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Wood is an ancient construction material, but it has been gradually substituted with concrete and steel. However, the advantages of wood are now being (re)discovered as sustainability becomes a global interest and advanced manufacturing technologies become available. This article focuses on its advantages in carbon capture, digital construction, and prefabrication.

Marco Mazzotti, Professor of Process Engineering at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-​MAVT), receives the 2021 SINTEF and NTNU CCS Award for his research on carbon dioxide capture and storage systems.

In May 2021, the students from the Master's programme Energy Science and Technology successfully completed their interdisciplinary case studies. In six groups and over two semesters, they worked on real-​​world problems currently faced by companies within the energy sector.

It is estimated that buildings are responsible for 36% of global final energy use and 40% of the energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Buildings are also complex machines with long life cycles, which include regular maintenance and updates. Thus, buildings and particularly building refurbishments provide manifold and exciting opportunities to address climate change issues at low cost and with (free) co-benefits.

On 31 May, the successful kick-off of the PATHFNDR project took place. PATHFNDR is one of four consortia selected in the first call "Integration of renewables" and funded by the SFOE under the funding programme SWiss Energy research for the Energy Transition (SWEET). Besides the leading house ETH Zurich, teams from Empa, PSI, ZHAW, HSLU, UniGE, EPFL, and also 25 industry partners will investigate how the Swiss energy system has to be transformed to absorb a much higher share of renewable energy sources.