Energy and environment

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Revealing the geology’s X-factor

This ten-tonne test rig has been custom-designed by Norwegian researchers and built under contract by American engineers. It has finally been installed at SINTEF after eight years of planning and construction. This mammoth of a device, nicknamed the “Polyax Rocker” is now set to re-create with ultra-high precision the geological stresses acting on oil reservoirs.

Our cities are hidden power stations

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.

Consumer choices for the climate

The gift-giving season is upon us, and perhaps you’re wondering how to give gifts that won’t wreck the climate. Help is on the way.

Green gaming for the environment

Computer games designed to make us more environmentally conscious need to be both entertaining and educational. Few game designers are good at both. NTNU researchers are creating a model that can bridge the gap between the two.

Norwegian scientists will teach Europe to make snow

Trondheim: Norwegian researchers believe that it will be possible to make environmentally-friendly snow at above-zero temperatures. Now they have the backing of Europe and the skiing industry in their bid to save the sport from climate change.

One hundred years of producing energy — from water

The 1969 discovery of oil at the Ekofisk field in the North Sea transformed Norway into an internationally important energy nation. But long before black gold was being pumped from the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Norway’s economy was fuelled by a different kind of energy: hydropower.

Controlling problem ice — by cracking it

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.

Destination Brussels – with climate facts in his luggage

SINTEF’s climate change ambassador Nils Røkke is on his way to Brussels looking forward to a new job and new assignments. He has been appointed as Chair of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). This in a world in which the threats posed by climate change are increasingly being portrayed as “fake news”.

Reveals the real greenhouse gas footprints of reservoirs

When hydropower reservoirs traps organic matter, it leads to higher local greenhouse gas emissions. But the emissions are not increased but displaced. A new tool calculates the real greenhouse gas footprints of reservoirs.

Living with zero-emission technology

How does technology change people, and how do people change in response to technology? Sixteen people volunteered to live in a high-tech, zero-emission house to help researchers answer those exact questions.

Fuel of the future

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.

An energy-efficient cleaning robot

State-of-the-art solar cells are efficient – but are even more so when they are kept clean. A cleaning robot developed by Norwegian researchers enables solar panels to deliver at full capacity.

Climate change, ocean diversity and women in science

Science has made great strides since Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish Nobel Laureate who in 1896 first determined that carbon dioxide from human activity could warm the planet. The same progress hasn’t been made in increasing the number of women in the sciences.

Stinky city air as climate art

Imagine breathing polluted New Delhi air. It’s a scorching 40 degrees and the humidity is high. But you’re not in New Delhi – you’re in an art installation, during the Starmus festival in Trondheim in June.