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Research in SURE is largely based on the application of analysis tools that use and produce comprehensive numerical output. The Publications Section makes such data accessible and facilitates the exchange with other researchers, such as through the SWEET CROSS joint activity.
2022
The resilience and security of the energy system are currently at the center of international interest and top priorities, especially for Europe. As such a complicated and multidimensional concept, the fortification and enhancement of energy security are of paramount importance for energy policy making. Under such circumstances, the need for transparent and holistic evaluation frameworks to benchmark national energy security and appraise the achieved improvement arises. This research proposes a multicriteria decision aid methodology to evaluate and rank the energy security performance of the 35 countries of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), based on several evaluation criteria. For this purpose, a preference elicitation framework is developed, based on the method of cards and heuristically selected pairwise questions. Robustness is assessed, with the aid of indicators, measuring the reduction of the model’s feasible space, and rank acceptability indices. The latter stem from the implementation of the hit and run weighting sampling algorithm and a synergy of the SMAA algorithm with the Choquet integral, approached as an importance index. The elicitation questions are automatically sampled and selected, assuring a high information gain in the most unstable criteria, while averting the bias of favouring the predominant ranks, achieved in the previous elicitation rounds. The complete framework is applied first to various instances of a small-scale ranking problem, attempting to minimize the number of required questions and the cognitive effort of the decision maker. Finally, this framework is applied to evaluate and rank the energy security of European countries. This framework adds to the whole assessment the subjective nature of the preferences of a European energy expert, serving the objective to achieve a personalized energy security ranking and provide guidelines and areas for improvement at a country level.
CONTACT PERSON
Peter Burgherr
2023
Digitalization enables new social practices such as teleworking, e-learning or e-commerce, which replace well-established ones such as commuting to work, going to school or going for shopping. While these new practices are less energy intensive than the ones they replace, they can be associated with rebound effects that increase energy consumption in other sectors. For example, while teleworking may reduce consumption in transport, it can increase heating and electricity consumption at home. Therefore, this talk attempts to answer the following questions: • What are the effects of new energy consumption behaviors induced by digitalization on Swiss low-carbon pathways, and • Can digitalization positively contribute to the energy transition? In this presentation, Lidia Stermieri describes and demonstrates a new modeling framework developed in the context of her PhD thesis that couples the well-established Swiss TIMES Energy Systems Model (STEM) with a new socio-economic Energy Model for Digitalisation (SEED). SEED is a unique agent-based model based on the social practice approach. It analyzes the impact of new lifestyles enabled by Information and Communication Technologies on energy consumption patterns. The combined application of SEED and STEM allows accounting for socio-economic and technical aspects affecting the rate of adoption of technologies from heterogeneous consumers by accounting for their preferences, social mechanism of changes and different drivers of technology and digitalization diffusion when assessing the long-term configuration of the Swiss energy system under different technology, resource or policy constraints. In the talk, the integrated STEM-SEED framework is applied to assess net-zero CO2 emissions pathways for Switzerland, considering different digitalization levels of the society. We find that the increased adoption of digital lifestyles results in an overall demand reduction that mitigates the energy system costs to achieve the zero CO2 emissions target in 2050, which in turn implies economic benefit to the Swiss society. The challenges to achieve these results and the related opportunities for Swiss society will be discussed.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2023
To reach the goals of long-term energy and climate policy, the contribution of the industrial sector is important. Upgrading low temperature industrial waste heat using electric high-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) can improve the overall energy-efficiency and mitigate CO2 emissions by replacing fossil fuels. The pulp and paper and the food and beverage industries use significant quantities of heat up to 200 °C and therefore have a high potential for the application of HTHPs. In order to assess the role of HTHPs, a techno-economic bottom-up cost optimization model is developed building on the Swiss TIMES Energy system Model (STEM). We present an advanced modeling framework including energy and material flows, with a high temporal resolution and a segregation of the temperature level of the process heat. The results show that HTHPs are cost-effective up to a temperature of 150 °C. Switzerland has the economic potential to deploy of about 100 MWth in the pulp and paper industry and 900 MWth in the food and beverage industry by 2050. Incentivizing the exploitation of this significant potential will require very high CO2 prices of several hundred €/tCO2 or additional policies to overcome investment barriers by supporting investment and flexible system-serving operation of heat pumps.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2023
Spatially-disaggregated projections of new solar photovoltaic (PV) installations are essential for planning electricity grids and managing the electricity system at large scale. Such projections at sub-national level can be obtained by statistical models or by electricity system optimization models, but there is barely any study that compares the performances of these approaches. This study aims to compare methods for projecting PV installations at a level of 143 districts in Switzerland, using a simple extrapolation method (as a benchmark of the common practice today), a multiple linear regression model, two spatial regression models, and a spatially-explicit optimization model (EXPANSE) with various features to account for policy. The performance of different approaches is evaluated retrospectively for 2012–2020, using multiple accuracy indicators. The evaluation results show that statistical regression models, which account for socio-demographic and techno-economic characteristics as predictors of future PV growth, overall perform better than simple extrapolation or optimization. Although commonly used, extrapolation has the highest variability in accuracy, indicating the least robust performance. The optimization model tends to underestimate PV installations in its least-cost scenarios, if the role of policy is not considered. Incorporating solar PV policies and renewable electricity generation targets increases the overall accuracy of the optimization model at a national level, but not necessarily at a spatially-explicit level. We thus conclude that statistical models are preferred over extrapolation or optimization models for projecting future PV installations at a sub-national scale.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2023
Projections of granular energy technology diffusion can support decision-making on climate mitigation policies and infrastructure investments. However, such projections often do not account for uncertainties and have low spatial resolution. S-curve models of technology diffusion are widely used to project future installations, but the results of the different models can vary significantly. We propose a method to create probabilistic projections of granular energy technology diffusion at subnational level based on historical time series data and testing how various projection models perform in terms of accuracy and uncertainty to inform the choice of models. As a case study, we investigate the growth of solar photovoltaics, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles at municipality level throughout Switzerland in 2000–2021 (testing) and until 2050 (projections). Consistently for all S-curve models and technologies, we find that the medians of the probabilistic projections anticipate the diffusion of the technologies more accurately than the respective deterministic projections. While accuracy and probabilistic density intervals of the models vary across technologies, municipalities, and years, Bertalanffy and two versions of the generalized Richards model estimate the future diffusion with higher accuracy and sharpness than logistic, Gompertz, and Bass models. The results also highlight that all models come with trade-offs and eventually a combination of models with weights is needed. Based on these weighted probabilistic projections, we show that, given the current dynamics of diffusion in solar photovoltaics, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles in Switzerland, the net-zero emissions target would be missed by 2050 with high certainty.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2023
This paper discusses the critical role of prospective Life Cycle Assessment (pLCA) in evaluating the potential environmental impacts of emerging technologies essential for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It underscores the necessity for major technological transitions to combat climate change and highlights the challenges in developing, sharing, and utilizing prospective Life Cycle Inventory (pLCI) databases. These databases integrate future scenarios with existing LCI data to represent future technologies and supply chains, addressing the environmental impacts of future technologies within a changing global economy, society, and environment. Despite the increasing use of pLCI databases in academic research, their application remains limited due to challenges in accessibility, usability, and coverage. The paper emphasizes the importance of improving the generation, sharing, and use of pLCI databases, offering guidance for environmental decision-making for future technologies. It identifies conditions for the broad application of pLCI databases, including scientific integrity, usefulness, accessibility, usability, interpretability, and continuous improvement. By addressing these challenges, the paper aims to foster a wider consensus on the models and data sources for pLCI databases, ultimately improving environmental guidance for the development of sustainable technologies.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2023
The main five highlights (results, challenges, learnings, etc.) during the reporting period were the following: -The SURE project analyzes sustainable energy pathways for Switzerland until 2050, engaging the stakeholder forum for expert exchanges. In 2022, two workshops provided outcomes supporting scenario analysis and contributed to SWEET-CROSS initiatives. - In SURE's second year, an advanced analytical framework, including pathway and shock scenarios, was developed through collaborative efforts, resulting in the publication of Deliverable 2.1 as a guideline for model-based quantitative analyses. - To understand shock impacts on governance, SURE conducts cantonal, urban, and sectorial case studies. For instance, in the Ticino case study, extreme weather events and societal changes were identified as potential disruptors to the transition to a sustainable energy system, while stakeholders in Zurich emphasized the need to enhance resilience against temperature extremes. Industry and SBB case studies identified financial shocks, heat waves, and cold spells as significant disruptors, with resilience assessments conducted. - Advanced Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was demonstrated to enhance understanding of uncertainties in input parameters and outputs, with A. Kim successfully completing her Ph.D. thesis on the methodological advancements and results during the second year of SWEET-SURE. - In the second year of SURE, M. Obrist completed his Ph.D. thesis, presenting significant methodological advancements in technology modeling for the Swiss energy system's industry sector using a TIMES framework, enabling in-depth analysis of decarbonization measures and energy efficiency improvements across various industrial sectors.
CONTACT PERSON
Peter Burgherr
2022
The themes of sustainability and resilience are important dimensions of the energy transition, and they have become even more relevant with the recent developments in the Ukraine crisis that increased attention on geopolitical and market aspects in the general energy debate, while ambitious environmental goals are still to be met. The project SURE (Sustainable and Resilient Energy for Switzerland) explicitly deals with the question of how to reconcile resilience and sustainability criteria with the main goals of the Swiss energy sector transformation and the climate change mitigation targets aiming at net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
CONTACT PERSON
Peter Burgherr
2023
Electricity supply law is a multi-layered, amorphous area of law. Its facets change kaleidoscopically depending on how you look at it. Comprehensive strategic regulation is not provided under constitutional law so far. The federal government has specific legislative mandates and a catch-all responsibility. The cantons' once considerable freedom of action is now restricted. In their role as owners of energy supply companies, some cantons have recently been overburdened. It is suggested that the performance of public duties should be reconsidered.
CONTACT PERSON
Reto Müller
2023
The diffusion of granular renewable energy technologies displays spatial heterogeneity within countries. The study examines the distribution of residential heat pumps across 2148 Swiss municipalities in 2021, utilising a database covering 95.8 % of Swiss residential buildings. The study focuses on understanding the sociodemographic, technoeconomic and housing factors behind the spatial diffusion of heat pumps, using stepwise regression and spatial statistical analysis. Higher diffusion of residential heat pumps is found in less populated areas with larger shares of agricultural area and detached houses, suggesting a pronounced urban-rural disparity. Economic factors like income and electricity price show limited influence on residential heat pump diffusion in Switzerland, except for a negative impact of unemployment rates. Significant variations among Swiss cantons (states) in residential heat pump diffusion are observed, potentially influenced by regional policies. Spatial analysis indicates the presence of spatial spillovers as well. These findings could guide Swiss policymakers in effectively promoting heat pump diffusion, considering local and regional specificities. The methodology is adaptable and transferable to other geographical and socioeconomic contexts and alternative granular renewable energy technologies.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2024
This report describes the energy grid model couplings between the FlexECO grid models of ETHZ with other models used within the SURE framework. The coupling is essential to compute electricity and gas grid security indicators for all SURE pathways and shock scenarios. The first quantitative results show, how the Swiss high voltage electricity grid loading will increase in future years during hours of high load and how pressure shocks propagate through the gas network to critical levels after the activation of gas power plants.
CONTACT PERSON
Alexander Fuchs
2024
This study was mandated by Gaznat and is an associated case study to the SWEET project "Sustainable and Resilient Energy for Switzerland" (SURE). It analyses the role of large-scale gas storage in the Swiss energy system taking into consideration the Swiss energy strategy and climate goals as well as the security of supply objectives within a quantitative model-based scenario framework. Related to largescale gas storages, the study particularly focuses on potentially new gas storage options for Switzerland, such as Lined Rock Cavern – LRC storages and Liquefied Natural Gas – LNG storages. In order to quantify long-term developments of the energy system of Switzerland and the role of gas storages specifically, the well-established Swiss TIMES Energy systems Model has been employed and complemented with a dedicated dynamic gas flow model of the Swiss gas grid using the FlexECO modelling framework.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2024
This report outlines the methodology and results of quantifying Switzerland's reference economic outlook using the GEM-E3-CH model, aligned with the SPS4 Walk and Talk scenario from the SURE pathway scenarios. Concurrently, the reference outlook for the rest of the model economies – EU27+UK, China, USA, and the Rest of the World - is presented. The approach is divided into two main stages: first, collecting historical data and economic projections from official sources; and second, calibrating the GEM-E3-CH model to reflect long-term trends and projections. For Switzerland, the first stage uses data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS), while projections are obtained from the CROSS reference scenario. For the rest of the economies, we utilize historical and projections’ data from the IMF, UN, and OECD. The second stage involves using the model to generate consistent projections of key economic variables, ensuring that that the balance of transactions is closed, both the short- and long-term dynamics of the Swiss economy are captured. The report is structured into two sections: a methodology section explaining the process and rationale, and a presentation of the economic outlook results for Switzerland.
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Leonidas Paroussos
2024
This report discusses the modelling of demand and supply within the energy system of the city of Zurich. Based on the literature, we qualitatively examine the impacts of external shocks such as heat waves, cold spells, political or public opposition, and full technology diffusion. The findings indicate that Zurich’s electrical grid can likely manage high penetration of e-mobility, PV, and heat pumps with minor adjustments. However, weather-related shocks could push heat pumps to their operational limits, highlighting the need for more detailed load and demand dynamics data in future analyses, namely in the report "Report on grid and infrastructure security of the city of Zurich." Finally, one major contribution of this report involves the development, extension, and comparison of three district heating (DH) algorithms. Each of the three distinct DH-grid planning algorithms offers unique advantages and is suited to different use cases. The first algorithm suits decentralized district heating with undefined heat center locations. The second provides optimized routing with a detailed model of investment costs. The third one offers realistic routing along streets but lacks post-processing optimization as in the Optimized Routing algorithm. Two of these algorithms were applied to a sample area in Zurich, revealing similar grid layouts. Based on the Optimized Routing algorithm, we will conduct resilience analyses of Zurich's urban energy system up to 2050 in the report "Report on grid and infrastructure security of the city of Zurich.
CONTACT PERSON
Alexander Fuchs
2024
Urban heat grids need to be resilient against several factors including peak loading, uncertain demand and outages of pipelines or heat sources. We present a practical, efficient and robust method for the cost-optimal planning and analysis of heat grids. The algorithm combines industry guidelines, geometric search and convex optimization to determine the best heat grid topology. Using an example data and assumptions for the city of Zurich, we find that (i) connecting heat grids to large areas is advantageous since it tends to reduce the grid costs, (ii) outage resilience of the backbone grid only gradually increases the grid costs by about 20%, and (iii) bad demand predictions are very disadvantageous since they may easily double or triple the grid costs.
CONTACT PERSON
Alexander Fuchs
2024
This report examines the potential for decarbonizing process heat in Swiss industries, with a focus on the chemical sector. Aligning with the Paris Agreement's net-zero emissions goal, it highlights challenges such as heavy reliance on fossil fuels and the specific temperature needs of industrial processes, which limit decarbonization technologies. Using expert interviews and surveys, the report evaluates industry perceptions of strategies like renewable energy adoption and high-temperature heat pumps. Findings reveal key drivers and barriers to decarbonization within the Swiss industrial context, providing insights into energy carriers, obstacles, and incentives. Stakeholder perspectives highlight the complexities of transitioning to sustainable practices, emphasizing the need for targeted policies and industry initiatives to overcome existing challenges. The report serves as a foundation for guiding future efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from process heat, advancing sustainability in Swiss industries.
CONTACT PERSON
Marc Melliger
2025
Decarbonizing industrial process heat is crucial for Switzerland’s climate goals, especially in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. This report analyzes stakeholder perspectives, policy instruments, and regulatory frameworks influencing the transition to renewable options like high-temperature heat pumps, alternative gases, and wood. The study, part of the Basel case study but offering broader insights, identifies key barriers such as high investment costs, regulatory uncertainty, and technical constraints. Expert interviews and a stakeholder survey highlight the need for financial incentives, regulatory clarity, and infrastructure development to accelerate adoption. Three policy mixes are proposed: electrification through investment credits and R&D funding, alternative gases via infrastructure expansion and mandates, and sustainable wood allocation for high-temperature applications. Legal analysis reveals gaps in regulations, with recent climate policies offering new opportunities to align industrial energy strategies with national decarbonization targets.
CONTACT PERSON
Marc Melliger
2024
This report develops the SBB (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, Swiss Federal Railways) case study of the SURE project, identified in a previous systematic review of SBB’s resilience concept. SBB is treated as a single customer and connection point to Swissgrid, although it has connection points throughout the country. This spatial flexibility of the power exchange with Swissgrid is currently not utilized systematically. Consequently, the key question of the case study is how the operational flexibility in SBB’s grid can relieve network congestion in the Swissgrid network. The approach expands the grid security indicators developed for the FlexECO grid model of the SURE scenario assessment. This enables FlexECO to assess how improved coordination of the power exchange between SBB and Swissgrid will impact overall grid loading, redispatch requirements, and future dependency on local production. All quantitative results are computed using the original scenario pathways and shocks of the SURE modeling chain. The results, insights, and recommendations of the proposed case study will be documented in a subsequent report. The case study results are highly relevant for the main stakeholders (SBB and Swissgrid) and integrate with the overall SURE project results as an added sensitivity of the pathway performance indicators.
CONTACT PERSON
Alexander Fuchs
2024
This report also describes the protocol for model linking in SURE when quantifying the SURE scenarios. It provides an extensive overview of the inputs and outputs exchanged between the models and their sequence in the quantification, indicating which model starts and which model follows. Several notions of the linking approach are explained, supported by mathematical formulations where necessary. The discussion in the report concludes with an overview of the main challenges and risks in the model linking, as well as the value added in the analysis obtained by linking the models in the scenario quantification compared to the case where the models run “unlinked.” We hope the insights presented in this report facilitate the interpretation of the SURE pathway scenarios and provide transparency on their implementation in the models. In addition, we hope that the report helps set the context within which stakeholders should evaluate the obtained results. Finally, the insights on the linking of diverse models (in terms of logic and scope) could be useful for the broader scientific community, as it tackles many challenges associated with consistency and convergence between the general and partial equilibrium models, as well as between energy systems and sectoral models. This report complements the report "1st scenario protocol capturing the definition of pathway and shock scenarios" and the "Repository of common assumptions used in the definitions of the scenarios and disruptive events," an Excel file with extensive tables on key numerical inputs to the models.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2025
This report presents two visualization approaches for heat grid planning results, developed in a previous SURE deliverable. First, an interactive web tool is introduced to showcase selected outputs of the heat grid planning tool GridPLAN. Users can adjust key parameters, such as heat demand, pipeline costs, and temperature spread, to view the resulting grid costs and an interactive map of the grid topology. Secondly, the visualization and considerations of the "Street Routing" heat grid algorithm are introduced. The visualization strategies adapt to various audiences and stages, including debugging, presentations, and scenario analysis, using tools like QGIS, Leaflet, and FASTAPI for dynamic and automated visualizations. Automation and contextual data integration enhance accuracy, efficiency, and usability, supporting scenario comparisons and algorithm development. The key benefits of heat grid visualizations include improved communication of planning results to customers, inhabitants, stakeholders, and decision-makers, enhancing transparency and acceptance of the planning process. Within the SURE project, these visualizations enable more effective communication of the challenges in heat grid planning. The interactive visualization tools are currently being expanded to other projects of the research partners, with a focus on activities in other SURE work packages and related SWEET projects.
CONTACT PERSON
Alexander Fuchs
2024
The objective of this work was to investigate the implications of weather variability on the resilience of the future Swiss electricity sector in 2035 by testing the sector against data from 25 historical weather years (1995–2019) and modeling spatial and temporal patterns of electricity demand and generation. This work provides high-resolution spatial detail to the SWEET SURE analysis of extreme weather shocks and the quantification of the system’s resilience. The work consists of two chapters (two journal paper manuscripts) presenting the acquired results: (i) a manuscript on the impact of historical weather conditions on the Swiss electricity system in 2035, comparing four strategies of spatially siting solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and heat pumps and (ii) a manuscript on cost-optimal and near-optimal designs of the Swiss electricity system, including generation, storage and transmission, that are resilient to the weather conditions of historical years (1995–2019). The results show that from year-to-year weather conditions notably influence the operation and resilient designs of the system, where weather conditions have a higher influence on the system than the investigated siting strategies. Hence, locations of solar PV, wind power, and heat pumps are neither a major concern nor an influential solution to determine the system’s resilience. Having said that, minimum system cost approach that sites technologies in a cost-optimal way from the system’s perspective has consistent, albeit minor, advantages, especially for minimizing load shedding and curtailment. Without any wind power in 2035, Switzerland would need 35 GW of solar PV capacity to reach its target of 35 TWh/year on new renewable electricity in 95% of the 25 historical weather years analyzed. An additional 10 GW of wind power would be required under the additional policy of restricting net electricity import in winter to a maximum volume of 5 TWh/year. Similar levels of resilience could also be reached with 12 GW of solar PV and 18 GW of wind power, or with 20 GW of solar PV and 13.5 GW of wind power.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2025
The report deals with capacity mechanisms in the electricity sector. It starts from the situation in Switzerland with the winter reserve, the discussion about reserve power plants, and the electricity agreement with the EU. It shows which (mainly financial) measures are currently in force and for what period of time, and which further special efforts are being made to achieve the energy policy goals with regard to electricity supply. Ultimately, the question is whether the electricity market design, which is essentially based on an energy-only market, needs to be complemented by further instruments. In recent years, other countries have been moving towards capacity markets. Switzerland will be affected by this development, at least indirectly. The regular regulatory framework must be able to provide sufficient legal certainty for the construction of new production plants and enable stable medium-term development. The report provides an impulse for thought regarding balancing sustainability and resilience.
CONTACT PERSON
Reto Müller
2025
Switzerland’s transition to a decarbonized heating sector faces legal, economic, and infrastructural challenges. Many buildings still rely on fossil fuels, requiring a shift to renewable systems like heat pumps and district heating. While federal and cantonal policies provide direction, municipalities play a key role in energy planning and implementing heating solutions. Municipal Energy Planning (MEP) helps identify priority areas for thermal networks, but legal uncertainties—such as whether district heating is a public or private task—complicate procurement, competition laws, and ownership structures. A growing trend toward public regulation suggests municipalities are assuming more responsibility, raising questions about procurement rules and private sector involvement. The fragmented legal framework and contested mandatory grid connections add further complexity. To ensure a legally and economically viable transition, municipalities must use strategic policy tools like regulations, concessions, and incentives while balancing their roles as regulators and energy providers. Further legal research is needed to clarify public responsibilities, monopoly regulations, and mandatory connections to support Switzerland’s decarbonization goals.
CONTACT PERSON
Martin Jacob
2025
Switzerland's pursuit of a net-zero future hinges on transforming its energy sector, requiring complex local planning that balances climate goals with individual rights. This analysis examines the legal framework of energy planning, its interplay with spatial planning, and its constitutional compliance. It explores energy planning as a specialized form of planning, drawing from both spatial planning law and broader energy policy. The study also investigates the legal nature of energy planning and the Federal Supreme Court's focus on protecting against the effects of planning measures. The research reveals that energy planning, conducted by cantons and municipalities, aims to promote efficient energy use and the adoption of renewables, harmonizing energy policy with spatial development. While spatial planning has traditionally covered large energy infrastructure, energy planning focuses on creating enabling frameworks for sustainable energy practices. Energy plans possess varying degrees of legal force. Cantonal structure plans (Richtpläne) primarily bind government bodies, offering individuals limited direct legal recourse. The extent to which municipal energy plans directly affect property owners remains unclear. The Federal Supreme Court focuses on providing legal protection against the tangible consequences of energy planning, such as by allowing challenges to building permits, rather than allowing direct challenges to the plans themselves outside the context of formal land use plans. This approach may create gaps in legal protection. The study highlights diverse cantonal approaches to integrating energy planning into spatial planning, emphasizing the need for clear implementation and adherence to planning obligations under the Spatial Planning Act (Raumplanungsgesetz). It also addresses the necessity of land-use planning for significant spatial measures. In conclusion, energy planning often lacks the democratic legitimacy and legal safeguards of traditional spatial planning. The study advocates for strengthening democratic participation, potentially through procedures similar to spatial planning, to ensure transparency and public trust in Switzerland's energy transition.
CONTACT PERSON
Martin Jacob
2024
The report addresses the question of how to assess the social acceptance of energy system transformation pathways. The main argument is that most of existing research is interested in short-term decisions and changes, which are not well compatible with multi-dimensional and longer-term scenarios. This is then the argument for proposing an adaptation needs indicator that takes exactly this comprehensive/multidimensional and "long-term" perspective, i.e. that informs about the additive "hurdles" from a legal and political perspective that accumulate when moving forward along the different pathways. The report concludes with recommendations aimed at anticipating social acceptance when modelling and planning future energy system pathways.
CONTACT PERSON
Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen
2024
Energy systems modeling and scenario development play vital roles in quantitatively assessing potential trajectories for energy transitions and informing policy decisions. Traditional frameworks often overlook uncertainties inherent in long-term projections. Addressing factors like technological progress, societal preferences, climate dynamics, and political priorities introduces complexity and deep uncertainties into energy models, leading to a wide range of computed scenarios. Uncertainty has been recognized as a significant challenge in modeling, prompting the exploration of methodologies to systematically expose and analyze uncertainties. This paper presents the use of a System Dynamics simulation model designed to perform what-if analysis for energy policies, emphasizing the importance of sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. The model is demonstrated through a case study on decarbonization in the residential sector of a Swiss canton. The framework here presented integrates a bottom-up hybrid modeling approach, global sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty analysis techniques to systematically explore uncertainties and their implications for informing policy. Results highlight the significant impact of input parameter uncertainty on model outcomes, emphasizing the necessity of considering uncertainties in decision-making processes. By employing scenario analysis and clustering techniques, the study identifies critical policy levers that can steer the residential sector toward sustainable energy transitions, offering valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders.
CONTACT PERSON
Jalomi Maayan Tardif
2024
The report describes the framework employed for the development of a Socio-Technical Energy Transition (STET) model tailored for Canton Ticino. This model aims to support the evaluation of energy transition pathways and the influence of policy instruments. Key features of the framework are: • Stakeholder-driven model conceptualisation. • Representation of diverse actors and spatial dynamics aligned with stakeholder priorities. • Capability to simulate policy impacts, capture feedback loops, and track technology adoption patterns. • Comprehensive sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, enabled by low model running times. The report presents intermediate results, demonstrating the model's capabilities and setting the stage for further refinements and pathways exploration.
CONTACT PERSON
Jalomi Maayan Tardif
2024
The SURE project modeling teams focused on quantifying two pathways, "Sprint" (SPS1) and "Walk and Talk" (SPS4), alongside two societal and weather shock scenarios. Their key achievements included verifying feasibility, refining storylines to enhance impact, and aligning model links and sequences, ensuring a solid foundation for case studies. A first playable version of the SURE game was launched, enabling players to manage Switzerland’s electricity needs by investing in renewable, fossil, and nuclear power. Through gameplay, they receive feedback on biodiversity, land use, and public support, while experiencing and managing shocks, enhancing SURE’s visibility and knowledge-sharing. The Cantonal case study achieved a significant milestone by converting hypotheses about Ticino's energy system into a computational model. This effort, involving stakeholders, aligns local and national strategies, fostering policy harmonization and improving the model's accuracy and impact for regional energy policy. Dr. Lidia Stermieri completed her PhD, introducing a new socioeconomic module for the Swiss Energy System Model (STEM), based on Agent-Based Modeling. This module integrates social practices and consumer choices, allowing a nuanced assessment of digitalization's impact on energy use, improving SURE’s pathway quantification. Highlights Report: Download the comprehensive report for in-depth insights into these advancements and their impact on Switzerland's sustainable energy transition.
CONTACT PERSON
Evgenia Tsianou
2025
To support discussions around the feasibility of the energy transition, we present probabilistic projections of the expected baseline diffusion of solar photovoltaics, wind power, biogases, heat pumps, and low-carbon passenger vehicles in 39 European countries for 2023–2050 under current contextual conditions. We then compare the projected capacities against those required for reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We create our projections using 72 different variants of diffusion models that we validate using hindcasting (2012–2022) and weight according to their performance. We find a notable expected growth in solar photovoltaics, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles in the majority of European countries. However, most countries are unlikely to reach the required capacities for net-zero emissions of wind power and biogases with high confidence, and battery electric vehicles with lower confidence. Probabilities and confidence levels of reaching required capacities of solar photovoltaics and heat pumps vary the most between countries.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2024
The Swiss energy system is facing a paradigm shift as it strives to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, as well as phase out nuclear electricity production. This entails significant changes in the country’s energy landscape, including increased adoption of renewable energy technologies in the residential sector. To facilitate informed decision-making and planning by policymakers, this study introduces a system-dynamics model for the long-term adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) and heat pump (HP) technologies in Swiss residential buildings. Unlike conventional approaches, this framework considers the feedback loops and correlations between PV and HP adoption, while also accounting for building heterogeneity. Through scenario analyses, the model evaluates the impact of regulatory and financial policy interventions on the transition of the residential energy system. The results highlight the significant influence of policy measures on technology deployment rates, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions. They demonstrate that slight adjustments in current policy and regulatory framework could allow to safely reach PV deployment targets, but strong modifications are necessary to completely decarbonize the residential sector. This study contributes to advancing our understanding of the complex dynamics shaping residential energy transitions and offers valuable insights to support the formulation and implementation of effective energy strategies.
CONTACT PERSON
Jalomi Maayan Tardif
2025
As countries pursue net-zero energy systems, material demands intensify. This study develops a framework combining energy system modeling and life cycle assessment to quantify environmental impacts and material needs of energy transition scenarios. We apply it to Switzerland's net-zero scenario, using global sensitivity analysis to assess uncertainties in material intensity, efficiency, and market shares of energy technologies. Results reveal that Switzerland's domestic net-zero goal is met, with life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions decreasing from 40 to 4 megatonnes CO2-eq between 2020 and 2050. While uncertainties have limited influence on environmental indicators, demand for critical raw materials rises and varies substantially. For instance, lithium demand increases tenfold by 2050, with estimates ranging from 800 to 3,000 tonnes annually. Technological improvements and sub-technology choices, such as lithium-reduced battery chemistries, help mitigate CRM pressures even as storage capacity grows. Findings highlight the need to integrate material considerations into energy planning for sustainable, resilient transitions.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2025
National energy system models are vital to climate policy. However, they do not assess environmental impacts beyond territorial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we evaluate a territorial net zero GHG emissions energy scenario for Switzerland coupled with life-cycle assessment to quantify non-domestic environmental burdens. We stress the limited insights from considering territorial GHG emissions only. Indeed, significant GHG emissions persist outside of Switzerland by 2050 (~3-5 Mtons CO2-eq./year) because of imports and energy related infrastructure, even though domestic emissions are reduced to net zero. Global climate policies influence the extra-territorial GHG emissions Switzerland is responsible for. Additionally, we must broaden the spectrum of environmental indicators in the context of many countries’ ambitions to achieve net zero goals. Our findings highlight the trade-offs involved, showing how environmental impacts other than those on climate change (ecosystem impacts, air pollution, natural resource use) could increase and shift from Switzerland to the rest of the world as the country electrifies its economy.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2025
To design weather-resilient electricity systems that rely on variable renewable energy sources (VRES), spatially-explicit modeling with several decades of historical weather data is necessary to avoid over-optimization to a single weather year. Here, we apply the electricity system model EXPANSE for Switzerland to search for resilient cost-optimal and near-optimal system designs in 2035 under various policy scenarios, using data from 25 historical weather years (1995–2019) for electricity demand, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, hydropower dams and run-of-river hydropower. In particular, we demonstrate how modeling to generate alternatives (MGA) could be used to define a range of potential system designs for reaching different levels of weather resilience. We find that solar PV capacity of 35 GW in Switzerland in 2035 without any wind power would allow the country to reach its target of 35 TWh yr−1 on new renewable electricity in 95% of the 25 historical weather years. Further limiting winter electricity import to a maximum of 5 TWh yr−1 as currently envisioned by policy, would require additional 10 GW of wind power to have a comparable level of weather resilience. Within the range of alternative MGA scenarios, such 95% resilience level could also be achieved using 12 GW of solar PV and 18 GW of wind power, 20 GW of solar PV and 13.5 GW of wind power. This methodology could be transferred to other countries and continents that intend to reach high shares of VRES in their electricity systems.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2024
Accurate energy demand forecasting is crucial for sustainable and resilient energy development. To meet the Net Zero Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 scenario in the DACH countries, increased renewable energy production, energy storage, and reduced commercial building consumption are needed. This scenario's success depends on hydroelectric capacity and climatic factors. Informed decisions require quantifying uncertainty in forecasts. This study explores a nonparametric method based on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS), known as kernel quantile regression, for energy prediction. Our experiments demonstrate its reliability and sharpness, and we benchmark it against state-of-the-art methods in load and price forecasting for the DACH region. We offer our implementation in conjunction with additional scripts to ensure the reproducibility of our research.
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Michael Multerer
2025
This study analyses the spatial distribution of hydrogen demand for industry feedstock, high-temperature process heat, heavy-duty goods transport, shipping and aviation in Switzerland and then cost-optimizes coupled electricity and hydrogen systems at a high spatial and temporal resolution in 2035 and 2050. Three scenarios of how hydrogen markets could develop are considered: Hydrogen economy, Hydrogen as a niche, and Midway. The results show that hydrogen in Switzerland can be fully provided from renewable electricity, best in regions with hydropower or wind power and near hydrogen demand sites. Hydrogen has only marginal potential though for re-conversion as electricity storage or for replacing natural gas in combustion plants. As hydrogen storage in compressed tanks is not cost-effective in Switzerland, intermediate storage in hydrogen transport trucks as well as hydrogen export to neighbouring countries with underground storage are favourable. Under conservative assumptions of hydrogen import costs, Switzerland could be a competitive hydrogen exporter.
2023
Nuclear energy is a base low-carbon and dispachable electricity production source. Its longevity and capital intensiveness, requiring large upfront investments, make it difficult for private investors to be involved in nuclear projects. In 2017, the Swiss people voted in favor of the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 and the progressive phase-out of nuclear power while the reactors currently in operation can continue to produce electricity as long as they comply with the safety standards. In a context of tension on the supply of electricity, the option to use nuclear power in the future is growing in the debate, in Switzerland as well as in Europe. This Master’s thesis aims at investigating technical and economical aspects of different options for the use of nuclear power in Switzerland. Nuclear power is competitive and profitable in Switzerland under low risk, carbon-constrained policies and contained construction costs. The results demonstrate through stochastic cost modeling based on real and Swiss-specific data that large scale nuclear power in Switzerland is likely to be economical as long as interest rates and construction time are limited or that climate policies are reinforced. New concepts such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are likely to be competitive under robust learning in Switzerland and if integrated design enables substantial cost reduction. If interest rates are high, and if there is no worldwide deployment implying limited or no learning, SMRs are likely to be uncompetitive in Switzerland. Eventually, cogeneration products such as hydrogen are only viable options in net-zero scenarios. This Master’s Thesis can be a starting point for a more detailed bottom-up cost assessment for SMRs and the integration of nuclear power in Swiss energy models to assess the cost of such energy on climate policies.
CONTACT PERSON
Tom Kober
Diffusion of granular renewable energy technologies is known to be spatially heterogeneous within countries. We investigate patterns in the distribution of 319’341 residential buildings with heat pumps in 2’148 Swiss municipalities in 2021. Using stepwise regression and spatial statistical analysis, we identify influential technical and socio-economic factors of residential heat pump diffusion as well as associated spatial traits. The results show that residential heat pumps primarily have a higher diffusion level in sparsely populated areas where the shares of agricultural area and detached houses are higher, hinting at an urban-rural difference. Economic factors, like income and electricity price, have a limited impact on residential heat pump diffusion in Switzerland, except for unemployment rate that has a negative impact. Some Swiss cantons (states) have a distinctly higher or lower residential heat pump diffusion level than others, a phenomenon possibly induced by cantonal policies. The spatial diffusion of residential heat pumps also tends to be spatially clustered, not only within cantons but also at the inter-cantonal level, indicating spatial spillovers. These findings could help policymakers promote heat pump diffusion in a more effective and precise manner.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2022
In order to reduce anthropogenic environmental impacts, it is important to properly measure them. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a well-established tool for the quantification of the potential environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its complete life cycle. Read the full summary on the link.
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Peter Burgherr
2023
The focus of the thesis was the development of a set of detailed industrial energy models (or modules) for the Swiss industrial sub-sectors, viz. cement, pulp and paper, and food. These sub-sectoral models, which represent an extension of the Swiss TIMES Energy system Model (STEM), entail modelling of production processes with material flows, besides energy and emission flows. The inclusion of production processes and material flows enables tracking of production process-related emissions and their mitigation. These model advancements enabled accounting for efficiency improvements of specific technologies and identification of alternative production process while considering distinct temperature levels for process heat supply. For example, the cement sector has significant process related CO2 emissions and therefore this methodological development is more relevant to explore mitigation options. This is the first time that energy and material flows are combined in a TIMES modelling framework with a very high technology representation of specific industrial sectors at a national scale.
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Evangelos Panos
2022
This report defines the four identified pathways scenarios of the SWEET-SURE project as well as five scenarios representing disruptive events. The development of these scenarios are based on an interdisciplinary and inclusive approach including the project’s research partners and the SURE stakeholder forum. The scenarios are described in detail and corresponding information to quantify the scenarios using energy models is provided. Beyond this, model connections of the comprehensive analytical framework of SURE are sketched, highlighting the major parameters and variables exchanged between the SURE models for the national analysis. As such, this report represents a fundamental document for the application of the analytical framework and the collaboration among the modelling teams in SWEET-SURE.
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Evangelos Panos
2022
This research activity aims to produce environmental and resource indicators for the materials required by the energy systems in Switzerland over time and across scenarios and shocks based on life-cycle assessment. The Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) model in SURE will use selected indicators to represent specific aspects of the environment and resilience dimensions of the proposed decision support framework. The aim of this activity is to design the exchange and harmonization of information between the different energy (Swiss TIMES Energy system Model, STEM), building (Building Stock Model, BSM), and economy (Global Equilibrium Model, GEM-E3) models and the life-cycle assessment module. Identifying the relevant input and output parameters from these models and designing a procedure to integrate them into the life-cycle database is essential.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2023
In Switzerland, a large part of the population lives in urban areas. Considering the increasing impact of climate change on cities in general, and the effects of geopolitical events on energy security, increasing the resilience and sustainability of the energy system is gaining importance for urban governance. Both aspects need to be considered in parallel, as they can enforce but also contradict each other. This report therefore proposes a resilience and sustainability concept for urban energy systems and its transformation, firstly to contribute to the literature and secondly to develop a basis for the upcoming case study with the city of Zurich.
CONTACT PERSON
Marc Melliger
2022
This report describes the Energy grid modelling framework (E-Grid) developed at ETHZ for the SURE modelling framework.
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Alex Fuchs
2022
This research activity focuses on bringing the general SURE framework to the cantonal level and complementing it with a tool aimed at regional policymaker end-users. This case study for canton Ticino fits within the general SURE framework in terms of the main objective of i) using models to describe energy system transition pathways and ii) assessing the sustainability and resilience of the resulting energy system through a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). As in the SURE framework, the cantonal case study emphasises on an early and continuous engagement of stakeholders that will help frame the challenges and opportunities of the energy system transition scenarios.
CONTACT PERSON
Jalomi Tardif
2022
The objective of this report is to model spatially-explicit scenarios of growth in solar PV, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles in Switzerland from 2020 to 2050, using statistical and optimization models. The report presents the acquired results as three journal paper manuscripts: (i) a manuscript on spatially-explicit probabilistic projections of solar PV, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles in Switzerland until 2050; (ii) a manuscript on comparing statistical and optimization models for generating spatially-explicit Swiss projections of solar PV installations in the short run, and (iii) a manuscript on statistical analysis of spatial patterns in residential heat pump adoption in Switzerland. Overall, this report results in spatially-explicit projections of growth in solar PV, heat pumps, and battery electric vehicles by 2050, including most likely and more disruptive, yet less likely developments. If the current trends continue, Switzerland is on track to only have 12.5 GW of solar PV, 0.6 million buildings with heat pumps, and 1.4 million battery electric vehicles by 2050, and hence needs to become more ambitious to reach its net-zero emissions target with higher certainty by 2050. Using statistical models, the report also identifies socio-demographic and techno-economic predictors of spatial adoption of solar PV and heat pumps in Switzerland, including some insights on the role of policy. Statistical models are overall found to be better fit for the purpose for modeling short-term as well as long-term spatial projections of these granular technologies.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2023
The manufacturing industry and the national public transport are a significant part of the Swiss energy system. These sectors not only have decarbonisation goals, but also need to be prepared against sudden energy supply and demand disruptions. However, the implementation of sustainability and resilience goals proves to be a challenge. Here, we propose a general resilience and sustainability concept for these sectors and apply it to concrete cases. Depending on the sector (industry or transport), resilience and sustainability concepts of the main stakeholders, the industry in Basel and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), are at different stages of their development.
CONTACT PERSON
Marc Melliger
2023
This report addresses the cost-effectiveness of process heat decarbonisation and power-to-heat options in the manufacturing industry with process temperatures of up to 120 °C. Options include high temperature heat pumps (HTHP), renewable or low-carbon fuels or combined heat and power plants. Previous studies have identified a large potential to adopt such options in Switzerland. However, high technology, energy and integration costs have been obstacles to integrate these technologies in existing processes. In addition, energy price developments have been very dynamic. Hence, we here provide an up-to-date assessment
CONTACT PERSON
Marc Melliger
2023
Recently, social tipping dynamics relevant to sustainability have become the subject of a growing literature. Numerous publications seek to bring the concept of tipping (back) from the natural to the social system and make important contributions to its conceptualization, definition, and constant refinement. Yet, and despite its wide array, the current literature has a blind spot: it does neither adequately integrate, conceptualize, nor measure the role of the political sphere and thus underestimates its importance for social tipping processes. This is the starting point of our contribution, which not only emphasizes the political dimension's relevance to the analysis of social tipping, but also proposes two main ways to integrate it into such analyses: by conceptualizing the political sphere either as a trigger of social tipping, or as an element that can tip itself. Moreover, to capture the complexity of the political sphere, namely the interaction between networks, actors, and processes, we suggest analysing the political sphere along its three elements: polity, politics, and policy. We illustrate the empirical benefit of these refinements by presenting a comparative case study of the nuclear phase-out in Germany and Switzerland.
CONTACT PERSON
Isabelle Stadelmann
2022
In this issue of Joule, Way et al. use data-driven probabilistic technology forecasts to show that rapid global decarbonization until 2070 is likely to have lower costs than no decarbonization. Besides good news for climate policy, Way et al. reopen the discussion on probabilistic methods in energy and integrated assessment modelling.
CONTACT PERSON
Evelina Trutnevyte
2023
Um von den Kraftwerken zu den Verbrauchern zu gelangen, muss der elektrische Strom durch das 6700 km lange Übertragungsnetz fliessen. Ohne dieses wäre die Versorgung mit elektrischer Energie nicht möglich. Eigentümerin und Betreiberin des Übertragungsnetzes ist Swissgrid – eine privat-rechtliche Aktiengesellschaft. Swissgrid ist von Gesetzes wegen dafür verantwortlich, dass schweizweit dauernd und jederzeit die nötige Menge Strom zu angemessenen Preisen erhältlich ist. Doch was geschieht, wenn Swissgrid dies nicht mehr gewährleisten kann? Die Auswirkungen auf die gesamte Bevölkerung und die Wirtschaft wären drastisch: Ein Blackout verursacht einen Schaden von vier Milliarden Franken – pro Tag. Für diesen Schaden würde zwar in erster Linie die privat-rechtliche Swissgrid haften. Doch den Bund trifft stets die letzte Verantwortung. Das vorliegende Werk zeigt deshalb nicht nur detailliert das Haftungsregime auf, sondern geht auch der Frage nach, wie sinnvoll es ist, die sichere Stromversorgung der Schweiz in die Hände einer AG zu legen.
CONTACT PERSON
Reto Müller
2022
In recent years many Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted to quantify the environmental performance of products and services. Some of these studies propagated numerical uncertainties in underlying data to LCA results, and several applied Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) to some parts of the LCA model to determine its main uncertainty drivers. However, only a few studies have tackled the GSA of complete LCA models due to the high computational cost of such analysis and the lack of appropriate methods for very high-dimensional models. This study proposes a new GSA protocol suitable for large LCA problems that, unlike existing approaches, does not make assumptions on model linearity and complexity and includes extensive validation of GSA results. We illustrate the benefits of our protocol by comparing it with an existing method in terms of filtering of noninfluential and ranking of influential uncertainty drivers and include an application example of Swiss household food consumption. We note that our protocol obtains more accurate GSA results, which leads to better understanding of LCA models, and less data collection efforts to achieve more robust estimation of environmental impacts. Implementations supporting this work are available as free and open source Python packages.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2023
The contribution of the industrial sector is essential to realize long-term energy and climate policy goals. The present research paper explores trajectories improving energy efficiency and reaching net-zero emissions in the Swiss pulp and paper industry by 2050. A techno-economic bottom-up cost optimization model is developed based on the Swiss TIMES Energy system Model (STEM) and applied for a scenario analysis. Establishing an advanced modeling methodology including material and product flows in addition to energy flows, allowed us to assess explicit process improvements and the impact of specific innovative production technologies. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the value of dividing industrial heat demand into different temperature levels which enables a detailed assessment of high-temperature heat pumps and waste heat recovery as important decarbonization options in industry. The results of the scenario analysis performed with this advanced model show that an energy reduction of 23% and a reduction in the annual CO2 emissions of 71% until 2050 would result from a cost-optimal technology deployment even without major policy intervention, given the assumptions made on technology progress and costs. These improvements are achieved by fuel switching, improvements in the production processes and deployment of efficient technologies, in particular high-temperature heat pumps and efficient motors. Achieving a net-zero goal in the pulp and paper industry by 2050 requires increased amounts of biomass in the short term and additionally high-temperature heat pumps up to 200 °C in the long-term in case of biomass scarcity. On the other hand, this leads to 49% higher energy related costs compared to the baseline development, if all other sectors decarbonize simultaneously to reach net-zero CO2 emissions in Switzerland.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2023
Digitalization is expected to play an important role in mitigating environmental issues and supporting the energy transition to meet future energy and climate targets. To understand the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications in the energy transition, a prior understanding of their implications on user behavior and energy consumption is essential to identify and prevent potential rebound effects. With a systematic literature review, this paper investigates approaches to quantify behavioral changes and energy impacts for different ICT applications. The review highlights a gap in linking the effects of ICT on users' behavior and impacts on energy consumption over a long time horizon and beyond the specific regional case study. We find that the difficulty in expanding the temporal and spatial resolution is related to the type of approach used to assess user effects. The review highlights and describes the problem of selecting the appropriate approach to perform an analysis that is robust in assessing both changes in user behavior on the one hand, and future energy implications related to ICT applications on the other hand.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
2022
Digitalization is expected to play an important role in mitigating environmental issues and supporting the energy transition to meet future energy and climate targets. To understand the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications in the energy transition, a prior understanding of their implications on user behavior and energy consumption is essential to identify and prevent potential rebound effects. With a systematic literature review, this paper investigates approaches to quantify behavioral changes and energy impacts for different ICT applications. The review highlights a gap in linking the effects of ICT on users' behavior and impacts on energy consumption over a long time horizon and beyond the specific regional case study. We find that the difficulty in expanding the temporal and spatial resolution is related to the type of approach used to assess user effects. The review highlights and describes the problem of selecting the appropriate approach to perform an analysis that is robust in assessing both changes in user behavior on the one hand, and future energy implications related to ICT applications on the other hand.
CONTACT PERSON
Romain Sacchi
2022
We introduce the concept of samplets by transferring the construction of Tausch-White wavelets to scattered data. This way, we obtain a multiresolution analysis tailored to discrete data which directly enables data compression, feature detection and adaptivity. The cost for constructing the samplet basis and for the fast samplet transform, respectively, is where N is the number of data points. Samplets with vanishing moments can be used to compress kernel matrices, arising, for instance, in kernel based learning and scattered data approximation. The result are sparse matrices with only remaining entries. We provide estimates for the compression error and present an algorithm that computes the compressed kernel matrix with computational cost. The accuracy of the approximation is controlled by the number of vanishing moments. Besides the cost efficient storage of kernel matrices, the sparse representation enables the application of sparse direct solvers for the numerical solution of corresponding linear systems. In addition to a comprehensive introduction to samplets and their properties, we present numerical studies to benchmark the approach. Our results demonstrate that samplets mark a considerable step in the direction of making large scattered data sets accessible for multiresolution analysis.
CONTACT PERSON
Michael Multerer
2021
Panos E., T. Kober, R. Kannan and S. Hirschberg (2021). Long-term energy transformation pathways – Integrated scenario analysis with the Swiss TIMES energy systems model. JASM final report.
CONTACT PERSON
Evangelos Panos
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