Necessary reductions in greenhouse gases will be achieved too late if we have to wait for all our aircraft, ships and trains to transition from fossil fuels. This is why we need biofuels – in spite of the criticisms levelled at their use in a recent article published on the opinions website ‘NRK Ytring’. Biofuels are no ‘climate change mitigation ruse’, as these authors would have you believe.
New lubricants, combined with new knowledge about how they should be applied to train wheels and rails, have the potential to reduce rail sector costs in Norway by hundreds of millions of kroner during the next decade.
Norway already exports large amounts of valuable alginate, but new research findings can make this industry even larger and more sustainable.
Greener data processing requires systems that work smarter, faster, and are more energy efficient. Researchers from NTNU have developed a tiny piece of super-smart hardware that enables all of the above.
Road pricing may soon be replacing toll charges on Norwegian roads. But researchers still don’t know if this will help to reduce and regulate road traffic.
Recent research indicates that the best environmental solution is in fact to install less insulation in our homes and consume more electricity for heating. But first, some preconditions have to be met.
Urban growth, densification and climate change are putting increasing pressure on our water drainage systems. We now need better systems to manage the increasing number of uncontrolled stormwater events.
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.
Vegetable farmers will soon be helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution while at the same time boosting our self-sufficiency.
The addition of slag has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from concrete manufacture by more than 95 per cent. Researchers have now discovered that the concrete delivers.
It is essential to speed up electrification of the Norwegian heavy transport sector. We believe that this is possible in spite of full capacity utilisation in the electricity grid. Here are our three recommendations.
Seaweeds can be used to improve soils and for the biological capture and storage of carbon. They can serve as feed for livestock and as a food and health supplement for humans. And that’s just for starters. A new research project is aiming to help upgrade current cultivation systems to an industrial scale.
Calculations reveal that hydrogen, batteries and solar panels will make it possible to use electric construction machinery on sites where access to the grid is limited.
An extreme storm in Norway called Hans has accelerated the debate about how we should build and where we can live. Adapting to wilder and wetter weather also means that engineers are exposed to greater ethical pressure.
The smarter utilisation of Norwegian hydropower will promote nature conservation, improve access to energy and boost earnings.
Unless we acquire greater knowledge about what happens at the atomic and molecular scale during materials recycling, progress towards a truly circular economy will grind to a halt.
Increased cooperation between Norwegian industry and universities on quantum physics sensors is a win-win situation for society. Such sensors can provide new opportunities in areas as diverse as mineral extraction and agriculture.
Using a completely new piling joint, geothermal heat can be extracted directly via the piles used to anchor buildings in the ground. The invention makes it easier, quicker, cheaper and safer to use environmentally friendly energy.
“A sense of community between generations will be key to ensuring sustainable coastal communities. The importance of children’s learning through work is underestimated,” says Professor Anne Trine Kjørholt.
There is enormous potential in the aquaculture sector to generate circular economy initiatives when it comes to its use of plastics. But can these be made commercially viable? Researchers believe that they can.
In Palma de Mallorca in Spain, researchers are planning to use VR headsets to encourage resident participation in a community project.
If we are to avoid our cities becoming ‘heat magnets’ one day, and overwhelmed by flooding the next, we have to incorporate wetlands and ditch systems into our urban infrastructure.
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.
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.
