Energizing Day 2023

Inclusive umbrellas
In his talk, EIRES’ scientific director Richard van de Sanden fully endorsed Lenaerts’ notion about the importance of connecting different people with different views and backgrounds. ‘One of our main tasks is to bring together TU/e researchers from different disciplines who are working on systems for energy storage and conversion. Recently, we have evaluated what we have achieved so far, and we concluded that we want to involve an even wider community of researchers. To make sure that we appeal to the right people, we’ve decided to rename our focus areas into System transition & scenario’s, Energy transition in the built environment, Greening the process industry; and Energy generation and storage. Computational energy research is added as a cross-cutting theme. These four focus areas will act as umbrellas for the larger scale challenge based research programs we aim to develop, funded by external money, but seeded from the EIRES budget.’

Keeping sight of social dynamics
Then TU/e researcher Floor Alkemade, chair of the group of Economics and Governance of Technological Innovation, took the stage, to talk about the relevance of social tipping dynamics for engineering. She started with an example: ‘The growth in photovoltaics (solar panels, ed) has persistently been higher than any model had expected. That means that our models are not good enough. And that is a problem, because if we don’t expect growth in some clean technology, we will not invest in it, will not build the right infrastructure, and will not train people with the required knowledge and expertise.’ The part that is missing in the models, is the social side of innovation, she argued. ‘Just as there are non linear feedback loops in the climate system, there are also non linear  feedback loops in social developments. We need to stimulate the reinforcing feedback loops, and at the same time reduce the dampening balancing feedbacks. Or, more concrete, we need not only to subsidize electric cars, but also to actively reduce the demand for energy.’

Better batteries
One of the major problems of our future energy systems is energy storage. Next speaker Marnix Wagemaker, professor at TU Delft, where he heads the Storage of Electrochemical Energy group, shed light on the challenges of developing better batteries that are more environmentally friendly, have a long life time, and can be charged fast. ‘Battery technology is only in its infancy,’ he concluded. ‘And we will be developing different solutions to match different needs. What’s important now, is that we focus on the sustainable options: so the solutions based on non-critical materials, with a long life span.’

After a series of inspiring pitches from some of the partners presenting at the exhibition floor and from the researchers behind the posters, the participants were sent off to lunch.

Chemical complexity of electrocatalysis
First speaker after lunch was Vanessa Jane Bukas, group leader at the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Society Berlin. In her work, she is challenged by the complexity of selectivity in electrocatalysis. In an enthusing talk she presented two possible scenarios to explain the observed selectivity of catalytic reactions that cannot be accurately described by current, mostly thermodynamics-based, models. ‘We’ve shown that a mesoscopic mass transport phenomenon, where diffusion and surface chemistry compete and intermediates desorb from the catalyst, re-adsorb and then react to lead to the final product, can account for a lot of the so far unexplained observations in selectivity of electrochemical reactions. This leads us to believe that selectively can be controlled by catalytic morphology, and not by active sites alone.’

Optimizing a network of networks
Where Vanessa Jane Bukas zoomed in on the atomic scale, Christina Papadimitriou, assistant professor Intelligent energy systems, zoomed out to the systems scale. ‘In our eNeuron project, we have developed a toolbox for the operation of integrated energy systems, containing for example water networks, electricity networks, heating/cooling networks and gas networks. This tooling can be used for long term planning for optimal configurations, but also for day ahead optimization and real-time operation optimization. In the coming months, we will deploy this toolkit in 4 EU countries.’ In addition to talking about the eNeuron project, Papadimitriou also briefly introduced the INBUILT project that will be starting soon, and is part of the EIRES program BEHeaT.

Sunny view on solar
The final speaker of the day was René Janssen, leader of TU/e’s interdepartmental research group Molecular Materials and Nanosystems. He spoke about the challenge of improving the efficiency of solar cells. ‘The solar panels that you can buy today, will have an efficiency of about 20 percent when installed on your roof. We should double that.’ In his effort toward such way more efficient solar cells, Janssen focuses on so-called perovskites, a class of materials with a distinct crystal structure, which, when stacked in layers made out of different combinations of elements, theoretically could yield over 50 percent of efficiency. ‘So far, we’ve managed to make such so-called tandem cells that demonstrated 26 percent efficiency, so we are not there yet. But I am confident that we are in the middle of a revolution, and that in your lifetime, solar panels with 40 percent efficiency will indeed become a reality.’

After a short mentimeter quiz based on all previous presentations, spoken word artist Atta de Tolk wrapped up the day with a poem summarizing his impressions. And since in his words ‘energy will not energize itself,’ during the drinks afterwards, many ideas were exchanged and the first foundations were laid for new collaborations to accelerate the energy transition.

Not only vocal but we let our actions speak
We set a goal and we invest all our energy to reach

A higher ground, and based on the evidence we can conclude with confidence, that we finally found a way to attract, outside interest
So we all can really invest

And this is just one of the fruits of your labour
You see, if we concentrate, we can change behaviour

Shared ideas will be multiplied once made visual
Innovation is not only for individuals

So who can you reach and pitch your vision to?
Do, discuss, show and prove
Successful collaboration is an attitude

Even if others have other perspectives
They still need to be included en not neglected
Because if we don’t welcome outsiders, you know what the effect is?
You guessed it, there will be no names to put on the guest-list

Let’s welcome the alliance
We are like a startup, with a background in science
Now we have to develop a machine, we can even call it Fires

What the machine produces is more social commitment
So people can be a participant instead of a witness
A truly inclusive business, like we saw today, with active presentations and pitches
The sky is not the limit, it can be a new beginning

So small startups can peak and reach milestones
That influences people in different time zones

So together we stand, and we stand firm
Are capacity batteries are focused on the long term
We don’t have a planet to waste and no unlimited resources to burn
So we have to learn from our concerns
We are able to let the tables make a turn

If we play our cards right
The effects can be explosive like carbonite

Let’s push to continue while sustainability has the momentum, now there’s the focus of the mases, so we have to expand
If we don’t expect, we don’t plan, so where do we really want to stand

If we have to choose one mission, it can be to erase e-mission
But our whole system is awakened by the transition
There’s a higher social return if we invest in innovation
Sounds like a win-win situation

So, no hiding in a basement
Bring your hottest statements
And pitch them like they can be understood by teenagers
Stakeholders, engaging strangers

Even those that see dangers of too much involvement and enforcement
Let’s be in the field, the only good reason to be out of office

Energy will not energize itself
We need your knowledge, your enthusiasm, your overall help

Sometimes your energy gets drained and your battery is low
You can hang on to your colleagues and go with the flow

You will see when the chemistry is intensified
Your enthusiasm will be electrified
You will need the motivation sometimes
Like before today, I considered myself to be sort of a smart guy
I tried to understand everything, today I really tried
But I can promise you, the first thing I will do once I get in my car is cry!!!
Next time, I need a translator by my side

All jokes aside, I’m impressed by your passion
Pure professionals open to learn lessons
Integrating efficiency in our think patterns

And future mechanisms will re-coordinate our transitions to better positions
That’s really called a multi-objective optimization

As I said, we’re facing challenges, but they’re really do-able
The walls are move-able

As long as all the stakeholders move as 1
This is how big things get done

Biz starts as a quiz
Step by step you have to find out what it is

The effort of the team is how the efficiency increases
Sometimes a perovskite is all your excitement needed

I guess in this sector, pure interest is fundamental
As the days continued, I found out why the word mental is in the word environmental
We have definitely transitioned to the next level

So, what’s next, do we know what to expect?
It’s like a puzzle, a quiz with various effects

There’s a lot of stuff to digest, I think
And by now, you all really deserve a drink

Cheers!