Engineering judgment
Grounded in first principles.
Nornec is a boutique, principal-led consultancy for advanced and emerging energy systems. When a technology sits at the edge of what's proven, we tell you what the physics actually permits — and what it doesn't — before the engineering and the money follow.
The principal
Sindre Zeiner-Gundersen
A physicist working at the frontier of energy science — pulsed plasma electrolysis, hydrogen Rydberg matter, and the systems built on top of them. Nornec exists so that work reaches clients without being diluted through layers of a firm.
- → PhD candidate, University of Iceland
- → Technical Advisor, Joi Scientific
- → Founder, Aidevo AS
Approach
We reason from the laws down, not the brochure up.
Advanced energy attracts confident claims. Our method is to start where the physics is non-negotiable and only then ask what the engineering and economics can deliver.
Mass and energy set the ceiling
A claim that needs a free lunch is settled before any modelling begins — no exceptions made for novelty.
Model against real plant and lab data
Kinetics, emissions, capture and cost are modelled against real data. The uncertainty is named, not hidden.
Every conclusion carries its reasoning
Every conclusion is structured to hold up in front of a due-diligence team, a board, or a funding agency.
What we build
Lab operating systems,
not dashboards.
Most labs collect data. Ours acts on it. We design agent loops that understand the physics of the experiment — so they know when a signal is real, when an instrument is drifting, and when the next run should stop before it wastes a campaign.
Engagement models
Three ways to make your lab autonomous.
Fixed-scope packages. No slideware — we ship working control logic, agent prompts, and a runbook your team owns.
Lab Audit
A 48-hour review of your instrumentation, data flow, and decision points. We map where agents can take over — and where humans must stay in charge.
- ✓ Instrument topology map
- ✓ Agent-readiness scorecard
- ✓ 90-day roadmap
Agent Deployment
We build, deploy, and hand over one autonomous loop for your experiment — measurement, interpretation, decision, and actuation — integrated with your existing hardware.
- ✓ Custom agent loop
- ✓ Instrument integration
- ✓ Runbook + hand-off training
Lab OS Retainer
Standing principal access and continuous agent improvement. We tune models, add new loops, and keep the system aligned with your research programme.
- ✓ Monthly agent sprints
- ✓ Priority support
- ✓ Roadmap co-development
Consulting services
Scoped engagements, fixed in advance.
Clear deliverables and scope fixed in advance — so the conversation stays about the physics, and pricing follows once the problem is understood.
Technical review
An independent physics read on a technology, claim, or process design. What's sound, what's borderline, what fails.
Feasibility & systems study
Full feasibility for an energy system or sub-system — thermodynamics, kinetics, integration and economics, with sensitivities.
Pre-FEED & investor package
Investment-grade documentation for advanced energy projects, built to withstand external technical due diligence.
Technical advisory retainer
Standing access to principal-level judgment across an evolving programme of work, claims and decisions.
Domains
Where we work.
Concentrated in advanced and emerging energy — the areas where first-principles reasoning earns its keep.
Case: TENSOR
An autonomous research station for pulsed plasma electrolysis.
TENSOR monitors hydrogen R&D experiments from a local Ollama cluster, reading instrument streams, proposing next runs, and escalating anomalies to the principal. It runs when the lab is empty.
- 01 Multi-channel ingestion: PMT, Timepix3, power supplies, PLCs
- 02 Physics-aware anomaly model with falsification gate
- 03 Self-directed run queue and escalation protocol
Energy systems
Still grounded in process physics.
Lab autonomy sits on top of the same first-principles discipline that powers our energy and process work. We don't sell software — we bring the physics into the loop.
Two instruments, one discipline
Nornec is the judgment. Aidevo is the engine.
Nornec delivers principal-led consulting. Aidevo AS — the companion firm — productises the same physics into an admissibility kernel and a shelf of feasibility engines, for when the work calls for software rather than a study.
The reasoning is identical; only the form changes. Engagements move between the two as the problem demands.
Visit Aidevo →“If a claim sounds too good, that's the one to send.”
Tell us what you're evaluating. We'll tell you what the physics permits — directly, and in writing.
szg@nornec.com →