Every second Wednesday, the Circular Industries Talks are organised at the Circular Industries Hub. This edition, Stefan Pfenninger, Associate Professor Energy Systems Modelling at TU Delft, presented about his research into the option space for the sustainable energy transition. Curious for more? Take a look at the recording at the bottom of this page.
Option space for the sustainable energy transition considering material needs and circularity
Globally, we are emitting a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. A large portion of this comes from the energy sector, and are emitted during the burning of fossil fuels. If we could eliminate those emissions, we could solve most of the climate problems. How can we build an energy supply system that relies as much as possible on clean and renewable energy sources, and turn mission impossible into mission possible? Listen to Stefan Pfenninger's recap to find some answers to this question, or read the take-aways of his talk below.
Key take-aways:
- Many cost-effective options exist for an energy self-sufficient, carbon-neutral Europe
- A variety of spatial configurations and different technology combinations are possible
- Imposing preferences – like having as little bioenergy as possible – reduces the manoeuvring space
- Considering material requirements opens up additional criteria for decision-making, complicating the search for acceptable trade-offs
- Option space and trade-offs are very different elsewhere in the world – this matters when considering trade (e.g. synfuels/biofuels)
Curious about the whole story? Listen to Stefan Pfenninger, about the option space for the sustainable energy transition considering material needs and circularity.
The Circular Industries talks
The goal of the Circular Industries talks is to share knowledge across Leiden, Delft and Erasmus and to complement and deepen the knowledge already available within the Circular Industries Hub. The talks are organized on Wednesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00. The talks are online (Microsoft Teams).