GESDA Anticipation Workshop - Future of Energy Engineering

Afternoon

Martin Müller

Mercedes Maroto-Valer

Our primary energy requirements are for driving heating and cooling technologies, chemical fuels for machinery used in industry and transport, and the electricity used across a range of applications from data servers to domestic appliances. These three types of energy have traditionally been siloed, but there is potential for much more efficient global energy use if the barriers between them are lowered. We might, for instance, become better at using waste heat to drive electricity generation. What infrastructure would be required in order to integrate our disparate energy systems to maximise their value and reduce energy production’s environmental impact? What are the trade-offs that we would need to accept in this integrated-energy future? What innovations can we expect research to achieve in this area in the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Georgios Mavromatidis

Daniel Kammen

The era of passive, analogue energy distribution through static hardware is long finished. Fast-growing global demands for energy necessitate the creation of agile and adaptable energy networks whose performance and management can be optimised through AI and the development and implementation of digital twins that allow engineers, policy makers and operators to share data, model scenarios and anticipate future challenges. Such innovations will be necessary if nations and regions are to ensure the dual goals of resilient and secure energy supply and decarbonisation, particularly at peak demand. How can academic research assist the creation of digital energy networks that will meet future energy needs across the globe? What breakthroughs will be necessary, and when, over the next 5, 10 and 25 years, will they be achieved?

Antonello Monti

Sanjib Kumar Panda,

There is little debate in scientific circles about the need to move away from hydrocarbon-based energy. How that can be achieved with minimal economic and social disruption, and at an affordable cost, is much less clear. One possibility is through solar fuels – stable, storable energy sources that are derived from capturing sunlight. Photochemical, photobiological and photoelectrochemical reactions can be used to produce hydrogen and ammonia, for example. Though these processes are 2025 Science Breakthrough Radar – Anticipation Workshop – Energy Engineering extensively researched, there is still plenty of progress to be made before these methods are efficient, cost effective and practical sources of energy. More recently, Power-to-X (P2X) technologies (conversion of renewably electricity-P to a substance or energy carrier-X) are gaining significant attention. Similarly, the use of hydrogen has yet to fulfil its promise. What breakthroughs are needed to unlock future fuel sources, and what progress is likely over the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Robin Mutschler

Tobias Schmidt

Traditionally, we have seen energy production systems as imposed on their location and environment, operating separately from and often destructively in the ecosystem in which they are sited. However, there may be ways in which generation can be positively integrated into its immediate surroundings, creating an energy-ecosystem coupling that brings tangible benefits in terms of operation efficiency and natural capital. Suitably-designed integrations may have intrinsically lower environmental impact and capital expenditure requirements. Where are the niches that could support this energy-environment coupling? What are the challenges and opportunities, and where could suitably funded research take us in the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Mark Sutton

Anna Korre

Mercedes Maroto-Valer

GESDA Anticipation Workshop - Future of Energy Engineering