • The illegal use of water to grow millions of tons of vegetables in Spain which are destined for Northwest Europe.
  • The development of small scale reactors to turn flare gas into fuel.
  • A new way to recycle aluminium from drink cartons.
  • Air pollution in Beijing.
  • EU investments: it turned out that a sliver of their multi-billion euro budget is spent on recycling projects.

Publications in:

Online magazine DuurzaamAmsterdam.net

Focus: How to live sustainably in Amsterdam.

Topics covered: How to halve your gas consumption, a guide with all thrift stores in Amsterdam, the pros and cons of dynamic energy pricing, recycled gold and silver turned into jewelry bij Amsterdam-based makers, the ultimate guide to Too Good To Goo and many more.

December 2020 until December 2022.

Featured articles and images:

Return to steam power

In what is said to be a world first, a plant in Iceland is converting the green house gas CO2 into methanol as a replacement for petrol.

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Mercury, crime and lost cars top the EU agenda

The EU has ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury to improve how the dangerous metal is mined, used and disposed of, a project to develop hi-tech solutions to waste crime has issued a report, and the problem of missing end-of-life vehicles has been exposed.

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Boom time for carbon fibre recycling

The high price of carbon fibre, coupled with a steep increase in its use in the aerospace and automotive industries, is driving the rapid growth in carbon fibre recycling which has attracted the involvement of some major players such as Boeing, Dell, BMW, Toyota and Hitachi. But some issues – such as shredding prior to treatment – remain to be taken care of.

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Can Waterless Dyeing Processes Clean Up the Clothing Industry?

One of the world’s most polluting industries is the textile-dyeing sector, which in China and other Asian nations releases trillions of liters of chemically tainted wastewater. But new waterless dyeing technologies, if adopted on a large scale, could sharply cut pollution from the clothing industry.

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Cracking the plastic-aluminium conundrum

Drinks cartons make an excellent raw material for paper manufacturing, but the leftover plastic and aluminium are difficult to recycle. Two businesses have already tried to tackle this problem – with mixed results. Now, a fresh attempt to find a solution has been launched by Alucha of Spain. But will it prove to have the recipe for success?

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Out of the skies

What happens to old aircraft after they come in to land for the last time? Lydia Heida reports on the booming business of recycling the materials they contain.

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Scarce, and getting scarcer

Could the looming scarcity of so-called rare metals put the brakes on the clean energy revolution – or generate new opportunities for recyclers?

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Fraud in the organic vegetables industry

Is our organic tomato really organic? The Netherlands imports organic vegetables from Spain to meet demand. But in Spain, checks are haphazard.

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Environment Committee members are demanding swift action on transforming the European economy into a circular one, and a little step forward has been made. However, is the EU spending its money wisely when it comes to funding the technology that will benefit the waste and recycling sector? Read more

I’m available for media assignments worldwide. Feel free to contact me, if you are interested in working together.

Email: contact@terratechmedia.com

TerraTechMedia is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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