Skip to main content

Norwegians are developing eco-friendly snow machines that heat homes

Changing climates around the world are affecting the amount of snowfall on mountains. To keep up, more and more ski resorts have turned to artificial snow to stay in business. Snow machines are expensive to run and require large amounts of fuel, which also contributes to the climate change. In an effort to save their country’s favorite sport, Norwegian researchers are developing a better snow machine.

According to Climate Home, 2.3 million Krone ($300,000) in support from the Norwegian Ministry of Culture is going toward researching a solution at SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The first step is to change the way snow machines work.

Recommended Videos

Currently, snow machines work by simply spraying water into cold air. With more recent advances, water is now mixed with a protein from a bacterium that allows snow to form at higher temperatures around freezing. Once temperatures are above freezing, this standard method no longer is of any use.

By adapting the heat pump technology found in refrigerators and freezers, researchers found a way to create snow in warmer temperatures. By pulling heat from the outside, cold air is produced. This can then be used outside to produce artificial snow.

This process alone is not what makes the design energy efficient. Instead of wasting the heat that is pulled from the air, it can be used to heat up a building instead. Essentially, indoor facilities can be heated while making snow for the ski slopes at virtually no extra cost.

Additionally, researchers are looking for a better way to store snow as a precaution. Sawdust is currently used to help insulate the snow for later use, but it loses its insulating properties over time and requires replacement. One solution turns toward the fishing industry.

“The fishery sector produces around 300,000 tons of ice each year for fish export,” said Trygve Eikevik, a professor in NTNU’s Department of Energy and Process Engineering. “This is enough to cover an eight-meter-wide, 150-kilometer-long ski trail with a layer of ice that is half a meter thick. It is, therefore, more than possible to manufacture snow for skiing.”

Norwegians say they are “born with skis on their feet.” This is just one way they are working to keep it that way.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Vivint’s new updates make its smart home system even smarter
vivint doorbell outdoor camera pro updates  lifestyle 1

I've had a Vivint smart home for about 18 months, ever since reviewing the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro and the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. For the most part, I find them to be incredibly smart and useful. Plus, the integration with Google and Philips Hue in particular up the "whole-home smart home" game when I can unlock my front door and have my lights turn on. This week, Vivint announced updates to the Doorbell Pro and Outdoor Camera Pro, and it's great to see that "smart" extends to the company itself. Let's dive in.
On-device recording
Vivint upgraded all of its camera products -- the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro, Outdoor Camera Pro, and Indoor Camera Pro -- in a pretty significant way. Vivint added on-device recording for 24/7 monitoring for up to 10 days. All that footage is stored on the device, which is significant in one keyway. The previous generation of the cameras streamed footage in real-time from the cameras to a separately purchased smart hard drive. From there, if you wanted to review the footage, it would stream back over Wi-Fi to Vivint's servers, and back to your phone.

Put simply, this can cause a significant hit on your home Wi-Fi's bandwidth. With the new cameras, the footage is stored on a secure SD card locally and only transmitted when it's being streamed or viewed. Meanwhile, onboard AI will continue generating smart clips detailing what happens (people, packages, etc). Plus, aside from freeing up bandwidth on your home network, local recording storage also works even when your Wi-Fi is down. All told, it's enough to get me pretty geeked, so I'll be excited to test these things out. That's the biggest news that covers all the devices, so let's get into each device in particular.
Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro

Read more
Spider-Man: No Way Home’s new trailer brings back some old friends
Maskless Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Today in Los Angeles, Sony finally unveiled a new trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, dropped by to introduce the trailer in front of a live crowd. But if you've been holding out hope of seeing Daredevil or two other Spider-Men in this trailer then your hopes are about to be dashed. There's no sign of Matt Cox, Tobey Maguire, or Andrew Garfield in this video, or that there's any definitive truth to those persistent rumors. Instead, this trailer is all about the bad guys. Five of them to be exact. One more, and it's a Sinister Six!

In the aftermath of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker's life is a wreck. It's not just the fact that his identity has been exposed. Spider-Man's reputation has been smeared and people think that he's a murderer. Or as J. Jonah Jameson might put it, "a menace!" Unfortunately, Peter's attempt to recruit Doctor Strange for a supernatural solution has gone very badly. Instead of simply making the world forget Peter's secret, the spell has unleashed Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, the Lizard, and even the deadliest villain of them all: The Green Goblin.

Read more
Amazon has price cuts on Arlo and Blink home security cameras
Arlo Essential front shot

With Prime Day deals now in full swing, a few incredible discounts have emerged on outdoor security cameras that are just too good to miss. One of the best is on the all-new Blink Outdoor camera. Another can't-miss deal is the Arlo Essential Spotlight camera.

These deals come alongside a whole host of other home security camera deals, with Ring Video Doorbell discounts leading in price cuts.
Arlo Essential Spotlight Camera
-- $100, was $130

Read more