Nordic innovators adapting to extreme heat

By Anders Lorenzen

Parts of Europe have been engulfed in extreme heat in the past few months, with the first heatwave starting back in May. As Denmark records an all-time high temperature record, Nordic innovators are at the forefront of adapting to extreme heat.

Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world. While the Nordic region represents the coolest part of continental Europe overall, the heat has also been noted here, with sudden temperature spikes.

For instance, in Denmark a new all time-high temperature record of 37.0°C was set in June, beating the previous record of 36.4°C from 1975 that had stood for over 50 years.

How is the Nordic region adapting to a warming climate?

While Denmark, as well as other Nordic countries, has a strong record in leading the way in transitioning away from the fossil fuels that is the leading cause of climate-fuelled extreme heat and temperature records, the country is also pioneering technologies which are helping us to better adapt to a warming world.

Denmark pioneered triple and quadruple glazing before double-glazing had even become trendy. You may wonder, how does this help deal with extreme heat? There is a common misconception that extra glazed windows are only suitable for keeping homes warm, but it goes the other way as well; while these windows retain heat in winter, they can reduce how much heat is entering during summer.

This technology has contributed to homes in the region becoming more energy-efficient, creating more comfortable homes that are adapted to a warming climate.

Designing for a warming climate

The leading role that the Nordic region plays is not only thanks to having forward-looking entrepreneur-focused companies and strong relations to the design sector, but also due to having strong building regulations and policies in place, as well as governments having prioritised investments for decades.

Solutions by companies, innovators and organisations extend far beyond the Nordic region. For instance, Denmark’s Ramboll, an engineering, architecture and consultancy company that operates across the world, has contributed to major infrastructure and landmark developments, including work on the Øresund Bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden, the Great Belt Bridge, the Copenhagen Opera House and the extension of the Tate Modern in London. The company, with headquarters in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, is recognised for its engineering, environmental consulting, urban development and renewable-energy-related projects.

Similarly, the Swedish architecture company White Architects works across a broad range of building types and planning activities. It has undertaken a broad and diverse set of projects across housing, education, healthcare, cultural buildings, commercial developments, public spaces and urban planning. The firm has a nature-based focus, building with rather than against nature, and often integrates architecture with the landscape – with design sustainability at the core of the early design stages.

The company has described its mission as enabling sustainable life through architecture and, as a result, has set a long-term goal of delivering regenerative and climate-neutral architecture through its work. White Architects has worked on several significant projects such as Sara Kulturhus (Sara Cultural Centre) in Skellefteå, one of the world’s tallest timber buildings; the Stockholm Waterfront complex; the long-term Kiruna city relocation; and numerous hospitals, schools, transport facilities and civic buildings throughout and beyond the Nordic region.

Denmark’s new energy-efficient supercomputer in Sønderborg, Denmark. Photo: Danfoss

Green roofs, living walls and rainwater retention

Denmark’s Henning Larsen is a design and architecture company which has taken a people-centred design approach alongside environmental performance. The company develops projects with the sensitivity and need for the local context. Its designs are built upon emphasising and utilising available daylight, public space and biodiversity, fostering collaboration between architects, landscape architects, engineers and sustainability specialists with the objective of creating places that support both communities and ecological systems.

In the company’s portfolio, several high-profile and internationally recognised projects are included, such as Copenhagen Opera House, Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík, Moesgaard Museum in Denmark and Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney.

The Nordic region has gradually but firmly established itself as a world leader in using nature-based materials to roll out green roofs and other urban cooling initiatives, such as living walls and rainwater retention, which enhance urban biodiversity and reduce urban heat islands. Such technologies and initiatives can simultaneously address heatwaves, flooding and stormwater management.

Initiatives such as these have led to further collaboration between stakeholders in the Scandinavian Green Roof Institute (SGRI). Since its inception in 2001, SGRI has been a research and competence centre for urban blue-green solutions and ecosystem services.

Cooling without air-conditioning

With current technology, air-conditioning (AC) has a very high carbon footprint. Aware of its own goal of increasing emissions by adding high-carbon AC units, the Nordic region has taken a different and more innovate approach to cooling, by scaling up the district cooling technology.

The region has taken on a leadership position in this cooling method that is not to be confused with district heating. By adopting the lower carbon footprint of district cooling, instead of high-carbon AC, you also adopt reusability by utilising a combination of seawater, lakes, waste cooling, heat pumps and underground for cooling needs.

One company that has invested in district cooling is Stockholm Exergi, which is based in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. The energy company provides district heating, district cooling, electricity and energy services for the Stockholm region. It is one of the Nordic region’s largest district energy operators and has become internationally recognised for its leadership in bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), an approach designed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while generating heat and power.

Denmark’s Danfoss has pioneered the modern reversible heat pump design. The versatile engineering company produces heating, cooling and plumbing appliances. The odds are high that you, no matter where in the world you are, have a product in your home that is made by Danfoss!

Adapting to climate with digital services

Digital services and data are becoming increasingly crucial when it comes to managing our rapidly warming world, where weather is only going to become more extreme and unpredictable as warming intensifies.

Nordic companies are actively working on how better to innovate and plan for this. Some, such as Sweden’s Combient and Afry, have adopted AI to create better and more accurate urban heat mapping, digital twins, emergency planning and infrastructure resilience.

Reaching 37°C degrees in Denmark is a big deal. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if within the next ten years, we reach 40°C,” Eigil Kaas, a Danish climate scientist, told the Danish broadcaster Denmark’s Radio (DR), highlighting the need for cooling solutions as much as heating solutions – even in the Nordics.