ESC News

Christian Schaffner, Executive Director of the Energy Science Center, is currently in New Delhi, participating at the India Smart Utility Week. With the session "Future Skills for the Jobs in 2030", day 4 of the conference was inaugurated.

At its meeting on 26 February the Swiss Federal Council approved the dispatch on the new funding program "Swiss energy research for the energy transition" (SWEET) for the attention of the Swiss Parliament.

Reliable and affordable energy supply is the backbone of today’s societies. It comes at a cost, though: Emissions into air, water and soil pollute the environment and cause diseases among humans. For balancing benefits and drawbacks of modern power generation globally, the Ecological Systems Design group at ETH Zürich develops new assessment approaches that combine the large amounts of available data and fill the gaps.

Also this year, the Energy Science Center came together at the SwissECS (Swiss Energy and Climate Summit). with over 800 decision makers of the energy sector. Joschka Fischer (Former German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor) left the audience inspired and moved. In his talk he stressed the need of increasing our joint efforts for a successful energy transition. See presentation summaries, pictures, and videos of distinguished speakers.

Hydro-abrasive turbine wear caused by sediments in the water has negative effects on hydroelectric power generation. Desanding facilities are adequate countermeasures, but often do not meet the design requirements. An improved design concept was developed using both numerical simulations and field experiments to limit scale effects with fine sediment modelling.

A/S Research Group develops a thermally active building system for a vaulted floor element that allows to harness energy from low temperature sources while at the same time ensuring thermal comfort of the occupants.

Todays modern smartphones are not only widely used, but also often equipped with GPS receivers and other sensors to allow constant monitoring of their users’ locations and in some cases even recognition of their activities. For this reason, these mobile devices are of particular interest for transport and mobility, where detailed movement data are needed for urban planning, smart city-related activities, and behavior change.

Speisen wir künftig mehr wetterabhängigen, variablen Strom aus Sonne- und Windenergie ins Netz ein, muss der Netzbetreiber viel stärkere Schwankungen ausgleichen als heute. Dafür braucht er Speicherkapazität, sagt Prof. Gabriela Hug, Mitglied des Energy Science Centers (ESC) und Leiterin des Power Systems Laboratory an der ETH Zurich. Dass auch in Lebensmitteln graue Energie steckt, zeigt «Schweiz aktuell» am Beispiel eines Salats.

Der Ausstieg aus der Kernenergie wurde vom Schweizer Volk beschlossen und ist damit endgültig. Wie aber ersetzen wir den Atomstrom? Erneuerbare Energiequellen müssen erst gefördert werden. Das stösst auf Widerstand.  Christian Schaffner, Executive Director vom Energy Science Center (ESC) nimmt in der SRF Serie "Unter Strom" dazu Stellung. Zudem klärt «Schweiz aktuell» auf, wie es um die graue Energie in einem Staubsauger steht.

Aufgrund der Stromschwemme auf dem europäischen Markt sind die Grosshandelspreise heute zu tief, erklärt ESC Mitglied, Massimo Filippini, im Interview mit dem Schweizer Fernsehen und Radio (SRF). Abhilfe schaffen könnte eine sogenannte Dreckstromabgabe: eine Steuer für Strom aus fossilen Energiequellen und Atomstrom. Dazu zeigt «Schweiz aktuell», wieviel graue Energie in einem Einfamilienhaus steckt.

A higher adoption rate of energy-efficient appliances is expected to contribute towards improvement in energy efficiency within the residential sector. In this study, we explore the possibility that an improvement of the consumers’ energy-related investment literacy increases the probability that households identify the most cost-effective appliance.

Synthetic liquid fuels are ideal vectors for the distribution and storage of sustainable energy, allowing the exploitation of the actual infrastructure for fossil hydrocarbons. Such chemical energy carriers can be synthesised from recycled CO₂ and H₂ produced from intermittent renewable electrical power provided robust catalysts are developed.

The ESC is delighted to congratulate two of our members, Prof. Marco Mazzotti and Prof. John Lygeros, for receving an European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant.

A recent publication of the CAPS laboratory studies the complex dynamics of a lab-scale combustor subject to thermoacoustic instability. This phenomenon is a recurrent issue in constant pressure combustor -such as gas turbines, aeronautical engines or rockets- which can lead to catastrophic failures of the combustion system. This instability can arise suddenly, if the operating condition of the machine is varied.

Professor Gabriela Hug, head of the Power Systems Laboratory, and member of the ESC Managing Board, explains how we can integrate green energy efficiently into our grid in order to keep our lights on in a sustainable way with improved decision making.

Dimos Poulikakos, Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, and Chair of Managing Board of the Energy Science Center, is lead investigator of a project funded by the European Commission with 3 million Euros.

The team Swissloop, formed by 40 ETH students, achieved the remarkable 3rd place in 2017-finals of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. In order to provide a scientific foundation and further improvements of a magnetically levitated “Hyperloop” vehicle (pod), a research project has been conducted at the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory.

A new rechargeable aluminum chloride-graphite battery was designed using processed natural graphite flakes in its cathode. The major performance metrics – energy density (up to 62 Wh kg^-1), power density (500-1000 W kg^-1), energy efficiency (90%) and long cycling life (>5000 cycles without capacity loss) – are ideal for grid-level stationary energy storage.

Remote sensors and actuators are gaining in importance for the Internet of Things (IoT) and energy harvesting could power these systems directly at the location of consumption. In distributed systems or in harsh environments, e.g. sensors/actuators on a freight train car, this allows improving reliability and efficiency, while decreasing costs.

Energiestrategie ⋅ Christian Schaffner von der ETH Zürich sieht nach dem Ja zum Energiegesetz eine Vielzahl von Chancen für die Schweiz. Sie könne wieder Vorreiterin werden. Er erwartet eine Debatte über weitere Massnahmen.

Today, half of the global runoff is passing through reservoirs and this fraction is increasing. A new project addresses the question how hydropower schemes are changing downstream water quality.

The EUSALP Action Group 9 "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies" invites to the first EUSALP Energy Congress on June 9th, 2017 in Bolzano. The focus this year is "Energy Efficiency in SME - Chance for the Energy Model Region EUSALP"

We are happy to announce some recent staff changes at the ESC. Our two valued collegues, Pedro Crespo del Granado and Lisa Bettoni, have finished their employment at the ESC, we wish them all the best in their future endeavors. In turn, we are happy to welcome our new member, Tanja Meier.

The advent of the smart meter in electricity grids opens the door to new grid management opportunities. However, information derivable from the resultant high-resolution data raise concerns regarding consumer privacy. Using energy storage and local generation, this project aims to protect consumer privacy, while preserving the benefits of smart meters.

Control reserves are power generation or consumption entities that ensure balance of supply and demand of electricity in real-time. The reserves are procured through a market mechanism in which entities provide bids on power capacities and corresponding prices. We have been developing game theory, control and optimization methods to address efficiency of these markets.

ERC Starting Grant project WINDMIL aims to establish a smart framework for life-cycle assessment of Wind Turbines (WTs), guiding the management of these assets from cradle-to-grave. The project couples easily deployed and affordable sensor technology with state-of-the-art numerical modeling and data processing tools for diagnosing condition and predicting residual life.