Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy ( da, Risø DTU Nationallaboratoriet for Bæredygtig Energi) is a scientific

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

organization north of

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. The Risø DTU organisation was founded in 1956 and dissolved on 1 January 2012. The location is now known as DTU Risø Campus and the buildings are home to a number of institutes under the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

(DTU) and separately is also home to Aarhus Universitybr>Dept of Environmental Science
and part o
Dept of Bioscience
Risø covers an area of more than 2.6 square kilometres.

Organisation

From 1 January 2008, it was made an institute of the

(DTU). On 1 January 2007, the Technical University of Denmark merged with the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, the Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, Danish National Space Center, the Danish Transport Research Institute and Risø National Laboratory. Before this, Risø National Laboratory was a research institute under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and consisted of eight research departments: Biosystems,

Polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

Department, Fuel Cells and

Solid State Chemistry Solid-state chemistry, also sometimes referred as materials chemistry, is the study of the synthesis, structure, and properties of solid phase materials, particularly, but not necessarily exclusively of, non-molecular solids. It therefore has a str ...

, Materials Research,

Optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

and Plasma Research, Radiation Research,

Systems Analysis Systems analysis is "the process of studying a procedure or business to identify its goal and purposes and create systems and procedures that will efficiently achieve them". Another view sees system analysis as a problem-solving technique that ...

and

Wind Energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...

History

Risø was founded in 1956, but not officially inaugurated until 1958.

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...

played a key role in the founding of Risø and was chairman of the Nuclear Energy Commission charged to promote the peaceful use of nuclear power. The mission of Risø was "to create new knowledge based on world-class research, and to ensure that our knowledge is used to promote the development of an innovative and sustainable society" (from the web page). In the first three decades, the centre's activities were centred around research on peaceful use of nuclear energy. From these times, Risø is the site of three research nuclear reactors: DR-1, DR-2 and DR-3. DR-3 is a

DIDO Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

class

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

. All reactors are no more in use, they have been shut down and are undergoing decommissioning. Risø was in its later years particularly noted for its involvement in

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, w ...

and solid-oxide fuel cells. Risø had strong competences in

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

effects studies and had "state of the art" facilities for realistic climate change experiments and monitoring. These included * RERAF (Risø Environmental Risk Assessment facility) - a phytotrone controlled environment growth facility. * Sorø beech forest. A field station in an 80-year-old beech forest measuring carbon inputs, outputs and turnover processes by advanced techniques (e.g.

eddy covariance The eddy covariance (also known as eddy correlation and eddy flux) is a key atmospheric measurement technique to measure and calculate vertical turbulent fluxes within atmospheric boundary layers. The method analyses high-frequency wind and scal ...

). * CLIMAITE - Climate change effects on biological processes in terrestrial ecosystems. A field scale climate change experiment conducting multifactor experiments with elevated CO₂, night time warming and altered precipitation. The organization employed about 700 staff (660 person-years) in 2005. On 1 January 2012 Risø DTU was dissolved. The location is now called DTU Risø Campus and is home to a number of DTU institutes.

Collaborators and users

* National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser (DMU)) The Risø area also house National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) part of the Danish

University of Aarhus Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

. NERI is "an independent research faculty under University of Aarhus. NERI undertakes scientific consultancy work, monitoring of nature and the environment as well as applied and strategic research. NERI’s task is to establish a scientific foundation for environmental policy decisions" * DTU Fotonik also use some of the facilities, as a part of the ''Optics and Plasma Research'' department was transferred this institute as part of the merger.

WAsP

Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) is a tool used in the

industry to simulate wind flow over terrain and estimate the long-term power production of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s and

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

s. It has been in development by Risø and DTU Wind Energy for over 30 years, and runs on PCs using Microsoft Windows. The name WAsP is short for WAAAP ("W, some A's, and a P"), the acronym of the software name. Current version is 12.6 The official site of WAsP
/ref>

References

External links