On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, the second workshop of the project Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development took place in Lillestrøm, Norway. The project is funded through the EEA and Norway Grants mechanism and implemented by the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Bucharest in collaboration with Pre Stack Solutions-Geo from Norway.
The event marked the first collaboration between GeoAlliance and EarthresQue – Centre for Rescue of Earth Materials and Waste in the Circular Economy and brought together researchers from academia and the private sector, master’s and doctoral students, entrepreneurs, and representatives of local authorities.
The first part of the workshop was held at the Brånåsdalen landfill, with discussions primarily focusing on persistent environmental hazards, including soil instability and the risk of gas migration affecting adjacent properties. Participants debated the role of geophysical methods in addressing the specific challenges of the Brånåsdalen landfill and how these methods could be used for the advanced management of municipal solid waste landfills, a technology developed in Romania.
As noted by Florina Țuluca, teaching staff at the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Bucharest and the director of the project: „the accumulation of methane gas resulting from the biodegradation of waste deposited between 1971 and 1991 has posed serious health and safety risks to the residents of the neighbourhood built near the Brånåsdalen landfill. This is why the landfill is equipped with a modern gas capture system and serves as a testing site for various geophysical methods aimed at analysing the integrity of the landfill’s top sealing system”.
The complete programme of the event is available here.
THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS DURING THEIR VISIT TO VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF THE LANDGILL GAS CAPTURE SYSTEM
VISITING VARIOUS POINTS OF INTEREST WITHIN THE LANDFILL SITE, WHICH IS NOW PARTIALLY USED AS A RECREATIONAL AND AGRICULTURAL AREA
The second part of the workshop was held at the Institute for Energy Technology, where experts from both countries presented technologies and results on various topics connected with geothermal energy, the application of geophysical methodologies for controlling methane production in municipal solid waste landfills, and the use of stable isotopes for monitoring and analysing landfill processes.
„Within the project Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development, we aim to expand cooperation between Romania and the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), which support bilateral collaboration through the EEA Grants and Norway Grants programs, focusing on topics such as energy transition and the use of geophysics for SMART City solutions. Environmental challenges and societal needs are becoming increasingly complex, highlighting the need for knowledge exchange to accelerate progress in the energy transition, prevent environmental issues, and mitigate climate impact. I would like to thank Helen Kristine French (Centre for Rescue of Earth Materials and Waste in the Circular Economy, Norwegian University of Life Sciences), Christian Schöpke (Institute for Energy Technology), Esther Bloem (The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research), and Marta Wronkowska (Lillestrøm Kommune) for their involvement in organizing the workshop, as well as all participants for their valuable contributions to the discussions”, stated Florina Țuluca, the project director.
The project nr. 2024/39508 – Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development is co-financed by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants Romania 2014-2021, in the frame of the SME Growth Programme Romania.