Energy

By cleverly combining different technologies, manufacturers can produce plastic that is climate neutral over its entire life cycle. A new study by an international team of researchers has shown that this combination requires less energy than alternatives and costs the same – or even less.

An Eawag study has shown that it makes good sense to recover domestic energy, for example from warm shower water. The study refutes concerns that this form of heat utilisation could have a negative impact on waste water treatment plants. In fact, utilising the energy closer to its source reduces energy losses in the waste-water system.

The successful deployment of solar power will depend on many factors, including how well grid operators are able to balance supply and demand in order to incorporate renewable energy into their low-voltage grids. An EPFL PhD thesis looks at how power utilities can promote flexibility to achieve that goal.

Switzerland has set itself the goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. With this net-zero target, it wants to contribute to limiting climate warming globally to less than 1.5 degrees C. The scenarios of the Competence Centres show that the net-zero goal is technically achievable by 2050. But this requires coordinated and comprehensive adaptations across a range of areas that affect society as a whole.

Switzerland has considerable capacity for carbon storage and a bright future in shallow geothermal energy. These are the two main findings presented in Innosuisse’s final report on the 2013–2020 Energy Funding Programme, in the chapter on geo-energy. Lyesse Laloui, a full professor in civil engineering at EPFL, is the chapter’s author and the head of a research group on this topic.