Videos

Producing renewable, low-cost energy in a robust way remains a challenge. Jose Maria Cuevas (Imec - KU Leuven - Energyville) is looking at a new sort of solar cell that might help do the trick: the *take a breath* 3 Terminal Tandem Bifacial Solar Cell 😅 Say what ⁉️ Jose breaks it down and makes it crystal clear for you in this video. 👏

Modern electrical devices, such as the smartphone or the electric cars, work with direct current (DC) while our power grid works with alternating current (AC). Therefore, you need e.g. a charger, which converts one type of current to the other. So shouldn't we switch to a DC electricity grid? In her PhD, Leonie Hallemans investigates how we can make such new DC grids as safe as our old AC grid.

The production of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years. But the sun doesn't always shine as brightly, nor does the wind always blow. Fortunately, we can exchange electricity between different countries. This way, Germany can benefit from the Spanish sun and Spain from the German wind. But international trade unfortunately isn't that straightforward... Michiel Kenis (VITO - KU Leuven - EnergyVille) explains why and what he is trying to do about it in this video.

Did you ever hear of 'heat networks'? These are networks of underground pipelines carrying hot water from geothermal plants to houses & buildings. They offer an interesting and sustainable approach to heating. But the larger the network of houses to be heated becomes, the more complex it becomes to manually design an efficient heat network. That's where Yannick Wack's (VITO - KU Leuven - Energyville) research comes in...

5 million Flemings do not live in a city centre, but in villages or city outskirts. This fragmentation creates a major challenge: how do you connect all these houses to the sewerage network and how do you ensure smooth and sustainable mobility? Does everyone have to move to the city? No, as architect and urban designer Sophie Leemans (KU Leuven) explains in this video.

In Belgium, 10,000 cyclists are injured in traffic accidents every year. While helmets help reduce skill fractures, they often don't protect cyclists from brain injuries. Andrea Menichetti (KU Leuven) studies how much our brain can deform before getting injured in order to help manufacturers produce safer helmets.

Is it possible to make our cars lighter, and therefore more environmentally friendly, without compromising our safety? Luca Martulli (KU Leuven) turns to lightweight carbon fibre composites to do so.

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically reduced air traffic. But did you know that normally some 3,000 planes fly over Belgium every day? Katharina Schopf (KU Leuven) investigates the role of air traffic controllers and their leaders in ensuring that there are no airborne collisions

"If we would cover the entire surface of Portugal with solar panels , this would generate enough energy to power the entire world. But of course, no Portuguese would ever allow this. But what about using their windows?" Jacopo Sala talks about new generation of solar panels.