Red deer antlers from the Isle of Mull, a laser tape measuring device and the world’s first flat pack solar power kit are among an eclectic group of items set to show how technology in Scotland is responding to the challenges of climate change.

The objects, which include rock core from the Goldeneye gas field, a cell module from a subsea battery pack and tiny tracking devices used to measure the impact of wind turbines on birds, have been gathered for a new National Museum of Scotland exhibition.

Entitled Scotland’s Climate Challenge, it will examine Scottish innovations which seek to mitigate and measure the impact of industry on climate. The exhibition, which begins next Friday, also spotlights some of the problems connected to the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energies, and their own impact on bird and sea life.

As well as showcasing a range of leading-edge equipment - much of it newly added to the National Museum of Scotland’s collections - will be samples of natural material which reveal how the changing climate is impacting on nature and profiles of Scots working to measure climate-related issues and create solutions.

Coinciding with the launch of the exhibition will be a poignant new work by Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram, which will see a specially adapted 19th century fire engine bell from the Museum’s collection, toll at random intervals and up to 200 times per day.

Each ring of the brass bell, originally used on a horse-drawn fire engine from St Mary’s Isle estate near Kirkcudbright – chosen to reflect the ‘emergency’ element of climate change - will mark the extinction of a species, representing the number of species being lost every 24 hours, according to a 2007 report from the UN.

It will toll from Friday through to the second week of January.

According to Ellie Swinbank, Technology Curator at National Museums Scotland, the new exhibition aims to unravel some of the complex and often worrying issues surrounding the climate crisis in an accessible way for visitors to easily understand.

At the same time, it will spotlight how Scottish innovation and new technologies are bringing solutions – delivering an element of hope to what can be a grim subject.

“Scotland’s Climate Challenge brings together just some of the technological responses that have been developed in Scotland or that are being used here in the effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions,” she said.

“We also look at the efforts made to ensure these new technologies are themselves sustainable, both in terms of their impact on the environment and ecosystems and the resources consumed in their manufacture.”

The exhibition explores geo-thermal energy which harnesses the heat held in flooded mine works and looks at its potential to be used to heat homes and generate electricity.

“It links back to our industrial, fossil fuel past and coalmining, but links to the possibility of a more hopeful and sustainable future,” she added.

Hydrogen as an energy source is also explored through the Scottish communities that are using it, along with wind, wave and tidal energies.

While another element explores sustainable transport and the social, political and infrastructure changes that have to happen to make the shift to electric vehicles and other eco-friendly forms of travel.

One element of the exhibition shows how red deer antlers collected from the Isle of Mull over the past 30 years have helped researchers analyse changes in deer populations’ diets providing valuable data about vegetation and mating patterns.

A gas flux chamber used to record greenhouses gases at a restored peatland, and a laser measuring device owned by Scotland’s ‘snow hunter’ Iain Cameron will also be included in the display. He tracks the size and condition of remote snow patches on Scottish hills and records them for the Royal Meteorological Society’s Weather journal.

A pioneering flat packable solar power kit manufactured in Dundee, SolarisKit, which has been applauded for its contribution to lowering carbon emissions and addressing fuel poverty in the developing world, also features. Capable of heating water up to 60°, it has been labelled as one of the ‘1000 solutions to change the world’, and won awards for Heriot-Watt University based inventor Dr Faisal Ghani.

Curator Ellie said the exhibition, supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, is designed to encourage optimism that solutions to difficult problems can be found.

“It gives hope that in this very scary subject, there are real people working to address problems.

“And there are fantastic people out there working in this sector.”

Dr Christopher Breward, Director of National Museums Scotland said: “The global environmental emergency - not only the climate crisis but also large-scale biodiversity loss - is the biggest challenge facing the world.

“National Museums Scotland has an important role to play in using our collections, our museums, and our knowledge and expertise to create spaces for people to debate, learn and share ideas and work towards a better future.

“Scotland’s Climate Challenge and the Extinction Bell are two elements of a much wider programme across National Museums Scotland, which includes further programming in terms of events and activities but also our own operations.”