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Since the 1960’s, Japan has aggressively built its nuclear power industry to be one of the best in the world. The Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011 changed all of that. Today, the incumbent nuclear institutions in Japan struggle to maintain both political support and shares of the power supply as they compete with rapidly expanding renewable energies.

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.

Globalization could benefit the energy transition in many ways. Inevitably, however, some factors might hinder the process, such as resistance from the current beneficiaries and concerns for energy security. With an empathetic mindset and willingness to find win-win solutions, we could hopefully solve the issues and fully utilize the power of globalization to foster the energy transition.

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.