Energy and Petroleum - Resources and Environment (EP-RM)
Nytt nummer av GEMINI - forskningsmagasinet for NTNU og SINTEF.
News from EP-RM
REFRIGERATION TECHNOLOGY AWARD (27/12/2005) Refrigeration scientists at SINTEF and NTNU have been honoured by an award from the International Energy Agency (IEA) for their contribution to solving the greenhouse problems caused by leaking refrigeration systems and heat pumps.
The award has shown that it is possible to use CO2, a natural substance, as the "work-horse" in cooling systems and heat pumps. SINTEF and NTNU were the first to demonstrate that CO2 can be used in vehicle air-conditioning systems without increasing fuel consumption.
To utilise CO2 in cooling systems does not contribute to the greenhouse effect, since it is essentially "borrowed" from industrial waste gases that would otherwise have been released to the atmosphere.
The EU is currently drawing up a directive that will require all new vehicle models to have air-conditioning systems that do not contain the chemicals in use today. Vehicle manufacturers already have test cars on the road fitted with CO2-based air-conditioning. SINTEF and NTNU are also members of an EU project that will develop simple, inexpensive CO2 systems for small cars. (Story form Gemini )
TOWARDS HYDROGEN PRODUCTION WITH CO2 HANDLING ( 27/12/2005 ) SINTEF Energy Research will co-ordinate the research project DYNAMIS, which is at the leading edge of the EU's billion project HYPOGEN (Hydrogen Power Production). This project comprises 29 participating partners, including Statoil, BP, Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani, Vattenfall and companies like Alstom and Siemens. The project deals with studies on hydrogen production from fossil fuels, gas treatment and transport, treatment of CO2 and H2 and storage of CO2 geological formations. The project will also select a preferred concept design for a demonstration plant for hydrogen power production together with a social awareness and consciousness. The project's total budget is €7.7 million, of which SINTEF is contributing €1 million and NTNU €300,000. (Story form Gemini )
OIL IN ICE ( 27/12/2005 ) During a three-year project financed by the Research Council of Norway, Statoil and Norsk Hydro, SINTEF has been working with NILU and UiB to research how an oil spillage reacts in ice. This knowledge is valuable to gain an insight into the biological effects of an oil spillage in the Arctic region and also to establish oil spill contingency planning in these ice-infested waters.
As well as discovering more about oil's characteristic in ice, the research scientists have studied photo-oxidisation of the oil and how the water soluble components in oil spread in the ice. (Story form Gemini )
NTNU camps in the Artic (19.12.2005) NTNU will share offices with Statoil in a new project in Hammerfest . Hammerfest is a boom town because of the Snøhvit exploration fields. Snøhvit (more on Snow white ) is the first offshore development in the Barents Sea , with an estimated 193 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The goal is to establish an even greater degree of exchange of knowledge, at both student and research level.
- Snøhvit is really the worlds largest LNG-laboratory, says professor Arne M. Bredesen. 25 years ago, the oil and gas resources in the Barents Sea were not worth a penny. It is the research that made Snøhvit possible, says the professor and director of the strategic area Energy and Petroleum. More (only in Norw.) on this story.
"Frozen" reward for NTNU researcher (25.10.05) Sveinung Løset received the prestigious Statoil research award for 2005. Løset's work is within the field of ice slush (hydrates) in oil- and gas pipelines in artic exploration. Løset is professor at Department of Civil and Transport Engineering. The ceremony took place at Oct. 17 at Technology Awards, which is part of the technology festival Technoport 2005.
The China Environment and Energy Conference (09.9.2005) The conference will take place in Langesund, Norway, at 25. and 26. October, 2005. The aim of the conference is to give a better understanding of Environmental and Energy challenges in China, and the business opportunities in China within the area of waste water and clean energy, according to the conference web site.
Discussing the Green Paper on Energy Efficiency (From The european Energy Conservation Alliance) The EU's Commissioner for Energy A. Piebalgs has defined 'increasing energy efficiency' a key priority from 2005 onwards. In preparation of a 2006 Green Paper on Energy Efficiency, defining an action plan, the Commission is organising a public consultation along 25 questions. More information at the European Union site
New thesis / Nye doktorgrader! (24.8.2005) Only in Norwegian.
Centre for hydrogen research online (15.8.2005) The first Norwegian research and exhibition centre will open in Trondheim in 2007. HYTREC will be the name, and it is financed by the Norwegian energy companies Statoil and Statkraft in addition to the Certification company DNV. The centre will be established in Trondheim because of the proximity to research institutions such as NTNU and SINTEF.
The HYTREC page (Norwegian information.)
Power production in space? (23.06.2005) Well, this is only one topic of presentation at ECOS 2005 : The 18th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems (NTNU). Core topics at the conference will be:
- Basic and Applied Thermodynamics
- Simulation, Improvement and Optimisation of Energy Conversion Systems
- Process Design, Analysis and Integration of Thermal and Chemical Systems
- Renewable Energy and Advanced Energy Conversion Systems
- Diagnostics and Control of Thermal Systems
- Energy Trading and Impact on Design and Operation of Energy Systems
- Industrial Ecology
(Adresseavisen wrote a piece prior to the conference, 23.06.2005. In Norweigan)
Wave pumps in the making (23.06.2005) Researchers from NTNU and its industry partners Lycro and a regional energy supplier want "to ride the big one", according to the daily Dagens Næringsliv. The partners have developed a concept consisting of 30-40 wave pumps floating in the surface. Not unlike a fish farming installation, actually. The system has been tested at laboratories at NTNU. The partners hope to start commercial production soon.
Authorities both in the EU, the US and in Norway have signalled bold ambitions on behalf of renewable energy. This has also given Norwegian wave research a boost. The theoretical annual potential for wave energy along the Norwegian coast is 500 TWh!
NTNU has several wave energy projects going: Wavy opportunities | Wind power: Windy opportunities
Truly international ( 20/04/05 ) Of all students at the Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics 40 per cent are foreigners. And there are 40 nationalities currently studying petroleum. This is evidently a national record within higher education. The department offers an international M.Sc. in English. This is the largest petroleum master degree programme in the world. More at the NRK web pages.
Wavy opportunities ( 20/04/05 ) A Norwegian industrial development company has big plans for what seemed for a long time to be a pipe dream - wave energy. At 100 million Norwegian kroners Fred Olsen's Fos AS will have four of the the world's first floating wave energy platforms, stationed 1, 5 kilometres from the western coast of Norway. The technology is being tested at NTNU. More information in Stavanger Aftenblad (in Norweigan).
Also, another energy project - simply called Wave Energy AS - has received 1 million Euros from the European Union for a land based energy plant, using a somewhat unusual design. NTNU is planning tests on this construction in the fall of 2005. More at NRK.
Renewable energy NTNU has conducted wave energy research since the early Seventies. There has been little activity in recent years, however. But our Centre for Renewable Energy NTNU-SINTEF - established in 2004 - is intended to give this kind of energy research a long-awaited push.
Research: Wave energy | renewable energy | ocean structures
Windy opportunities ( 22/03/2005 ) The central region of Norway is world leading on wind power technology. At least, that is the opinion of a visiting delegation of American business people. The delegation came on an invitation from the NTNU Technology Transfer, a NTNU-owned company that works on commercialising research results, according to a regional newspaper . The central region has been a hot bed for the testing of large scale wind mills.
NTNU has established a Centre for Renewable Energy which gathers and coordinated the combined scientific resources of NTNU and its sister research foundation SINTEF.
International master in industrial ecology (11/03/2005) The Industrial Ecology Programme at NTNU have initiated a two-year international master degree. The MSc in Industrial Ecology aims to provide candidates with interdisciplinary, theoretical and methodological skills to apply Industrial Ecology on different scales (society, sector, company, products/services) to increase environmental and economic performance and improve sustainability. The programme consists of two years of full-time studies, giving a total of 180 credits. The teaching language is English. Both Norwegian and international students may apply.
Natural gas in the form of ice cubes ( 11/02/2005 ) In a few years you might be buying natural gas for your energy needs from the freezer at your local grocery store. This is possible with a technology developed by Professor Jon Steinar Gudmundsson at NTNU and the company Aker Kværner.
This could also make a whole range of small and medium sized gas fields financially profitable.
- Between 40 and 60 per cent of the world's gas reserves are not profitable with today's technology, says an Aker Kværner executive to Aftenposten .
For transportation, this "frozen golf ball"-technology is a cheaper alternative to LNG-method. With the new method 180 cubic metres of gas can be transformed into 1 cubic metre of gas-ice. Aker Kværner has signed a commercialization contract with the Japanese company Mitsui. The product will be promoted at the Expo 2005 in Tokyo. Full press release | Contact: Professor Jon Steinar Gudmundsson at the Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics
Last Updated: 08.08.2006
