http://www.ecn.nl/ News and press releases en TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:48:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/02/03/new-direction-of-ecn-with-and-for-the-market/ Today, Friday 3 February, the complete Board of Directors presented ECN’s new strategy plan 2012-2015 to Mark Dierikx, Director General for Energy, Telecom and Competition of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I). Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:48:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2012/01/11/inconvenient-measurements-of-escaping-gas/ With environmental issues such as the enhanced greenhouse gas effect, acidification or air pollution, it’s all about gas and particles entering the atmosphere. This can occur from a “point source“ like a chimney which is relatively easy to measure. Measurements are much harder for so called diffuse sources. Farms, industrial installations, landfills or swamps are examples. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:38:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/12/21/sector-supports-market-introduction-of-torrefied-products-as-solid-sustainable-energy-carrier/ SECTOR (Production of Solid Sustainable Energy Carriers from Biomass by Means of TORrefaction) is a large-scale European project with a strong consortium of 21 partners from industry and science. The project is focussed on the further development of torrefaction-based technologies for the production of solid bioenergy carriers up to pilot-plant scale and beyond, and on supporting the market introduction of torrefaction-based bioenergy carriers as a commodity renewable solid fuel. Dutch partners... Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:33:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/12/19/korean-posco-power-and-ecn-join-forces-in-wind-solar-and-bio-energy/ The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and the South Korean POSCO Power have officially joined forces. By signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 15 December, both parties have agreed on future collaboration in wind, solar and bio-energy. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:08:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/11/29/improved-european-observation-network-supports-effective-climate-policy/ To provide an independent assessment whether European climate policy is effective, it is essential to monitor concentrations and fluxes of non-CO2 greenhouse gases accurately. A crucial component in doing so is a precise and reliable measuring infrastructure. As of this week, the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) will be coordinating 34 institutes in a joint effort to monitor the emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases and to improve the... Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:38:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/10/12/ccs-in-dutch-industry-globally-highly-recommended/ Carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology for reducing climate change inducing CO2 emissions, is mostly associated with coal-fired plants. However, CO2 can also be captured in industrial applications, for example in the chemical industry, the steel industry and refineries. In fact, in these industrial applications, CO2 capture is often cheaper, easier and more essential. This has been confirmed by a global study in which the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has played a... Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:47:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/08/16/high-quality-climate-research-in-the-netherlands-guaranteed-by-icos-nl/ At Thursday August 18th 2011, eight knowledge institutes in The Netherlands launch their climate research partnership in the form of ICOS-nl. The launch will take place at the KNMI measurement mast in Cabauw. Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:28:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/08/09/going-dutch-in-global-bio-economy/ 'Whether you go for maximum solar or wind there is the chemical side which needs biomass', says Jan Willem Erisman (ECN) in the Singapore Business Review. Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:13:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/08/03/pyrolysis-turns-biomass-into-chemical-feedstock/ ‘Solar, wind, water and geothermal heat are all sources for renewable energy, whereas biomass is the only source for renewable chemicals. Feedstocks that are extracted from petroleum by the chemical industry can also be extracted from biomass. The change from oil- to biorefining is near’, says Paul de Wild of the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) in the thesis on his promotion research. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:49:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/07/27/european-carena-project-speeds-up-implementation-of-membrane-reactors/ The 1st of June marked the start of the CARENA project: Catalytic Reactors based on New Materials. A large EU-funded collaborative project to create technologies enabling efficient conversion of light alkanes and CO2 into higher value chemicals. To reduce the dependency of the European community on imported oil, the CARENA project will promote the implementation of catalytic membrane reactors in the European chemical industry. The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) is the... Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:31:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/04/11/new-free-hands-on-tool-supports-sustainable-living-choices/ Nitrogen footprint calculator enables individuals to chart and reduce their contribution to growing problem of nitrogen pollution. Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:38:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2011/04/11/nitrogen-is-needed-to-feed-a-growing-world-population-but-pollutes-air-soil-and-water/ Excessive nitrogen harms the economy and environment – first Europe-wide assessment published A major new study finds that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 - £650 (€150 – €740 Euros) a year. The first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA) will be launched at a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday 11 April. Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:45:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/11/16/large-cutbacks-at-ecn/ As of 1 January 2011, the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) will be facing a cutback of 8M€ annually in the research subsidy received from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. As a consequence, revenue from collaboration projects and assignments will be lost, resulting in an estimated loss in turnover in 2011 of about €13 million. Therefore, the ECN Management Board is announcing a shrinkage today. ECN will focus on a number of core activities and fields... Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:08:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/11/03/coping-with-criticism-about-ccs/ A short film with ECN researcher Heleen de Coninck in the lead. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 08:30:00 +0100 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/09/16/renewable-action-plans-eu-members-published/ The National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) are documents in which European Member States explain how they intend to reach their renewable energy targets for the year 2020 and the paths towards them. EU Member States are obliged to submit National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) to the European Commission, outlining how they expect to meet their 2020 renewable energy target, including the technology mix they intend to use and the trajectory they will follow. At the date... Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:44:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/09/09/paul-korting-successor-to-ton-hoff-at-ecn/ Petten, 9th september 2010 Paul Korting (56), currently General Director Industry and Technology at TNO, has been appointed as Managing Director of ECN by the Supervisory Board of ECN as of 1 December 2010. Paul Korting is joining ECN after a lengthy career at TNO. With a background in aeronautical engineering, he has been responsible for organisation development, commercial cooperation and growth at director level for the Prins Maurits Laboratory and the core areas Defence, Security and... Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:09:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/09/08/amsterdam-conference-marks-major-milestone-in-co2-capture-transport-and-storage/ Global exchange of science and experiences ‘From research to reality’ is the theme of the 10th Greenhouse Gas Technologies Control Conference (GHGT-10), which will be held in Amsterdam from September 19 - 23. More than 1500 scientists will discuss barriers to and opportunities for implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS). Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:02:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/07/06/membrane-reactor-winner-of-the-tue-design-award-2010/ The Spanish engineer Francisco Zaragoza Martin has designed a power station with a new type of membrane reactor. The design is based on pre-combustion technology, whereby the reactor separates hydrogen from CO2 using ECN’s patented membrane reactor system. The remaining CO2 can be stored in the earth’s crust, while the hydrogen can be used as fuel for a gas turbine that powers a generator. His report was selected as the best of the TU/e design programmes. According to the judges, Zaragoza... Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:17:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/07/05/emissions-of-greenhouse-gases-methane-and-nitrous-oxide-underestimated/ The emission of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide has been structurally underestimated, as a result of the measuring methods used. This is the conclusion of Petra Kroon, who carried out research for the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and TU Delft into an innovative method for measuring the emission of these gases. Kroon recently obtained her PhD degree for this much more accurate method, which also partly solves the problem of this systematic underestimation. Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:28:00 +0200 http://www.ecn.nl/news/item/date/2010/06/21/north-sea-seaweed-projects-closer-to-reality/ Recently the Dutch government decided to subsidise four seaweed projects. This is an important step forwards in cultivating this new form of biomass in the North Sea. ECN is participating in two of these projects. Researchers from Biomass, Coal and Environmental Research have been exploring ways of extracting valuable raw materials and energy from this marine agricultural product. Seaweed cultivation is a fast-growing sector around the world. In China and Japan, seaweed is being grown on an... Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:36:00 +0200