How solar energy can be stored in ‘batteries’ made from food waste
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.
UN Sustainable Development Goals: Climate Action
LOADING CONTENT
Farms especially suitable for energy sharing
Allowing Norwegian farmers to buy and sell excess electricity they generate is good for everyone. Today’s regulations prevent this.
Locking CO2 captured from seaweed in biocoal
Seaweeds cultivated in the sea off the coast of Trøndelag, Norway will be converted into biocoal and used to improve agricultural land. A new method for carbon capture and storage is now being trialled by Norwegian researchers.
Green and everlasting concrete is no longer a distant dream
Everlasting concrete is here! It requires no maintenance, and its manufacture emits 80 per cent less CO2 than current products. And just recently, its inventors have been awarded a research prize for their achievement.
Advanced simulation of air currents can result in more habitable cities
Densely-packed housing makes urban areas vulnerable to overheating, pollution and dangerous wind gusts. The effects of climate change can aggravate these problems, but we can also work to prevent them. This can be done by simulating microclimates.
Data is just as important as the electricity we generate from the sun and wind
During his visit to Norway earlier this year, Bill Gates was keen to emphasise the innovation that will be needed to reduce the costs of mitigating climate change. One place to start is to educate more experts in the field of data processing.
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.
150 hydrogen-powered trucks ready to roll on European roads
Haulage truck and fuel manufacturers have joined forces with researchers to make heavy transport across Europe more climate-friendly. And all thanks to having SINTEF ‘behind the wheel’.
There are easier ways of integrating solar power into the energy system
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.
We know that carbon capture from the atmosphere is possible. But how do we get there?
Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies offer new opportunities for getting closer to our climate change mitigation targets. However, we still have a long way to go before DAC can be fully rolled out as a mitigation measure.
The ice in Antarctica has melted before
The ice sheet in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica is not stable. Large amounts of ice have melted in the past, most recently as 5,000 years ago.
An artificial lava for sealing oil and gas wells has passed its lab tests
Norwegian oil and gas companies are now plugging and abandoning production wells using an artificial ‘lava’. So far, the results have been excellent. Recent laboratory results indicate that the same method can be used to seal subsurface CO2 storage reservoirs.
Southern Sámi language in danger if reindeer herding is restricted
Wind turbines are contributing to the Southern Sámi losing grazing land for their reindeer husbandry. This livelihood is central to the identity of the Southern Sámi culture and thus to their language, researchers say.
Green production of silicon is just around the corner
“We see no technical obstacles to being able to produce silicon without CO2 emissions within the next two to three years,” says Maria Wallin at NTNU.
A new approach to waste incineration removes CO2 from the atmosphere
There are plans in Årdal to build a waste incineration plant based on a new technology that captures and stores CO2, thus removing the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
Urgent need to commercialise CCS
At last it is now possible to capture CO2 at industrial scales without state subsidy, and countries across the world should be persuading private industry to identify storage sites that will make a real difference.
Blue hydrogen: the real bridge between fossil fuels and renewable energy
Blue, also called “low carbon” hydrogen will make for a much more suitable transition towards renewable energy than natural gas.
Now is the time to stop talking up the benefits of natural gas
The view that natural gas can act as an eco-friendly bridge in the transition from our use of coal to renewable energy has experienced a renaissance in the wake of the European war. Thus, the time is right to review the data behind the politics.
Enzymes from bacteria and fungi break down plastic
Plastic is useful but also poses an environmental problem. Scientists are now using enzymes from bacteria and fungi to break down plastic.
No correlation between windy conditions in northern and southern Norway means money in the bank for the offshore wind sector
A stroke of serendipity, courtesy of the weather gods, will save the Norwegian offshore wind sector from the intermittent moods of windpower. But only if wind farms are distributed across large geographical areas.
Greta Thunberg effect evident among Norwegian youth
Norwegian youth from all over the country and across social affiliation point to teen activist Greta Thunberg as a role model and source of inspiration for climate engagement.
Action from the building sector is more important than ever as the world races headlong towards 2.5 degrees
If only the Norwegian building and construction industry would embrace a little more digitalisation, this alone would enable Norway to achieve its 2023 emissions target agreed with the EU.
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.
A new method of detecting indirect corporate emissions
How does the chain of suppliers impact on a company’s climate footprint? This is a key question and, according to a recently established entrepreneur in the field, Norwegian know-how stands ready to offer the world the answer.