Climate talks and the way forward
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?
Energy and Process Engineering
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Research into zero carbon gas turbines receives 12.7 million euros
How can we decarbonize large-scale power generation and aviation as quickly as possible? The European Research Council has awarded a substantial grant to a team of researchers who will explore this.
An emergency brake for the climate
To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the EU’s Science Advisory Board on Climate Change recommends that Europe reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 90-95% by 2040 compared to 1990. Fossil fuels should be phased out as quickly as possible.
Listening to Leviathans
Nineteenth-century Norwegian technology helped bring large whale populations to the brink of extinction. Can 21st-century technology help save them?
Mapping the conflict between farming and biodiversity
A new study provides the most detailed dataset yet on the biodiversity footprint of food. The results can lead to more sustainable diets.
To avoid a battery crisis, more of us should share small, lightweight EVs
Fossil fuel vehicles gulp down petrol, and electric cars gobble up minerals. The battery industry is so ravenous for lithium as a raw material that researchers believe the demand could threaten climate goals.
Moose can play a big role in global warming
Climate researchers have long known that large animals, like moose, could play a role in how much the Earth will warm due to climate change. But the question is, how much? New research shows the answer can be a lot.
Reducing your electric bill with a predictive control heating system
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.
Energy crisis can help boost green energy investments in Europe
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.
World’s food production footprint on climate and environment
Cattle farming has often been portrayed as having the most detrimental environmental impact because it takes the most grazing land, uses a lot of water and has large methane emissions. But it’s not the worst. And is locally produced food always best for the environment?
Now we know which airline routes pollute the most
Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions from air traffic are more than twice as high as the worldwide average.
Wax, wood and CO2 — tools that can combat climate change
How scientists and engineers across the globe — and at NTNU — are harnessing unlikely materials to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU’s climate law is an important milestone. But it’s not enough.
Tremendous floods in Pakistan earlier this year forced 600,000 pregnant women to leave their homes for safer ground. It was just one in a series of nearly unthinkable happenings caused by climate change — and a clear message that humankind has to do more to stop it.
Half of the data deficient species may be threatened with extinction
We know very little about very many species. Unfortunately, that’s often not a good sign.
Companies need to report their climate risks
Regulators across the globe regularly require publicly traded companies to tell their stockholders about potential financial risks. A March proposal from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would require companies to disclose the risks that climate change poses to their financial health. Adopting the rule is an important step for the climate, researchers say.
Never set your heat pump to Auto
Show us your heat pump, and we’ll tell you if you’re using it right. Researchers provide advice that can save you both energy and money.
The Alchemists: Turning wild water into white coal
How Norwegian scientists and engineers harnessed the country’s wild waterfalls by developing super efficient turbines — and how advances in turbine technology being developed now may be the future in a zero-carbon world.
Want to save the planet? Cut coal use by 95 percent, oil by 60 percent by 2050, report says
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 policy that can increase the windfall profit of energy producers — like Russia
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.
Two Industrial Ecology professors named to international climate-related posts
Professor Edgar Hertwich has been named to the EU’s newly constituted European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, while Professor Francesco Cherubini has been asked to serve as a Lead Author for an upcoming assessment by The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
ERC grant on CO2 uptake by the oceans
NTNU Associate Professor Jason Hearst has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). He will investigate how turbulence affects the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2.
Is green growth possible?
Increases in economic growth contribute to one-for-one increases in carbon emissions. Energy system decarbonization and economic productivity gains are the most effective carbon emissions mitigation mechanisms for sustainable economic development.
Map shows carbon dioxide emissions for more than 100,000 European cities
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to meet climate goals won’t be easy, to put it mildly. But the job just got a little simpler for 34 European countries with the creation of a new interactive map that pinpoints emissions at a local level.
Glasgow climate talks and the fate of the planet
Just over two months after UN Secretary-General António Guterres described a new climate report on the state of the planet as “code red for humanity”, the nations of the world have the chance to do something about it. But will they?