The focus area Energy Transition in the Built Environment investigates how buildings, streets, districts, cities, and regions can transform their energy infrastructure toward sustainable alternatives based on renewables. The energy system is in transition. Demand for electricity is growing due to increased use of heat pumps and electric vehicles. At the same time, energy supply is becoming more volatile as the share of wind and solar power generation get larger.
This poses challenges at the level of the built environment. Within the built environment, the provision of heating to buildings remains responsible for the largest share of energy demand. A shift towards improved insulation, more efficient heat provision, and electrification is necessary, but technical and social challenge stand in the way of making this shift effective. Moreover, due to climate change, overheating is becoming an increasingly prominent challenge that is in some cases exacerbated by energy saving methods such as improved insulation.
Typical projects in this focus area are centered around challenges regarding insulation & renovation, electric heating, district heat networks, overheating, occupant behavior, and net congestion. Here, the ETBE focus area takes an holistic approach, studying the application of individual technologies in relation to users and other parts to the energy system, and how the combination of different components works out in the longer term.
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ETBE for science, society and industry
According to the United Nations, buildings produce 40% of worldwide CO2 emissions. Efforts to reduce these emissions face significant challenges including those related to reduction of heat demand, electrification of heat supply, implementing district heating, balancing fluctuating levels of energy demand and supply, preventing net-congestion, energy injustice issues, limited material and human resources, high costs, and difficult to control occupant behaviour. The interrelatedness and complexity of these challenges calls for interdisciplinary collaboration and linking science, society and industry.
In the EIRES focus area ETBE, we bring together researchers and projects from different disciplines and societal sectors to catalyze this type of collaboration. We do this by forming networks, organizing lunch lectures, network meetings, funding support 鈥�
- Expertise that 果冻传媒 has to offer to address these main challenges
- (Particular challenges we choose to focus on?)
- The approaches we take to address these challenges
- The parties we collaborate with to supplement our expertise and achieve impact
- Results we have already achieved in these areas
Principal Scientists
Running projects within the focus area ETBE
Contact
EIRES | Focus Area: Energy Transition in the Built environment (ETB)
- Lenneke Kuijer - s.c.kuijer@tue.nl
- Roel Loonen - r.c.g.m.loonen@tue.nl
- EIRES office - eires@tue.nl