The Danish research expedition, Galathea 3, has returned to Denmark long ago; but the scientists are still processing the many data they collected navigating around the globe. The data is presented on the new educational website VirtuelGalathea3.dk

The Hevesy Laboratory at Risø DTU stepped in when the delivery of radioactive isotopes for Danish hospitals failed. Among others, the laboratory was able to provide the Danish university hospitals Rigshospitalet and Bispebjerg with an alternative to cancelling vital bone scans.

A new collaboration between Risø DTU and nine other leading national laboratories within EU has taken up the challenge to found a European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). The key objective of the alliance is to accelerate the development of new low carbon technologies for EU to move toward a low carbon economy

Together with GE Healthcare, the Hevesy Laboratory in the Radiation Research Department at Risø DTU are planning to develop a radioactive tracer that can help make an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Thus the cooperation can contribute to make earlier medical treatment possible. Today 65.000 people in Denmark are suffering from the disease.

Senior Research Specialist Kirsten Halsnæs from Risø DTU is going to speak at Folketinget’s public hearing on climate change.

Head of programme Peter Sommer-Larsen has been honoured with a prize for his outstanding contribution to research into artificial muscles made of rubber. The artificial muscles can be used for widely different things as robots and wave power stations. Peter Sommer-Larsen is the first to receive the Elastyren prize from the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences. The prize is to promote innovation and significant achievements in chemical research and development.

Read the press release from DTU (in Danish)

Research Professor Mogens Mogensen from Risø DTU has been honoured with a European medal of honor. The medal - Christian Friedrich Schoenbeins Medal of Honor - was given in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research and development of fuel cells.

A new national strategy for Danish development of hydrogen and fuel cells for transport purposes, for the period of 2008-2025, has just been published by the transport strategy group under the Danish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Partnership. The strategy points out promising focus areas, where Denmark can play an important role internationally and it prepares the ground for a combination of hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries as optimal solutions to the heavy demands the future will make on means of transport in terms of environment and resources. The strategy is also going to contribute to increased export of Danish energy technology. Allan Schrøder Pedersen from Risø DTU has been the chairman of the working group behind the strategy.

Risø DTU´s research into sustainability is going to be put into practice. The latest issue of RisøNews describes how you can ensure energy supply and a sustainable climate for future generations. The magazine includes stories about Risø’s energy technologies and a broad general perspective. Both are important to meet the challenge of global climate change.

Lars Martiny is 40 years old. Since 2004 he has been employed at Risø DTU as head of programme of the Hevesy Laboratory, a facility inaugurated in 2005 with the aim of development and production of radiopharmaceuticals.

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has decided to establish DTU Climate Centre. The DTU Climate Centre will strengthen consultancy aimed at developing and implementing climate change action plans in Denmark, the EU and developing countries. The research centre will collaborate widely with the public and private sectors in Denmark.

Risø DTU will launch a new network in October that brings companies and scientists together focusing on biological waste.

Søren Linderoth, der leder Afdelingen for Brændselsceller og Faststofkemi med mere end 120 ansatte på Risø DTU, er udnævnt til professor på DTU.

On 19 and 20 November DTU is holding a 2-day workshop on future energy systems with lower CO2 emissions. At the workshop Risø Energy Report 7 will be published. The report describes how the very different challenges in the world's regions must be solved in different ways.

We can change the Danish energy system to depend mainly on renewable energy and cut CO2 emissions by 50%. The big challenge lies in the system itself. This was one of the messages at DTU’s workshop on future energy systems.

On 25 November a new research facility at Risø DTU will be inaugurated. Here, scientists will be able to experiment with different physical loads on wind turbine blades, corresponding exactly to what the wind does to the blades during a lifetime. The advanced measurements will make it possible to work more focused on design and structure, thus contributing to the development of larger and stronger blades.

From 1 – 3 September, DTU and 124 other universities from around the world are presenting their knowledge and ideas to the business community at the fair COPENMIND in Bella Center. Risø DTU will be present at DTU's stand and host a conference named ‘Cutting-edge clean-tech research in Denmark’.

Risø DTU is participating in a cooperation with LM Glasfiber, Aalborg University and Comfil Aps that is going to revolutionise the production of wind turbine blades. The project has received DKK 35 million from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation. Risø DTU contributes with knowledge about fibre composites and process technology.

A wind turbine car built in Denmark is on its way to a race in the Netherlands. The supervisors on the project from Risø DTU’s Wind Energy Department are scientists Mac Gaunaa and Thomas Buhl. Six students will be sitting for the examination in this project during the next months with supervisors Mac Gaunaa and Thomas Buhl from Risø DTU and Robert Mikkelsen from DTU Mechanical Engineering. The car is going to pass the final test in the competition on Saturday 23 August.

Søren Linderoth, afdelingschef i Afdelingen for Brændselsceller og Faststofkemi på Risø DTU, modtager AEG Elektronfondens Elektronpris 2008. Søren Linderoth får prisen for sit store bidrag til en af de senere års mest succesfulde danske forskningssatsninger på energiområdet: Udviklingen af keramiske brændselsceller.

Calculations made by Risø in cooperation with University of Stuttgart and other partners show that it is possible for Ireland to get 42 % of their energy from renewable energy sources. The country will then become the green island in more than one sense. Ireland has Europe’s best wind resources and intends to use them. Consequently the Irish Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has published a comprehensive study on how the country can be world leader in renewable energy. The purpose of the Irish study was to surpass the island’s own target of 33 % of renewable energy by 2020. The study showed that it is actually possible to generate 42 % of Ireland’s electricity from renewable energy.

A workshop at DTU will try to answer this issue. The workshop will take place on 14 - 15 January 2009 at DTU in Lyngby. See the programme and register at DTU Climate Change Technologies.

Experts are going to form at least one high tech company. This is the objective of a new project where scientists, designers and business developers take part in one of the most pioneering commercial initiatives at Risø.

During its EU presidency, France has worked to establish a EU research forum and this weekend you can visit an exhibition which aims to show the best of Europe's scientific research. Risø DTU is participating in the European coordinated programme on fusion research. At EFDA's stand you can watch a show of exciting experiments created by scientists from the Plasma Physics and Technology programme.

Risø DTU, VE-Net and DS Trade and Industry are holding a biomass conference on 30 April.

High temperature electrolysis appears to have the potential of becoming a viable economic solution to the production of hydrogen and synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO), which can easily be transformed into synthetic fuels, such as synthetic natural gas or petrol.

Danish children who have lived in buildings with high levels of radon are at an increased risk of developing so-called acute lymphatic leukaemia, which is the most common type of leukaemia in children. Risø DTU has contributed to the new scientific study.

The development of competitive energy and climate solutions is now speeded up by a large-scale innovation programme from the Technical University of Denmark.

What will be the consequences of climate change for developing countries, and what are the challenges for Denmark in this connection? Kirsten Halsnæs and John Christensen from the UNEP Risø Center will be taking part in a debate on this subject at a hearing in the Folketing on 13 November. The hearing has been arranged by the Danish Board of Technology on behalf of the Folketing’s Environment and Regional Planning Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The DTU Climate Centre shall ensure scientifically based advises on major challenges related to climate change. The centre will work with Danish public authorities, commercial organisations, industry and international organisations

In October LM Glasfiber is establishing an office at Risø DTU to strengthen cooperation with scientists from the Materials Research Department and the Wind Energy Department. The objective of the cooperation is to develop blades and methods of production thereby making wind energy more competitive.

In China, bamboo is used for lots of things, from houses to both paper and clothes. So why not also use it for wind turbine blades? Risø DTU is helping the Chinese forestry commission to examine the possibilities of the material.

Risø DTU offers a new Master’s degree programme in sustainable energy; the first students are starting in September. The new Master’s degree aims at educating experts within sustainable energy technologies and energy systems. The education will create graduates who can really make a difference by finding solutions to some of the major climate and energy challenges of our time.

Read more here

Also read the news at dtu.dk (in Danish)

Two out of ten Danish top scientists in the new climate commission come from DTU. In 2010 the commission is going to present its suggestions for a future climate policy.

Risø DTU and the Danish Emergency Management Agency have published their fifth annual report on international development within nuclear power. The report focuses particularly on nuclear preparedness and safety. The report for 2007 deals with: nuclear electricity production, regional trends, development of reactors, incidents related to nuclear safety and international conditions and conflicts.

Since the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005, the CDM has developed very rapidly with more than 4000 projects in the pipeline and a further 120 new projects entering the pipeline every month.

Nini Pryds, age 46, is to head a new programme, TEK (Thermoceramics), which aims to develop and design a prototype of a magnetic refrigeration system. Also, there will be development of new thermoelectric ceramic materials which can be used to produce power from waste heat, for example in connection with fuel cells.

Researchers at the University of Århus, Risø DTU and the University of Copenhagen stand jointly behind new data, just published in Nature Materials, that describes properties of thermoelectric materials, which is of great importance for their practical application. In the long term the new knowledge can be used to develop motors that are more fuel-efficient and for more environmentally friendly cooling methods.

UN Secretary-General has given the India Solar Home Systems Project, which is based in UNEP Risø Centre, a UN21 Award for 2007. The project was chosen among more than 70 nominated UN projects and was one of 15 awarded project three of them being UNEP initiatives.

Together with scientists from two other universities, several educational institutions and a number of knowledge institutions, scientists from Risø DTU will be present at Stændertorvet in Roskilde from 10 to 14 on Saturday 26 April sharing their knowledge in an inspiring way. See the programme here.

A group of researchers from Risø DTU look in a new Science article at promising commercial prospects for metallic glasses, also known as BMG – Bulk Metallic Glasses. In the article in the recognised international scientific journal they describe how improved testing and a better understanding of the properties of bulk metallic glasses will lead to new commercial applications.

Risø’s 50th anniversary is celebrated with the release of an anniversary book and a number of speeches which are broadcasted live from Risø’s website and to be watched later on demand.

On 10 – 12 November, Risø DTU and Kathmandu Power and Energy Group brought together experts in Nepal from all parts of the world to discuss materials for wind turbines in poor and isolated rural areas. The workshop concluded that it is possible to use locally available wood for the blades instead of the more expensive composite materials which are normally used.

On 3 - 5 September nearly 500 climate experts are meeting in Senegal for a regional conference - African Carbon Forum – which also serves as a new marketplace for CO2 trade. The UNEP Risoe Centre has taken part in the sponsoring and planning which includes an open competition for African participants.

For the first time ever a group of scientists from Risø DTU demonstrated polymer solar cells on a large scale. Out of 2,124 un-encapsulated polymer solar cells - approximately 1,000 cells were handed out to a very broad audience, the guests at the Roskilde Festival – in Denmark.

The RERAF greenhouse has just been rebuilt, which now makes it possible to control all parameters relevant to climate experiments with plants. The six unique climate chambers at Risø DTU are currently being used for an experiment to uncover what happens with the genes when plants adapt to new climatic conditions.