ESC News

Hydrogen and e-fuels and their potential role in future energy systems are hotly debated topics. Using The modelling platform Nexus-e, a team of researchers at the Energy Science Center at ETH has looked at the potential role of imported or domestic hydrogen or e-methane for the Swiss electricity system guided by three main research questions.

On 31 January 2024, the PATHFNDR consortium participated at the dissemination workshop, where researchers presented the PATHFNDR scenario results and provided insights on sector-coupling.  

For Anthony Patt, Europe’s ambitious plans for a hydrogen economy may be too ambitious, tipping the scales towards the interests of the fossil fuel industry, rather than energy consumers and the climate. Switzerland should be careful before jumping fully on board, he argues. Read more on the Energy Blog @ ETH.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Rebecca Lordan-Perret to the executive team. Rebecca joined the ESC as Science Outreach Manager in December 2023. 

Eine klimafreundliche Zukunft in den Themengebieten Energie und Mobilität gemeinsam angehen, sich zu bestehende Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen und Erkenntnissen mit Akteuren aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft kurzschliessen sowie praxisnahe Lösungsansätze erarbeiten: Diese zahlreichen Aktivitäten werden nun in dem neu gegründete Reallabor Sisslerfeld gebündelt.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Yvonne Wisianowsky to the executive team. Yvonne joined the ESC in October 2023 as maternity replacement for Annina von Mentlen. She will be in charge of communication activities and event organisation at the ESC.

In September 2023, Anna Knörr started working as research assistant for the Joint Initiative SPEED2ZERO. The ESC is excited to welcome Anna to its executive team!

Jonas Savelsberg joined the Energy Science Center as a senior project manager for Nexus-e in August 2023.

Matthieu Boubat joined the Energy Science Center (ESC) in July 2023 as a scientific assistant. He is working on scenario developments for various projects at ESC and collaborating toward making the Nexus-e platform open source.

Upon application of ETH President Joël Mesot, the ETH Board promoted three ETH professors who are also members of the Energy Science Center.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, setting the stage for a memorable celebration of 15 years of MEST ( Master in Energy Science and Technology).  

ETH Zurich and EPFL want to work with partners from politics, science and industry to push innovative storage and transport solutions for renewable energy carriers. The overall goal is to create a climate-​neutral and flexible energy system for Switzerland. Around 20 partners and industrial companies have already voiced their interest in a collaboration.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) welcomes Prof. Dr. Victor Mougel as a new member of the competence center.

Wir haben alle Voraussetzungen, um den Wandel hin zu einer sicheren, nachhaltigen und bezahlbaren Energieversorgung zu realisieren. Zu diesem Schluss kommen Energiefachleute der ETH.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) welcomes Dr. Stefano Moret as a new member of the competence center.

How can we educate the public about energy in Switzerland? What exactly will the future of energy look like? A new exhibition at Verkehrshaus aims to sensitise the public to new approaches to our energy supply. One of the exhibits was developed by "Energy Science for Tomorrow", a joint initiative of the ETH Board – comprising ETH Zurich, EPFL, Empa, and PSI, in collaboration with NCCR Automation, Design++ and SATW.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Dr. Viola Becattini and Dr. Paolo Gabrielli as new members of the competence center.

Eyvonne Ranjan joins the Energy Science Center (ESC) as project coordinator for PATHFNDR and SPEED2ZERO. The ESC is very excited to welcome Eyvonne to its executive team.

ESC member Aldo Steinfeld, professor and head of the Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers, receives the 2022 Sustainable Engineering Research Award by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, for pioneering and visionary contributions in renewable energy carriers, and leadership in clean energy research and education, and solar power technologies. Congratulations!

On Thursday, 20 October 2022, the ETH-Klimarunde successfully took place at ETH Zurich. The event is co-organised by the Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) and the Energy Science Center (ESC). This year's motto focused on "Weather Extremes in Climate Change: How well prepared are we?" The very well attendes event was once again a place for exchange and dialogue with many stakeholders involved in the discussions.

How much energy do buildings consume per canton, per municipality? How big is the heating demand? How much electricity did Switzerland consume yesterday? How many Smart Meters are installed per municipality? In terms of data freely available on the energy sector – so called Open Energy Data -, Switzerland has a lot of catching up to do compared to other countries. Why is that? What are the obstacles?

Regina Moser joins the Energy Science Center (ESC) as a project manager. The ESC is very pleased to welcome Regina Moser as a new member of the ESC team. Regina will lead the project "Engage everyone with Energy" (E3TOTO).

On 14-15 September 2022, the PATHFNDR research team, industry partners, and policy-makers discussed the challenges and opportunities of four topics: energy independence, hydrogen, system flexibility, and sector coupling.

Ingmar Schlecht (Principal Investigator in the PATHFNDR consortium) spoke on SRF's news program "10vor10" on September 1, 2022 about how financial incentives for private individuals could help reduce energy consumption. The interview builds on the concept of "supplier-financed energy savings bonuses”, which is also explained in a Handelsblatt article (in German) by Silvana Tiedemann, Lion Hirth and Axel Ockenfels.

The PATHFNDR team presented to the review panel the first results after one year of work and the outlook for the coming year. The discussion focused on energy scenarios and the technologies needed to enable flexibility and sector integration. The meeting ended with a tour of the NEST, move and Ehub demonstrators at Empa. We thank the review panel and BFE SWEET office for their valuable feedback! A big thank you also to Empa for hosting the meeting!

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Arijit Upadhyay as new member of the ESC team. Arijit joined the existing team of the Nexus-​e research project in July 2022.

There is a danger of blackouts, nuclear power capacity has to be boosted again, an electric car is no cleaner than a petrol car, and Switzerland is too small to make a difference in the climate crisis – statements like these and politically charged terms are dominating the discussion about the energy of the future. In a four-part special series of the ETH Podcast, we take a closer look at these claims. The Energy Science Center supported the Podcast team in their search for answers.

Oil and gas prices are currently on the rise, raising questions about the security of Switzerland’s energy supply. A policy brief from the Energy Science Center shows how Switzerland can achieve independence from fossil fuels for its energy system.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. Annalisa Manera as member of the competence center. Annalisa Manera is a Professor of Nuclear Systems and Multiphase Flows at ETH Zurich.

During two semesters, the Master in Energy Science and Technology (MEST) students had the opportunity to work on real-​world problems currently faced by companies within the energy sector.

Congratulation to Dr. Anselma Wörner, former Doctoral Student of our Energy Science Center, ETH Zurich Member Prof. Elgar Fleisch, for being awarded with the ETH Medal for her outstanding doctoral theses.        

In the video series "Ask the Expert" Prof. Gabriela Hug, Chair of the Energy Science Center, answers questions from the community on the topic of energy Supply.

The application window for the upcoming CAS in Applied Technology and Energy (CAS ATE) is now online.  See what the 2021 participants have to say about their experience in the new video.

Congratulations to Dr. Nicolas Schmid, doctoral student of our Energy Science Center member Prof. Tobias Schmidt, for receiving the "Silver Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Theses" from ETH Zürich.

Our ESC member Prof. Horst-Michael Prasser will give his farewell lecture at ETH Zurich on 15 December 2021 17.15 - 19.00h on the topic "Innovation auf dem Gebiet der Kernenergie jenseits der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung ". We would like to thank Prof. Prasser for his many years of contribution and support to the ESC. We wish him all the best for the future and to exciting new challenges ahead.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) of ETH Zurich once again organized a major energy symposium, this year for four days in an hybrid format. The motto was "Climate Neutral Switzerland 2050: What Energy System Do We Need?" For those who were not able to attend the event live, all presentations and video recordings are now available online

Congratulations to the ESC Member Maria Lukatskaya for being recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2021 by Clarivate Analytics! Of the world’s scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers are one in 1,000.

The ETH Energy Apéro, Autumn 2021, was a social event for anyone involved in the ETH energy community, held in the ETH Dozentenfoyer. Professors, researchers, doctoral students and masters students were invited.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Kirsten Oswald to the executive team. Kirsten joined the ESC as Science Outreach Manager responsible for knowledge transfer activities.

Our founding member Prof. Konstantinos Boulouchos will give his farewell lecture at ETH Zurich on the Oct. 5th, 2021 17.15 - 19.00h on the topic "Shaping the path(s) to a Sustainable Energy Future". We would like to thank Kostas for his many years of contribution and support to the ESC with his progressive view of the energy system. We wish him all the best for the future and to exciting new challenges ahead.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to announce that Prof. Gabriela Hug will take over the Chair of the Managing Board (October 1, 2021) from Prof. Dimos Poulikakos whose 4-year tenure has ended.  

In September 2021, the Energy Data Hackdays will take place for the fourth time at the Hightech Zentrum Aargau. The ESC research project "Nexus-e" will participate and provide a challenge on identifying key changes in the Swiss energy system on its path to achieve 2050 net-zero decarbonization targets.  

Switzerland has set itself the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Achieving this goal will require major changes in the energy system. In the Joint Activity Scenarios and Modelling (JASM), researchers from the eight Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCERs) worked together to build a modelling framework and develop concrete scenarios for how Switzerland can achieve the net-zero goal. Gianfranco Guidati, Head of the Joint Activity, explains the key results in an interview.

In May 2021, the students from the Master's programme Energy Science and Technology successfully completed their interdisciplinary case studies. In six groups and over two semesters, they worked on real-​​world problems currently faced by companies within the energy sector.

On 31 May, the successful kick-off of the PATHFNDR project took place. PATHFNDR is one of four consortia selected in the first call "Integration of renewables" and funded by the SFOE under the funding programme SWiss Energy research for the Energy Transition (SWEET). Besides the leading house ETH Zurich, teams from Empa, PSI, ZHAW, HSLU, UniGE, EPFL, and also 25 industry partners will investigate how the Swiss energy system has to be transformed to absorb a much higher share of renewable energy sources.

Das Newsportal nau.ch berichtet: "Nicht das E-Auto, sondern Wasserstoff-Fahrzeuge sollen die Zukunft sein. Das behaupten Gegner des CO2-Gesetzes immer wieder." Christian Schaffner vom Energy Science Center (ESC) widerspricht.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Adriana Marcucci to the executive team. Adriana joined the ESC in June 2021 as manager for the coordination of the scenarios for the SWEET program.

The Energy Science Center congratulates Johanna Vorwerk on receiving the Best Presentation Award in the seminar “Frontiers in Energy Research”.

The SWEET funding programme is not only aimed at the technical and natural sciences, but also encourages the participation of the social sciences and humanities in consortia. The objectives of the Energy Strategy 2050 can only be achieved through the interaction of these scientific fields. In an interview on Energeia+, Yasmine Calisesi, Energy Center EPF Lausanne, and Christian Schaffner, Energy Science Center, ETH Zurich, give their views on the important aspects of interdisciplinary collaboration.

On the recommendation of ETH President, Joël Mesot, the ETH Board appointed nine new professors. Among the appointed professors is Tobias Schmidt, who has been  Tenure Track Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich since 2015. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Energy and Technology Policy in the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences.  

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Lea Ruefenacht to the executive team. Lea joined the ESC as project manager for the SWEET research project PATHFNDR.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Dr. Petrissa Eckle and Dr. Turhan Demiray as members of the competence center. Petrissa Eckle leads the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab) at ETH Zurich and Dr. Turhan Demiray is research director of the Research Center for Energy Networks (FEN).

With the decarbonization and decentralization of energy production, Switzerland faces two mammoth tasks in the coming years and decades. The restructuring of the energy supply requires political and investment decisions. Scientists at ETH Zurich have now created the modeling platform Nexus-e. It enables to create scenarios for the electricity sector and, in particular, also includes economic and grid-related issues.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Dr. Gianfranco Guidati to the executive team. Gianfranco joined the ESC as project manager for the ESC flagship research project ReMaP.

To boost innovative approaches towards implementing Switzerland’s Energy Strategy 2050, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) launched the funding programme SWEET. ETH Zurich is the leading house of the consortium “PATHFNDR”, one of four consortia selected during the first call.

Die Plattform Nexus-e der ETH Zürich modelliert Szenarien. Was unterscheidet dieses Tool von den Energieperspektiven 2050+ des Bundesamts für Energie (BFE)? Antworten im Blogbeitrag auf energeia plus, dem BFE-Magazin.  

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. Bjarne Steffen as member of the competence center. Bjarne Steffen has recently been appointed as Assistant Professor for Climate Finance and Policy at ETH Zurich.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) of ETH Zurich once again organized a major energy symposium, this year as "Energy Week @ ETH" for three days in an online format. The motto was "(R)Evolution of the Energy System”. For those who were not able to attend the event live, all presentations and video recordings (both in German and English) are now available online.

When registering for the Energy Week @ ETH, participants have the opportunity to ask the experts their most burning questions in advance. In the run-up to, during and after the event, ETH energy scientists and the Energy Science Center take these questions as an opportunity to shed light on some central energy issues.

Congratulations to Elena Raycheva for having successfully presented the methodology and results of the CentIv module at the MEDPOWER 2020 conference.

The Nexus-e team successfully held its annual strategy meeting to conclude the past fruitful year and to draw a roadmap for the future. In a hybrid format with members joining online and in-person, the team aligned on the vision and identified tasks for the coming months and years.

Call 4 for research project proposals for the Doctoral Programme «RESPONSE - to society and policy needs through plant, food and energy sciences» is open now. The RESPONSE Doctoral Programme (DP) «RESPONSE - to society and policy needs through plant, food and energy sciences» is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 847585.

Mit der Renewable Management and Real-Time Control Platform (ReMaP), die von der ETH Zürich, der Empa und dem PSI zusammen mit industriellen Partnern aufgebaut wird, können verschiedene Aspekte zukünftiger Energiesysteme wie z.B. die Sektorkopplung mit Simulationen und Experimenten untersucht werden. ReMaP baut auf den bestehenden Plattformen NEST und ESI der Empa und des PSI auf und kann von Wissenschaftlern, Ingenieuren und Technikern aus Universitäten, Hochschulen und Industrie benützt werden.

ETH alumna Johanna Vorwerk gained her Master's in Energy Science and Technology (MEST) and is currently working on her doctorate in the Power Systems Laboratory. She and several other graduates recently set up the MEST Alumni. She talks here about her career to date, her experiences as a woman in a MINT profession and the aims of the most recent member organisation to join the ETH Alumni family.

Last weekend, the Energy Science Center participated in the Energy Data Hackdays 2020 in Brugg. The Hackdays provided an excellent opportunity to challenge an interdisciplinary team into rethinking ways of visualising existing energy data. In a rapid and creative process and under the guidance of ESC team members, a team of four successfully tackled the posed challenge and presented a well-functioning prototype after only 30 hours.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. André Bardow as member of the competence center. André Bardow works in the areas of energy systems optimization, conceptual process design, life cycle assessment, computed-aided molecular design, thermodynamics, microfluidics as well as CO2 capture and utilization.

What will our electricity supply look like in the future? In co-operation with partners from industry, researchers from the Energy Science Center and further ETH Zurich research groups are developing models to predict the technical and economic impact of all conceivable scenarios.

In May 2020, the students from the Master's programme Energy Science and Technology successfully completed their interdisciplinary case studies. In seven groups and over two semesters, they worked on real-​world problems currently faced by companies within the energy sector.

Christian Schaffner, Executive Director des Energy Science Centers, über aktuelle Energietrends und das zukünftige, flexible Energiesystem.

The career choices taken by graduates from the Master's programme Energy Science and Technology (MEST) are broad and varied. In May, the Energy Science Center invited two graduates to share some insights about their choices and the roles they are now in during an online webinar.

The Energy Science Center congratulates Nicolas Schmid on receiving the Best Presentation Award in the seminar "Frontiers in Energy Research".  

"Der Trumpf der Wasserkraft liegt in der Speicherung", so ESC-Mitglied Robert Boes, Professor für Wasserbau an der ETH Zürich. In einem kürzlich erschienen Artikel der Zeitschrift TEC21 erläutert er Herausforderungen, Erfolg versprechende Ansätze und weshalb die Sanierungsfrist bis 2030 mehr als sportlich ist.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is very pleased to welcome Yuqian Yan and Marius Schwarz as new members of the ESC team. Both researchers have joined the existing team of the Nexus-e research project, Marius Schwarz as project manager and Xuqian Yan as project engineer.

Seit rund fünf Jahren erforschen Schweizer Wissenschaftler wie beispielsweise Dr. Andreas Haselbacher des ESC gemeinsam mit Industriepartnern, ob sich Strom in Form von komprimierter Luft in Felskavernen speichern lässt. Die Zwischenergebnisse zeigen: Die für Druckluftspeicher benötigten Technologien sind auf dem Markt verfügbar, und solche Speicher könnten künftig bei der Bereitstellung sekundärer Regelleistung möglicherweise rentabel arbeiten.

At its last meeting, the ETH Board appointed a total of 19 new professors at the request of the President of ETH Zurich, Joël Mesot. Among the new professors are two ESC members: Christian Franck as Full Professor of High Voltage Engineering and Nicolas Noiray as Associate Professor of Combustion and Acoustics for Power & Propulsion Systems. Congratulations!  

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.

Das Anergienetz auf dem Campus Hönggerberg der ETH Zürich gewinnt den Schweizer Energiepreis Watt d'Or. Das Bundesamt für Energie zeichnet die ETH für die Energieexzellenz in der Kategorie "Gebäude und Raum" aus.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. Maria Lukatskaya as member of the competence center. Maria Lukatskaya works in the areas of new materials and electrolytes for energy storage and conversion, as well as in electrochemistry, material synthesis and material characterisation.

The Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Applied Technology in Energy is designed to provide managers and professionals with a deeper education in the rapidly evolving world of energy and electrification. It will help participants to better understand the science and technology driving the ongoing "Energy Revolution".  

Out of a total of 43 nominees for the first time three women were the finalists for the ALEA Award in 2019: Ursula Müller, head of the ETH library (ETH Zentrum), Consuelo de Moraes, Professor at the Department of Environmental Systems Science, and Gabriela Hug, Professor at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Gabriela Hug, member of the Energy Science Center, won the ALEA award in 2019 for exemplary leadership.

Opportunity to submit projects under the EU-India Joint Call on Smart and Integrated Local Energy Systems. The project is jointly funded by the European Union through "Horizon 2020" and the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.Deadline for the project proposal submission: 29 January 2020, 17:00 CET.

The ESC congratulates its member Prof. John Lygeros and his colleagues for their success with their new National Centre of Competence in Research “UControl” which deals with the basics of automation and digitalisation in the areas cities (“smart cities”), power grids (“smart grids”) and industrial processes (“Industry 4.0”). ESC members involved are Prof. John Lygeros (director), Prof. Gabriela Hug (co-director), Prof. Florian Dörfler and Prof. Roy Smith.

The Energy Science Center (ESC) is delighted to welcome Prof. Olga Fink as member of the competence center. Prof. Fink has been Assistant Professor at the Chair of Intelligent Maintenance Systems at ETH Zurich since October 2018.

How can concepts and strategies for zero carbon cities and communities, circular economy, and urban planning transform today's cities into carbon-​​free cities?

Energie bewegt die Welt. Sie ist elementar und allgegenwärtig – und doch nur schwer fassbar. Das ETH-Quiz nimmt Sie mit auf einen energetischen Streifzug.

The ESC is very happy to welcome Prof. Gonzalo Guillén Gosálbez as its newest member. In February 2019, Prof. Guillén Gosálbez started as Associate Professor of Chemical Systems Engineering at the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering.

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Sonia Seneviratne as newest member of the Energy Science Center. Prof. Sonia Seneviratne has been a Full Professor for Land-Climate Dyanmics at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science since 2016.

Two members of the Energy Science Center, Prof. Gabriela Hug and Prof. Christoph Müller, have been appointed to a full professorship by the ETH Board. Gabriela Hug has been appinted Full Professor of Electric Power Systems and Christoph Müller Full Professor of Energy Science and Engineering. Our congratulations!

ESC members Prof. Paolo Burlando and Prof. Daniel Farinotti as well as Dr. Christian Schaffner, Executive Director of the ESC, will give presentations at this autumn's "Treffpunkt Science City" on the topic of "There is no life without water".

The research project "Assessing Future Electricity Markets (AFEM)" identified alternative electricity market designs and evaluated their potential to meet the challenges created by the targets set in the Energy Strategy 2050.