It’s easy to oppose solar parks when you hear that 60 solar plants are equivalent in area to over 5000 football pitches, as recently reported by NRK. This analogy draws attention away from other important aspects of the debate.
Solar panels contain many valuable materials. Still, most of them end up discarded after use. Now researchers are investigating new ways of recycling.
Learning from nuclear construction successes and failures can help reduce the cost of building nuclear energy in Europe. But even if these power plants turn out to be more costly than we would like, putting them to work can reduce overall energy costs.
A lot of research has been done to try to come up with ways of cooking food using solar energy, but what works best in practice in sub-Saharan Africa?
What should power the future’s shipping fleets? How can we change the way we build buildings so that they’re truly climate neutral? If we’re going to actively alter the planet’s climate, how should we study this?
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.
Solar panels installed on roofs and facades increase the fire risk. However, research shows that small changes in construction can make a big difference.
Soon you may be able to keep your house warm in winter using heat which molecules from food waste have borrowed from yesterday’s sunshine.
Allowing Norwegian farmers to buy and sell excess electricity they generate is good for everyone. Today’s regulations prevent this.
Researchers at NTNU have found a way to make gold nanoparticles with a uniform size and shape, opening up the possibility of finding more effective photocatalysts
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.
Researchers are planning a solar energy plant that will capture ‘concentrated sunlight’ using mirrors. The plant will also be distinctive because it will generate both electricity and heat, which can be used to capture carbon dioxide.
Norway has seen an increase in solar power capacity in recent years, but in winter solar panels face a big problem: snow. Researchers modelled how much extra electricity could be generated if solar panel surfaces were designed to repel snow and ice.
A comprehensive analysis of 870 power plants worldwide shows that nuclear power is a clear winner in protecting ecosystems. Bioenergy is a sure loser.
Can Europe use the energy crisis to help accelerate its efforts to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050? The EU’s Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change says yes.
Covering less than ten per cent of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with floating solar panels would yield as much energy as all hydropower does today, one researcher says.
Solar energy is good news for planet Earth – but solar panels are not as climate-friendly as they should be. Researcher Martin Bellmann is using what he calls the ‘black gold’ waste materials from solar panel manufacture to make new panels.
How scientists and engineers across the globe — and at NTNU — are harnessing unlikely materials to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
During the next three years, a team of researchers will be developing a system designed to protect floating solar farms in the harshest ocean environments.
Not only are they high above us – they also offer us great benefits. From SINTEF’s new solar panel laboratory, you can see all across the city of Trondheim. Here, conditions are optimal for research into solar panel performance at Nordic latitudes.
The shift to greener energy technologies can be beautiful as well as carbon neutral.
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.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its third Working Group report on how humankind can mitigate the ecosystem and societal effects of climate change. Much can be done, but the challenges remain enormous, the report confirms.
A new method using nanowires can make solar panels much more efficient and much cheaper than today.
