Power cuts can be caused by heavy snow and icing, as well as lightning strikes and strong winds bringing down power lines. Together with more extreme weather events, Norway is also facing a major power supply deficit. So, what can we do to avoid a total electricity crisis?
Solar storms are no joke. It may get cold and it may get very dark. Our mobile networks may be severely disrupted.
Up until now, car manufacturers and others have been recommending using electricity from the grid to warm up your car on cold winter mornings because this will save the battery and ensure maximum range. But research is showing that this isn’t always necessary. Nor does it save you money.
In the future, we will see the emergence of local energy communities made up of households and businesses who buy and sell electricity among themselves. But someone will have to work out how to determine the price.
There can be no new, ‘green’ jobs without electricity. So, researchers have three pieces of advice to offer politicians as to what we should be doing to ensure adequate future energy supplies.
We need the electricity generated by solar panels in order to meet our climate change mitigation targets. But solar power must be integrated rationally and fairly – something that can only be achieved with effective regulation.
Producing hydrogen will become an important part of decarbonising Europe’s energy system and is one of the opportunities Norway has to maintain value creation along the lines of what the country has experienced with oil and gas.
The Norwegian power grid needs relief during periods when ‘everyone’ is using electricity. Research is showing that variable pricing for the fast charging of electric cars may offer a solution.
NTNU has tested a system to predict the heating needs on the Gløshaugen campus. The results show that we can save even more where surplus heat is already in use.
Norway has developed subsea technologies that you may never have heard of to ensure the safe operation of Norwegian oil and gas installations. Our experts are ready and waiting to assist in the Baltic Sea.
Up until now it has been a challenge to store the energy we generate when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. But researchers at a laboratory in Trondheim in Norway have succeeded in doing just this – and entirely without any form of advanced battery technology.
Norwegians are not necessarily being selfish by wanting to go back to the good old days of cheap electricity. Nor do people think it is acceptable to use the situation for some to enrich themselves at the expense of others, says the researcher.
Many buildings with solar cells produce more electricity than they consume themselves, but current legislation prevents surplus power from being sold to neighbouring consumers. A pilot project in Trondheim will be the first in the world to test a system that makes this possible.
While former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg steered Norway according to the logic of economics, today’s politicians seem to lack a basic understanding of markets. The result is a policy that amplifies energy scarcity and drives up energy prices – without policymakers recognizing this unintended consequence.
Relatively simple adaptation could make the cargo ships of the future completely green. The technology is based on the chemical compound ammonia, some extensive number crunching and one or two engine modifications.
Norwegian scientists have developed a material which can make hydrogen from water vapor, instead of liquid water. It pays off, because heat is cheaper than electricity.
Norwegian research scientists are contributing to the development of the world’s hottest geothermal well in a non-volcanic area. The goal is to exploit the inexhaustible supply of heat from the interior of the Earth, and this calls for equipment that can withstand the most extreme conditions.
Waste heat and locally-produced renewable energy can be generated by compact, “urban power plants” that are efficient enough to supply heat to entire housing estates.
Most efforts to control ice build-up on structures like wind turbines and solar cells involve creating a surface that repels water. But Norwegian researchers have engineered a different approach that allows ice to form on a surface, but then causes it to crack off.
Heavy-duty trucks will soon be driving around in Trondheim, Norway, fuelled by hydrogen created with solar power, and emitting only pure water vapour as “exhaust”. Not only will hydrogen technology revolutionize road transport, it will also enable ships and trains to run emission-free.
Nils Røkke, Director of Sustainability at SINTEF, is the new Chairman of the European Energy Research Alliance.
A crackling log fire is pure HYGGE. But what’s actually the best way to have log fires in our modern, well-sealed and fully-insulated homes?
Researchers have established a technique that will help ensure a stable supply of electricity even as new renewable energy sources come on line. The trick is helping all of the subsystems to work in concert.
Norway’s wealth and prosperity over the last four decades has been built on oil, but Jeremy Rifkin, a futurist and social and economic thinker, says it’s time for the country to change. The Third Industrial Revolution is coming, and Norway needs to abandon fossil fuels and move towards a greener future that relies on renewable energy, shared transport and ultra-efficient housing.
