Where Innovation Meets Imagination
At Eidsnes, Norway, a robot is being developed that will pick inventory goods.
“We are making robots for the grocery industry. We have created a prototype that we have started testing at H.I. Giørtz,” says Torbjørn Vestnes Krogen.
Torbjørn is the general manager of start-up company Currence Robotics AS, which is one of two companies in Møre og Romsdal that receives money from the Norwegian Research Council for companies that run research-based innovation.
This autumn, the four-year EU project, PVadapt, will start developing new solar cell systems that are less expensive to create, assemble and use, and Norwegian researchers are involved.
Today, cities account for 70 percent of the world’s energy consumption, which means they are responsible for 40-50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. European Technology and Innovation Platform estimates that 80 per cent of the Earth’s population will live in urban areas by 2050.
This means that the energy consumption will double, or at worst, triple. Therefore, it is essential to develop sustainable solutions with renewable energy. An example of this is the use of solar cells that are integrated in construction.
[Read more…] about In future, our houses will have built-in solar cells
One of the most challenging issues for power grids is energy storage. The ability to store energy would enable the supply of uninterrupted electricity to customers, but battery technology has been too expensive or not good enough – until now, with all the electric cars on the roads. Claude Olsen, of Gemini.no, explains
Batteries have become so cheap that they can be used for more than just smartphones and electric cars. Now, national electricity network companies will use them to stabilize the power grid.
In the Norwegian city of Skien, the Odds football stadium Skagerak Arena will, next year, be almost self-sufficient with electricity from 5,000 square meters of solar cells on the roof.
However, since the big peak in power consumption is on the day of the match, the energy produced on the other weekdays must be stored in large batteries. [Read more…] about Power grid: Integrating large-scale battery energy into the electricity network
A Norwegian technology research company called Sintef has been developing drones and other robotics technologies to help salmon and aquaculture farmers manage their operations.
In one example, an underwater remotely operated underwater vehicle – often called an ROV – is being utilised to manage a farm which has 200,000 salmon fish.
Salmon and fish farming in general is a huge industry in Norway, which is said to be one of the largest – if not the largest – salmon suppliers in the world. [Read more…] about Sintef develops drones and robotics technologies for unmanned surveillance and operation of salmon farms
