[ED – Vesna Barisic, chair of the Finnish Flame Research Committee (FFRC), is a key part of the IFRF Council and has driven and engaged FFRC members since her appointment alongside the equally valuable contributions from Mohamed Magdeldin, FFRC Secretary and FFRC Board members. These are exciting times for the future of combustion research in Finland and in her introduction to FFRC here she points us towards a few of these upcoming highlights.]

One thing Finland is known for is its people’s profound appreciation of nature and the eco-system surrounding them.

The new Finnish government recently outlined its plans to become carbon neutral by 2035, with the target to be written into Finnish law[1]. This is backed by majority of Finns who support concrete actions to combat climate change. A recent survey showed that over 90% of the public labels climate change as a serious problem[2]. Carbon neutral future is at the heart of activities by the Finnish Flame Research Committee – FFRC. FFRC’s active membership includes members from the entire industry value chain including energy producers, technology providers, equipment manufacturers and utility companies, as well as globally renowned research groups in the field of combustion and energy production sciences based here in Finland.

FFRC’s member, Åbo Akademi University recently hosted the 2019 Nordic Flame days, held on the 28^th and 29^th of August in Turku. Highlights of the event included talks on recent developments in Waste-to-Energy (W2E) solutions, curbing CO₂ emissions via Bioenergy and carbon capture and storage technologies (BECCS) and the role of biomass in enabling low carbon footprints in future district heating networks. At the closing of the conference, the FFRC outlined its programme for the following year, 2020, which is going to be a very special occasion for the organization and its members. Read the overview of the Nordic Flame Days 2019 by Anders Brink and Mohamed Magdeldin here.

On 26^th of November 1980, Bjarne Huldén (1915 – 2000) joined the IFRF joint committee meeting, held in Frankfurt – Germany, as the acting chairperson of the newly established Finnish National Committee. 40 years on, the FFRC actively continues as a network and platform for creating new ideas and concepts that facilitate the advancement of the energy industry in Finland linking it with the wider global community.

To celebrate the Ruby Jubilee, the 2020 Finnish Flame Days – Liekkipäivät, which happens to be the 10^th edition, will be held on 25^th and 26^th of November at the Arctic Circle, in the city of Rovaniemi. The invitation is open to all members of IFRF and we welcome you to join the breath-taking Finnish Lapland experience. The programme will be held at the Arktikum Science Centre (link) and the Korundi House of Culture (link). All talks and activities will be in English. We will be sharing in the near future information on abstract submission and registrations dates, as well as other practicalities.

To find out more about FFRC head over to their section of our website here. 

References

[1]https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/161664/Inclusive%20and%20competent%20Finland_2019.pdf?sequence=9

[2] https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9998441