Area 3: Sustainable Energy Systems – Technology and Business Perspectives
Researching on technologies for a carbon-neutral vision while simultaneously assessing how firms, industries and countries are working are working in practice make transitions in their energy mix.
About the research
Current energy systems face a gigantic transformation process caused primarily by the need to mitigate climate change. Globalization, internationally-linked systems, and rapid technology developments – all within a background of shifting regulations and institutional conditions driven by demand-side dynamics – also play key roles. The transformation of energy systems will lead to far-reaching consequences for all critical areas of society: industry, service, transportation, buildings and agriculture.
A central part of the vision for the transformation of the Swedish, Nordic, European and world-wide energy system is a carbon-neutral platform based on renewable production and storage of electricity, heat and cooling, with high stability and security of supply, with the user side characterized by significantly higher resource efficiency than today.
A radical change in the energy supply towards a sustainable direction is a necessity. This transition will require significant investments in new infrastructure, new efficient energy technologies (including storage and carbon capture and utilization), new business arrangements and business models, better integrated and more efficient policies, as well as changing consumption and local production patterns. In parallel, it is necessary to address the greatest bottleneck against lower carbon dioxide emissions, namely the dependence on fossil fuels for transport. Here, a carbon-neutral power system can play an important role in developing new technologies and processes for converting second- and third-generation biomass into gaseous and liquid fuel for road vehicles, ships, and aircraft.
Energy systems are however special. They have significant historical inertia and a strong demand for backward compatibility in terms of new investments and innovations. Today's business models are adapted to the system logic that was created when the systems were built and therefore they are not at all adapted to sustainable resource utilization and the vision of carbon-neutral energy conversion and consumption.
Key areas
- Transformations in the transport sector
- Technology and business models for energy transitions in the built environment
- Energy transitions in the process industry, including effective energy policy
Activities
- Recruitment of 5 post-docs across the ITM school
- Post-doc projects for inter-departmental collaboration
- Projects by researchers across ITM
- Joint publications
- Joint funding proposals
- Workshops across ITM
- Workshop with Stockholm Stad
- Conference participations
- Joint teaching activities
- Mapping of energy-related activities at ITM
- Organisation of a sustainable energy panel at the ScAIEM conference (Scandinavian Academy of Industrial Engineering and Management) on October 16th 2019 at KTH, with 4 speakers and about 20-25 conference visitors.
- Organising a workshop and follow-up proposal submission process for capturing projects at the grass-roots level.
Coordinators
