"It's amazing to see what the students have achieved in only a few months' time", says Ben Habets of the Zutphen city council. "And many of the ideas are very useful to us indeed. We now know it's no use generating energy in the IJssel. It's nice to know we won't have to look into that anymore." The recommendations regarding electrical heating in the IJssel Bridge, and the possibility to keep the bridge ice-free with the help of smart sprinklers are two Habets will definitely pass on to one of his colleagues. "The bridge is up or renovation shortly, so this project is timed perfectly."

Divided over four main themes, eight groups of six students each have been working on ways to make the municipality of Zutphen more sustainable. Solutions ranged from obvious LEDs in street lights to futuristic plans to generate energy from the footsteps of people walking. Students provided the city officials with a cost analysis, returns, and feasibility of the projects. LED, for example, is environmentally friendly as well as economical, while 'energy from footsteps' seems to have potential as a tourist attraction mostly.

It's the fifth year Sustainable Energy Technology has worked with external parties for the System Integration Project.