News

(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 )

( 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 )

( 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 )

HYDROGEN: Putting a face on hydrogen ...

PIPELINES: Cold war against hydrates ...

CARS: Tough little electric car ...

BUILDINGS: Let there be light ...