Chair of Energy Systems AnalysisOpen OpportunitiesThe Swiss Energy Strategy has been in place in the form of the Energy Act since 2018. The strategy gives
a rough framework for the ambitious transition to a climate-neutral energy system by 2050. Since this time,
many studies have analysed the technical and economic feasibility of implementing this strategy with a
variety of methods. Still many details of the energy transition remain unanswered or at least there is a lack
of consensus in the literature. The goal of this project is specifically assess the possible future role of nuclear
energy within a Swiss context, including both existing and emerging technologies and configurations. The
objective is to perform a long-term scenario analysis to explore possible energy futures both with and without
nuclear energy, and specifically to understand the technical and economic implications. - Applied Economics, Other, Other
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| The transition to a sustainable energy future requires robust decision-support tools to identify suitable energy transition pathways based on local circumstances. This is particularly challenging in the context of local energy systems, where data is frequently lacking or of low quality. The RE3ASON energy system model, performs an assessment of the local energy demand, renewable potential and existing infrastructure and determines an optimal energy transition pathway based on this information. A new development based on this model using the open-source Spine toolbox and SpineOpt aims to enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the model while extending the model scope to Switzerland. This project, part of the Swiss Center of Excellence on Net-Zero Emissions, aims to develop a modular optimization model for Swiss municipalities. It offers the opportunity to work with cutting-edge tools in energy system modelling. - Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis, Semester Project
| The transition to a sustainable energy future requires robust decision-support tools to identify suitable energy transition pathways based on local circumstances. This is particularly challenging in the context of local energy systems, where data is frequently lacking or of low quality. The RE3ASON energy system model performs an assessment of the local energy demand, renewable potential and existing infrastructure and determines an optimal energy transition pathway based on this information. However, it is only applicable to Germany. A new development based on this model using the open-source Spine toolbox and SpineOpt aims to enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the model while extending the model scope to Switzerland. This project focuses on the analysis and visualization of model results in this context, offering an opportunity to work with cutting-edge tools in energy system modeling. - Engineering and Technology
- Bachelor Thesis, Semester Project
| Energy system models are useful tools to identify suitable energy transition pathways towards a sustainable energy future. They depend on input data, whose management becomes nontrivial when these models should be adaptable to systems in various contexts. A new municipal energy system model is being developed based on the RE3ASON model, which enables assessment of the local energy demand, renewable potential and existing infrastructure and determines an optimal energy transition pathway based on this information for German municipalities. The new model aims to support a wider range of technologies with increased technical detail and extend the model scope to Swiss municipalities. To ensure a coherent workflow for modelling with diverse data types from various sources, this development uses an open-source Python package, Spine Toolbox, for data management. In this context, the project focuses on integrated modularisation and automation of input data management workflow for energy system modelling. - Engineering and Technology
- Bachelor Thesis, Semester Project
| Switzerland’s Energy Perspectives 2050+ aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while ensuring secure energy supply. Renewable energy plays an important role in the supply technologies, yet intermittent production remains a challenge for future energy systems. Therefore, to evaluate the affordability and reliability of renewable generation, the techno-economic potentials of these technologies in high spatial and temporal resolution need to be assessed. Existing resource assessment methods estimate the technical and economic potential at different details, yet the majority are not transferable due to the use of locally available data. - Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis
| Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (RE) is crucial for mitigating climate change and ensuring a sustainable future. Usually, the feasibility of the energy transition on the local scale is assessed by considering the technical and economic potentials of RE technologies, as well as their
environmental impact. However, the plans for the energy system transition often encounter local
opposition. Communities near proposed wind farms may express concerns about their visual impact, noise, or changes to their way of life. In this regard, identifying and understanding the trade-offs between different factors that may influence the local development of wind technologies is a nontrivial task. - Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis, Semester Project
| Recently, microgrids have been recognized as a promising solution to tackle the rising number of power outages caused by extreme weather events affecting our cities and communities. These conditions, frequently induced by climate change, result in effects that go beyond damage to the energy infrastructure. The water systems are equally vulnerable to extreme weather events (including droughts caused by heat waves and floods), affecting the supply of clean water, the treatment of wastewater, and the management of stormwater. Recognizing the similarity of electricity and water microgrids, the project proposes to create a unified framework for renewable energy-powered water microgrids using concepts from electricity microgrids. - Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis
| The Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 aims to achieve zero net emissions target as of 2050, which is based on four pillars: energy efficiency, renewable energy, new large-scale electricity production facilities, and for-eign energy policy. The spatially-explicit potentials of different low-carbon technologies in Switzerland are of great public, political, and research interest to understand the amount of energy that can be produced locally and the associated costs. - Earth Sciences, Economics, Engineering and Technology, Policy and Political Science
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| The Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 aims to achieve zero net emissions target as of 2050. The four leading Swiss research institutes — Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), and Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG)—are at the forefront of this en-deavour. In the context of the SCENE project, these institutes are collaboratively developing science-based roadmaps that outline the anticipated pathways to attain net-zero emissions before 2040. The tran-sition to net zero requires a multifaceted approach, encompassing technological advancements, con-sumption reductions, and market-based mechanisms for emission compensation and reduction. An es-sential component of this transition is a comprehensive CO2 emission-related cost analysis. This analysis will evaluate the financial implications of shifting energy technologies, reducing consumption, and imple-menting market-based emission compensation and reduction strategies. - Earth Sciences, Economics, Engineering and Technology, Policy and Political Science
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is often considered a solution to reduce GHG emissions from oil production and utilization [1,2]; some studies even claim net-negative emissions from EOR (‘carbon-negative oil’) [3], considering the injection of captured CO2. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a suitable method to evaluate the overall environmental burdens over the entire life cycle of an EOR system. However, many of these current LCA studies have limited system boundaries (i.e., not cradle-to-grave), thus typically excluding emissions, for example, from burning oil. Here, we aim to determine the so-called ‘solution space’ in terms of GHG impacts (and beyond) of EOR systems, considering a wide range of scenarios and CO2-sources (biogenic, fossil, etc). - Earth Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Policy and Political Science
- Master Thesis
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