Rozen en Radijs & Ammerlaan The Green Innovator BV

The moment you step into this special nursery, you are immediately seized by the quiet and peaceful atmosphere that prevails. Martijn, owner of the company Rozen en Radijs, tells us enthusiastically and full of passion about his roses.

"We try to radiate the atmosphere and harmony within our company. Just working on the good and only putting energy into things we would like to have. It is about the pure feeling, to do what your heart tells you. Our philosophy is back to the origins and to produce like nature intended. We are chasing nature and that’s not conductive to the quality and health of the products."

Martijn has invested in his cultivation over the past three years. Now it is finally paying off. Where other growers work very sterile and don’t allow weeds to grow between the crops, Martijn lets the weeds grow and keeps the windows of the greenhouse open. In this way he allows his plants to become immune to diseases and the plants become stronger and stronger. In addition, there are chickens between the crops against the vermin and a cat against the mice.

"With a holistic view we try to look at cause and effect. For example, we work with natural nutrients from compost. Our greenhouses are protected against electrical radiation and negative energies, revitalized water is utilised and classical music is played in the greenhouses. Roses, like humans, pick up energies and radiations from the environment. A rose reacts differently to hard rock than classical music. You can feel that, and you can see it during the growth process. The calmer and purer the energy, the better the crop feels and develops."

The roses are grown in the summer, in soil-bound??. A rose is a plant that grows and blooms when it has a lot of light and warmth. In the winter the rose is naturally at rest. Martijn ensures that the whole natural cycle is being respected. He derives his knowledge and inspiration from age-old books. "Just grow as it used to be, close to nature". For example, Martijn also looks at the position of the moon.

The moon has an influence at the water on earth, which is visible in the high and low tide you can witness at the sea front. In this way, sometimes the water level in a flower is higher than in other times. This also affects the crops, according to Martijn.

He only sells his roses in his own store, where he tells his customers enthusiastically about his passion and his biodynamic cultivation method and his view on nature

Ammerlaan The Green Innovator BV is a greenhouse company with over 6 hectares of greenhouses where more than 100 species of tropical green pot plants are grown. In 2010, Ammerlaan drilled a geothermal heat source. The source installation uses the heat of the groundwater at a depth of more than two kilometers. The water that is pumped up with a temperature around 70 degrees Celsius, also contains dissolved natural gas. By separating the gas, it can be used in a combined heat and power (CHP) to generate both heat and electricity. The electricity is used for the geothermal installation and the pumps.

Geothermal energy uses heat from the ground. A very deep hole is drilled in the ground, often more than a kilometer deep, from which water is pumped up at high temperatures. In addition to heating homes, geothermal energy is also often used in greenhouse horticulture to heat greenhouses. Geothermal energy is therefore a technique that is often used in rural areas.

However, the source capacity of this geometric installation proved to be many times greater than the own heat requirement. This meant that in the first instance other nurseries, a sports complex, a swimming pool and a school complex could be connected to the source of the heating networks. Afterwards, another 16 apartment buildings in Pijnacker were connected to it. This allows 470 apartments to be delivered, to make the methods of heating more sustainable.

It is the first project in the Netherlands where geothermal energy is being supplied to surrounding buildings. This was not a simple project from a technical and organizational point of view. Thanks to the great efforts of all parties involved, the project was completed at the end of 2015 and in 2016 approximately 10,000 Gigajoules of fossil fuel in the apartments will be replaced by renewable geothermal energy. In total this is a reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 600 tons per year.

The Netherlands are very actively researching where there are more possibilities to install heat networks. In the Westland area, they are already way ahead, for example, there are opportunities to use residual heat from the harbor of Rotterdam. In addition, more and more growers can be

connected to the geothermal sources with the aid of grants. This contributes to making Dutch horticulture increasingly sustainable.