Upload
karthikeyan-arumugathandavan
View
218
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
1/44
Public Energy Researchin Switzerland
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
2/44
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
3/44
1
Summary
Editorial 2
Interview with Tony Kaiser, president o the CORE 3
Publicly unded energy research: a contribution to sustainable development 5
Rational Energy Use
Thinking o everything when designing processes 9Buildings: Energy consumption: down Comort: up! 10
Vehicles should become more ef cient, lighter and more intelligent 12
Accumulators: improved storage through accumulation 13
Electricity: more ef ciency and innovative technologies 14
The Electrical Grid: Flexible, dependable and economical 15
Production o heat and power go together 16
Combustion: In search o optimised combustion processes 18
Power Plant: Improved large plants are in demand 19
Fuel Cells: Swiss developments or a European key technology 20
Renewable Energy Sources
Increasing the use o solar heat 21
Photovoltaic energy enters the industrial phase 22
High Temperature Solar Energy 24
Hydrogen: With a vision underway 25
Heat Pumps: Optimal energy conversion 26
Hydro-Electric Plants: Small, decentralised and environmentally benign 27
Biomass: Combustion, gasication, ermentation 28
Geothermal Energy: Heat and electricity rom depth 30
Wind Power: Tail wind or Swiss know-how 31
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Fission: Growing the Potential with new reactor concepts 32
Nuclear Fusion: Milestones towards the use o a great potential 34
Cross-cutting issues
Boundary conditions or a sustainable energy supply 36
Innovation processes: Not or the aint-hearted 38
International collaboration 40
Adresses 41
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
4/44
2
Editorial
Brochure on energy research in Switzerland.
Spring 2011. Available in German, French, Italian
and English. Copyright Swiss Federal Of ce o
Energy SFOE, Bern, Switzerland. All rights reserved.
Editorial and production
Swiss Federal Of ce o Energy SFOE, 3003 Bern,
Switzerland.
Phone 031 322 56 11, Fax 031 323 25 [email protected]
www.be.admin.ch
Editorial team
Swiss Federal Of ce o Energy SFOE;
Almut Bonhage, Bonhage PR; Philippe Gagnebin;
Jrg Wellstein, Wellstein Kommunikation.
Translation
Suter Consulting
Layout and design
Agence Symbol, 1763 Granges-Paccot
Sources o illustrations
Cover SFOEp. 2 SFOE; p. 3 Alstom Schweiz AG; p. 5-7 SFOE;
p. 9 Encontrol GmbH, Niederrohrdor; p.10-11
Mark Zimmermann, Empa; p. 12 ETH Zrich; p. 13
Mes Dea; p. 14 Lonza AG; p. 15 ETH Zrich; p. 17
Liebherr, Bulle; p. 18 Wrtsil Schweiz AG; p. 19
Alstom Schweiz AG; p. 20 PSI; p. 21 Hochschule r
Technik Rapperswil; p. 22-23 VHF-Technologies SA,
Yverdon-les-Bains; p. 24 Airlight Energy SA; p. 25
EMPA; p. 26 Jrg Wellstein; p. 27 Blue-Water-Power
AG, Schasheim; p. 28 Holzverstromung Nidwalden
Korporation Stans; p. 29 PSI; p. 30 Geopower Basel
AG; p. 31 Meteoswiss; p. 33 ETHZ/PSI; p. 34 ww w.iter.
org; p. 36-37 SFOE; p. 38 Institut de Microtechnique,
Neuchtel; p. 40 SFOE.
Impressum
Dear readers
Energy research is a central element o uture-orientedclimate and energy polices. High quality research must
point the way to a dependable, ef cient, environmentally
benign and economically viable energy supply system
or the uture. The benets rom well-executed energyresearch are quite evident: Technical innovation leadsto increased energy ef ciency, and more eective use o
renewable energy conserves our natural resources. As a
result o these eorts new jobs are also created. Export o
such innovative energy and environmental technologies
strengthens the Switzerland's position as a research and
knowledge leader and contributes to reducing the threato global climate problems.
The development o new energy technologies oten spans
decades. Good research simply requires time, is expensive
and may include high risks. Exactly or these reasons pub-lic nancing is essential. Thus nancial risks or an institu-
tion engaged in innovative research can be reduced anda long-term impulse provided. In this manner achieving a
uture-oriented energy supply can be eectively pursued
and activities can be carried out which are essential topreserve Switzerlands technological position.
Energy research is much debated and written about, but
how it is organized, which elds are pursued and the
achivements o the researchers are less well known. This
brochure serves to illuminate the main areas and activi-ties o Swiss energy research.
Walter Steinmann
Director o the Swiss Federal Of ce o Energy
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
5/44
3
We need a vision in order
to correctly set goals
As president o the CORE how do you seeSwiss energy research polices?
Swiss energy polices are oriented towards revising the
CO2 law aiming at and ullling goals being discussed
in Europe and worldwide. These goals are based on
knowledge in the area o climate research and aim to
stabilize global temperature increases to between +2 to+2.5 K by 2100. This recognizes that Switzerland must
also drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emis-
sions, in particular CO2. To achieve drastic reductions,
substantial increase in the ef ciencies o all energy
conversion processes and services are necessary. Essen-tial are major reductions in the consumption o ossil
uel based energy production as well as the ull realisa-tion o the potential o renewable energy and low CO2
technologies in general. In the long term visionary con-
cepts, such as the 2000 Watt
Society or the 1 ton CO2 perperson and year are important
to emphasize that strong and
not just cosmetic corrections
are essential.
What can the CORE contribute?
Already in the Master Plan 2008 2011, developed about three
years ago, we established our
interim goals to be achieved bythe year 2050 in the true sense
o energy politics:
no more ossil uels to heat
buildings and produce hot
water,halving the energy demand o
all buildings in Switzerland,
realizing the ullest potential
o biomass, and
achieving a eet average o 3litres per 100 km or all private
automobiles.
Tony Kaiser, why is energy research important
or Switzerland?
There are two reasons why energy research is impor-tant or Switzerland: First, energy research should deliv-
er the necessary technologies to meet our own energydemand in a sustainable manner and be based on the
broadest possible energy mix. Second, the export po-
tential and jobs are a particularly important actor or
our economy. With our broad basis o technical com-petencies we can successully bring products onto the
world market. Such economic development o sustain-
able technologies is a driving orce behind Swiss energy
research.
What is the purpose o CORE?
The CORE's main unction is to advise the Federal Coun-
cil (the ederal executive branch) and the Swiss Federal
Department or Environment, Transportation, Energy
and Communications (DETEC) in areas o energy re-search. This assignment was dened as the mandate o
the CORE at its ounding in the year 1986 by the Federal
Council. The 15 members o CORE represent industry,
energy businesses, technical universities as well as di-
erent authorities committed to promoting Swiss en-
ergy research. Together with the Swiss Federal Of ce oEnergy (SFOE), every our years the CORE denes and
updates the Swiss Federal Energy Research Master Plan.
This document ormulates recommendations or Swiss
energy research. Input is given by experts, including
the leaders o the research programmes o the SFOE.
DIRECTION OF ENERGY RESEARCH_ INTERVIEW
According to Tony Kaiser, president o the Federal Energy Research Commission (CORE), Swiss energy
research is high quality. Increasingly energy and climate polices, that is the reduction
o greenhouse gases shape energy research activities. The challenges are great; in demand area long-term oriented energy polices and commensurate budget.
Tony KaiserTony Kaiser holds a PHD in physical chemistry rom the
University o Zurich. Today he is employed by Alstom,
Switzerland (AG). As director o Future Technologies, heis responsible or long term research in the area o power.
Since 2002 he has been a member o the Federal Energy
Research Commission, CORE and he has been president
since the beginning o 2004.
CORE
In 1986 the Swiss
ederal executive branchestablished the CORE
(Commission drale pour
la recherche nergtique)
as its consulting bodyand also to advise the
Deparment o Environ-
ment, Transportation,
Energy and Communica-tions (DETEC). Every our
years the CORE prepares
the Swiss Federal EnergyResearch Master Plan. This
concept guides the plan-
ning o publically unded
energy research and theamount o unding neces-
sary to help achieve policy
defned energy goals.
The CORE, with its 15members, examines and
accompanies Swiss energy
research programmes.
www.energy-research.ch
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
6/44
4
DIRECTION OF ENERGY RESEARCH_ INTERVIEW
We have set clear priorities and ocus on the two main ar-
eas: buildings and mobility. The goals were deliberately
chosen to be very pragmatic and visible. Achieving them
by 2050 would result in halving our emissions and bring-ing us very close to the CO2 goals we discuss today.
Buildings require a lot o energy resulted in clear
successes but at the same time energy research.
How is this going to continue?
In act, much has been achieved in this sector and the
research continues with ambitious goals, including:houses with zero-energy emissions, CO2 neutral build-
ings and even buildings which produce more electric-
ity than they consume. Researchers are working today
on architectural concepts with solar use combined with
highly ef cient thermal insulation and glazing systemswith dened light transmission properties. I am think-
ing also about innovative heating and cooling systems,concepts or standardizing the renovation o buildings
to reduce energy demand, and so orth. And, when we
think about building-integrated photovoltaic panels, it
is only a small step to consider smart grids. Such cleverelectric grids already have taken orm in research labo-
ratories.
What is the signifcance o the next energy
research Master Plan or the period 2013 to 2016,with respect to comments by some, that global
warming, though now irreversible, may be stabilized
albeit with drastic measures?
Certainly, the latest insights rom climate research will
inuence our next Master Plan. We wish to emphasizethe act that new energy technologies have to oer e-
cient and low CO2 energy services. To this end we will
try to be even more explicit than beore in ormulating
thematic research topics, such as the project: living
and working in the Future or Mobility in the Future.
We will strive to acilitate application oriented clusters
o individual programmes. Researchers should be mo-
tivated to cooperate more than in the past. This newstructure and context will also help in judging projectsin the sense o overall goal setting, and will enable
some concentration o available unding on high-prior-
ity topics.
Is it not di cult to come to an agreement on a single
energy research Master Plan, given that the COREconsists o 15 individual members with very dierent
backgrounds?
On the one hand, the CORE members are recognized
specialists in the energy eld. They are constantly in
search o rst class arguments but are not politicallymotivated. On the other hand, discussions within the
CORE take place in a very constructive manner. In thisway, it is possible or us to develop an energy research
Master Plan which considers all stakeholders. Finally,
the Energy Research Conerences provide an ideal dis-
cussion platorm with participation o a broad range ointerest groups to present our Master Plans.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
7/44
5
ENERGY RESEARCH
Publicly unded energy research:a contribution to sustainabledevelopment
Energy research is the oundation or our uture energy
supply, or innovation and or economic growth. There-
by, publicly unded energy research is o central impor-
tance. It provides an impulse, helps establish researchnetworks and builds bridges to the economy. It has thevery important objective o contributing towards meet-
ing uture energy demands in an ef cient, economical,
clean and sae way.
Generally, research is carried out at the beginning o a
process with culminates in the successul introductiono a new product into the market. In the eld o energy
the time span between research and market entry o-
ten requires several decades. Private enterprises, with
pressure or a ast return on investment, are oten is to
risk investing in such long-term research projects. Pub-licly unded research, in contrast to privately unded re-
search, looks beyond day-to-day operations.
Although quite modest in magnitude, public invest-
ment in energy research is, however, eectively ap-
plied. Today, public unding amounts to about CHF 175
million annually. This is less than at the beginning o the1990's when totals were up to CHF 200 million per year.Still, today's public research unding represents about
0.3 o GDP, placing the nation in the same league as
leading countries like Finland, Sweden or the Nether-
lands.
Given the need to advance technologies that supportsustainable development and given the threat o en-
ergy supply shortages and climate change, must ad-
ditional public resources be made available or energy
research.
Public expenditures for energy research since the beginning of data collection in 1977.
The values given for 2011 are as proposed by the CORE.
CHFMillion(realterm2
007)
Efficient Energy Use
Renewable energy
Energy policy fundamentalsand economics
Nuclear Energy0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
8/44
6
ENERGY RESEARCH
A new approach: the vision o a 2000 Watt Society
Swiss energy research is guided by the Swiss Federal
Energy Research Master Plan, which is updated every
our years by the Swiss Federal Energy Research Com-
mission (CORE) (see page. 3). The Swiss Federal Of ce oEnergy (SFOE), aided by the CORE, is responsible or the
implementation o the master plan.
Swiss energy research has a clear direction. Research
projects are considered to be o central importance
when they strive to improve energy ef ciency and in-
crease renewable energy use. The ultimate objective,
as ormulated in a constitutional article on energy, issustainable development. This is reected in the Mas-
ter Plan by a commitment to a long-term vision or an
ideal energy and environmental state. This vision has
been titled: The 2000 Watt Society (see page 4). Inthis society energy consumption per capita has beenreduced to one third o its current level, and annual CO2
emissions have been substantially reduced by a actor
six to about one ton per person. The Master Plan also
denes concrete, short-term goals which can be put
into eect towards reaching the long-term goal. These
are updated every our years with each adjustment othe Master Plan.
t CO2 per person and year
kW/person
The goals or energy research are based on the energy and climate policy goals
o the ederal government. Switzerland requires 6,500 watts o primary energy
per person, which results in around nine tons o CO2 emissions per personannually. In order to achieve sustainable energy consumption, the vision: 2000
Watt Society was ormulated. In the meantime, considering the strong climate
change and necessity to de-carbonisation existing energy systems, the ETH-
Zurich dened the vision 1 ton CO2 per person and year. While both conceptsstrive to achieve a marked reduction o greenhouse gas emissions, the 2000-
Watt Society also pursues a major reduction o the overall energy consumption.
Both visions serve as a oundation to dene national research programmes and
their individual projects.
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
2005
2050
2050
2100 2150 2100 2150
Vision 2000-watts Society (e.g. novatlantis)
De-carbonisation (e.g. ESC / ETH Zurich strategy)
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
9/44
7
The SFOE, with its 25 research programmes, is a main
player in the Swiss energy research scene (see page 41).
It continuously supports 250 to 300 research projects
with supplementary unding and accompanies the sci-
entic and technical work. It also serves as the gatewayto Swiss research or other national or international
unding agencies and organizations like the European
Union and the International Energy Agency.
Hand in hand with industrySupporting energy research is not the prerogative o the
government alone. Swiss businesses also show a strong
interest in investing in the energy uture. In act, the in-
vestment in energy research by industry is nearly our
times greater than the investment rom public sources.
The combined investment o public and private sources
totals roughly CHF 1 billion. However, a substantial part
o industry-sponsored research is devoted to product
development. Hence, or energy research per se, the
public and private sector investment is nearly equal.
Public unds are also available or private research.
Companies willing to invest in risky projects are given
special consideration. This has lead to increasingly closeresearch collaboration among industry and public bod-ies since the end o the 1980's. One speaks today o
close public-private partnerships and indeed today in-
dustry has a say in the denition o government energy
research directions.
2007 R+D
2007 P+D
2011 R+D
2011 P+D
Annual publicexpenditures or 2007
0 10 15 20 5 30
olar heat and Photovoltaics
HF llion
B omass
ombined heat included uel cells
Electricity (included Grids
Hydropower
mbient heat
obility (included ccumulators
Industrial use of solar energy
ombustion included o er plant 2020
Wind energy
Geothermal energy
rocess eng neer ng
uildings
Energy economy societyincluded echnology transfer
uclear fusion
Nuclear energy and safety
(included Regulatory safety research)
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
10/44
8
ENERGY RESEARCH
65% o the resources or applied research
The ultimate goal o energy research is market compat-
ibility and practical application. Hence, research covers
almost the whole spectrum rom undamental research
to market introduction o the product. Applied research
is emphasized, receiving about 65% o the total budget.Research must result in products, installations, materi-
als and processes. Fundamental research accounts or
about 31% o the total. It is sponsored under the condi-
tion that at least potential uses or energy technologiesare identied.
Pilot and demonstration plants currently account or a
mere 4% o the total unding, though they are absolute-
ly essential as a bridge between research and market.
Ensuring a transer o publicly unded research resultsto the market place is a responsibility o public institu-
tions disbursing research unds. Accordingly, close col-
laboration with the private sector is not only advanta-
geous, it is absolutely essential.
A stakeholders network
The Swiss Federal Of ce o Energy (SFOE) coordinatesenergy research in close collaboration with other pub-
lic institutions that support research. Specic examples
are the Board o the Swiss Federal Institutes o Technol-
ogy, the State Secretariat or Education and Research(seco), the Federal Of ce or Proessional Education and
Technology (OPET) through the Innovation Promotion
Agency, the Swiss National Fund or Scientic Research
(SNSF), the universities and universities o applied sci-
ence, and private grant-giving oundations o the en-ergy industry.
A large proportion o the research projects are conduct-
ed by public scientic institutions. The main ederal in-
stitutions are the Swiss Federal Institutes o Technologyin Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL), the Paul Scher-
rer Institute (PSI) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories or
Materials Testing and Research (EMPA). At the cantonal
level, universities and universities o applied sciences
are involved. Apart rom this, public bodies oten grant
nancial aid to industry, to engineering consultanciesand to private individuals. Such projects are operated,
when possible, in partnership with public research
establishments. An underlying principle o the Swiss
Federal Of ce o Energy is subsidiarity; public unding
should primarily serve to trigger new projects and top-
o project budgets i needed.
International collaboration is a must!
Switzerland's energy research is not isolated rom the
rest o the world; international co-operation is a must,
as it provides advantages to all participants. In par-ticular it makes use o synergies, avoiding duplication.Thereby overall research ef ciency increases. Interna-
tional projects are a tradition, in particular within the
ramework o the International Energy Agency (IEA)
and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). Moreover,
Swiss participation has increased in ramework pro-
grammes o the European Union.
Energy research strives to be a corner stone to achieve
a sustainable energy system in Switzerland. To accom-
plish this, researchers cannot remain in an ivory tower;
they must interact with other disciplines and with prac-titioners. In this process economic, political, social and
ecological actors must be considered. By adopting anactive communication policy, public bodies, among
others, are tasked to inorm the wider public about re-
sults achieved in energy research.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
11/44
9
Good practice in process engineering can lead to up
to 20 percent energy savings in industrial applications.
Mathematical analysis o processes and simulations
can identiy the economic, ecological and energy sav-
ing impacts o dierent process designs. In addition to
increasing energy ef ciency, research is also striving toincrease the use o renewable energy in industry.
Priority is, however, given to improving thermal proc-
esses. Example applications include drying, productiono speciality chemicals, the ood industry and agriculture.
Bringing together the key knowledge parties
Through applied research, energy use can be optimised
and the ecological impact o processes minimised. A
project typically begins with an industry partner ex-
pressing a need. A research activity is then initiated.This may be in the orm o engineering a needed meas-
urement technique or modelling a process. Success
Greenhouses in Steinmaur are now heated by burning wood instead o oil. Thechallenge or the process engineer was to guarantee the supply o heat quickly
enough rom normally rather slow responding wood combustion, in order torespond to the drastic changes in solar radiation and cloud cover that wouldotherwise lead to greatly varying greenhouse temperatures. The solution lay in
calling on hourly weather orecasts rom Zurich-Kloten as input to automatically
determine the control strategy. This system has been in operation and proven
eective since the beginning o 2006. It is a rst in Switzerland.
Thinking o everything
when designing processes
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_PROCESS ENGINEERING
depends on bringing together
the right specialists, process
engineers, energy experts and
researchers.
In practice it can be observedthat a good technical solution
considering all aspects is only
applied when there is an eco-
nomic gain in the end. Produc-tion processes, above all, mustdeliver the required quality and
productivity. Energy use and
ecological impact are also im-
portant, but secondary. An im-
pediment to change is the certi-
cation o production and saety.
Improving complex
production processes
A basic principle, particularly in
the case o complex thermal processes is: rst analyseand then optimise. In one example, the process chain
o a clay masonry manuacturer was studied in orderto develop a computer-supported optimisation tool.
This tool was to enable processes to be carried out
with a lower energy consumption but maintaining the
same product quality. This goal was unortunately notachieved because measuring the ring process proved
more complex than anticipated.
Better results were achieved or a chemical manuactur-
er. The ETH Zurich developed a computer programmeecosolvent which was instrumental in improving the
use o energy and resources by this company. It was
possible to assess the recycling processes or waste sol-
vents by means o distillation or alternatively, burning
the waste solvents to produce useul heat. The analysisshowed that recovery o solvent is not always the best
ecological solution.
Sought: energy conscious industry partners
Energy-intensive industry branches are a target or ur-
ther advances in energetic process engineering. Theirprocesses can be made more energy ef cient and CO2
emission reduced through process engineering re-
search and development.
KeywordsWaste heat use
Waste heat up to 200 C
rom processes can be
utilized. This, too, is an es-sential part o economic
and ecological optimisa-
tion.
Process heat and cold
Process heat is normally
generated by oil or gasred plants. Cold is
produced by electri-
cally powered machines.
Decision-makers oten donot trust the quality or
dependability o alterna-
tive energy systems toproduce heat or cold.Hence alternative energy
use is seldom considered
in engineering a process.Convincing evidence to
encourage such use can
be supplied rom easibil-
ity studies, laboratoryinvestigations and rom
monitoring plants.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
12/44
10
Energy consumption:
down Comort: up!
Buildings require approximately hal o the primary
energy in Switzerland. O this about 30 percent is con-
sumed or space heating and cooling, and water heat-
ing; 14 percent or electricity use; and 6 percent or
construction and maintenance. Residences amount to27 percent o this total national energy consumption.
Fossil uels such as petroleum and natural gas domi-
nate the energy supply. Buildings thereore represent
a substantial burden o climate. Building research inSwitzerland is targeted towards developing technolo-gies to reduce this burden and pave the way towards
a 2000-Watt Society. In the oreground is the optimisa-
tion o the whole building as a system and research
into new materials and components.
Renovation is afordableA wide choice o technologies is available to substan-
tially reduce energy consumption in new buildings at
reasonable additional costs. In a building designed to
the Minergie-P Standard (see key words) heating en-
ergy consumption is reduced to such an extent, thatit is hardly worth mentioning. Also in structures con-
structed to the normal Minergie Standard (see keywords) or the target values o the SIA-Standard 380/1
heating consumption can be reduced to only slightly
more than hal o that used by conventional buildings.
Applying ecological building standards only to new
building construction is, however, insuf cient. An im-
portant opportunity to save energy lies in the renova-
tion o existing buildings. Parliament recognized this
and implemented a subsidy through a national build-ing renovation programme. Due to this support, but
also due to rising heating oil prices, a strong incentive
to renovate buildings is expected. Accordingly, the re-
search programme should develop concepts, technolo-
gies and planning tools or renovating buildings con-sidering the specic situation o existing buildings (see
the example).
Today, the knowledge and proven technologies re-
quired to meet many o the goals o the 2000-Watt Soci-
ety are available. To show how buildings can contributeto their part o this vision, the Swiss Proessional Soci-
ety o Engineers and Architects (SIA) has developed an
instrument, the Energy Path. It includes target values
or individual energy end uses o space heating, venti-
lation and cooling; hot water production; lighting; andappliances. Starting in 2010, gray energy and location
induced mobility are included in the Energy Path.
Light and heat transmission in conict
In the area o lighting the building research programme
is concerned with the building as a comprehensive sys-
tem, or example lighting concepts in combination withoptimal daylighting. Appliances and lighting xtures
are addressed under the subject o electricity research.
A principal topic o the programme is the development
o glazing systems with optimal energy and light trans-
mission properties or a given situation. Nevertheless, atransparent aade continues to be a weak element o
the building envelope. Even the best glass today is sub-
optimal regarding its ability to admit daylight but hold
back thermal radiation. At the University o Basel new
optical coatings are being investigated and at the EMPAvacuum glazing is being urther developed. The latter
oers the potential o halving the thermal conductivity
compared to the best glass currently available.
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_BUILDINGS
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
13/44
11
Room climate comort and energy savings
Energy ef ciency in the conditioning o spaces no long-
er means simply rowning upon air conditioners. No-
body really wishes to sacrice the comort o a cooled
room in the heat o summer, particularly inof ces. Thekey topic today, is gentle cooling. The key to this is the
co-ordination o all actors aecting room temperature.
This system optimisation approach allows the optimi-
sation o room climate with minimal energy consump-tion. In any case, the quality o the building envelope,sun-shading and room geometry remain the main ac-
tors inuencing summer comort in a room. In winter
energy demand can be dramatically reduced by means
o a high level o insulation, optimised mechanical ven-
tilation with heat recovery and the use o passive solar
gains.
High perormance insulation
and new cooling systems
New materials or both high perormance insulation
and new cooling systems are already in the pipeline.That is, they work in the laboratory, though they are
not yet ready to be marketed. For the building enve-lope impressive progress has been made with vacuum
insulation. In order to apply it in construction, solutions
must be ound to protect it during installation and an-
choring.
For cooling a signicant breakthrough is expected with
magnetic cooling at the University o Applied Science in
Yverdon-les-Bains. When they succeed one may see air
conditioners in automobiles and of ces as well as rerig-erators no longer operating with HFC, ammoniac or CO2
compressors, but rather via direct magnetic cooling.
Distributed energy production
Buildings o the uture will not only be the placeswhere energy is consumed, they will also be designed
to be the sites o distributed power production. This is
thought o with regard to the use o photovoltaic sys-
tems and uel cells.
Keywords
Lie cycle analysis
Lie cycle analysis serves
to evaluate the ecological
and economic perorm-ance o materials, systems
or appliances. In the case
o buildings, not only theenergy consumption during
its useul lie is considered,but also grey energy
Grey energy
Grey energy is that energy
consumed to acquire raw
materials, process them,manuacture an item, store,
then to transport and install
it. This is in contrast to theenergy consumed during
the useul lie o the compo-
nent once it is installed.
Minergie standard
Minergie is the most im-
portant energy standard inSwitzerland or low energybuildings. The Minergie As-
sociation certies buildings
which ull its standardsin the twelve building cat-
egories covered. Currently
about 15 percent o new
buildings and 1 percent oexisting building renova-
tions are certied with the
Minergie label.
Minergie-P-house
Minergie-P is a very high
energy standard or build-ings. A building o this
standard aords year-round
comort without the need
or a conventional heatingsystem. Housing,
of ce buildings, actories,
kindergartens, schools,
sports halls and supermar-kets are already built to this
standard today.
Building renovation with preabricated
construction elements
A Minergie-P renovation o a multi-amily
building in Zug. Preabricated, highly insulat-
ing aade elements make it possible today toef ciently renew and add a oor to an exist-
ing building. The heat losses can thereby bereduced to 10 to 20% o the original losses.
(Photo: Mark Zimmermann)
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
14/44
12
Vehicles should become more
ef cient, lighter and more intelligent
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_TR AN SP OR TATIO N
E cient power train
Swiss research in the area o power trains
pursues a combination o strategies:
Downsizing the internal combustion mo-tor and urther improvements o the mo-
tor and gear box;
Hybrid thermal power trains;
Natural gas and biogas as a uel, syntheticor bio-uels;Electric power trains with batteries and/or
ultra-capacitors and/or uel cells.
The order o these approaches reects their
expected market penetration. All o the e-
orts supported by the SFOE (Swiss FederalOf ce o Energy) have been able to be, at
least partially, applied in Switzerland.
The mass o a vehicle strongly afects its
uel consumptionLight construction o a vehicle rests on us-
ing materials o lower density, choosingintelligent constructions and by means o
bionic-simulation. Current approaches to
light construction will be urther pursued.Aspects o saety, comort, manuacturing
time and costs, as well as recycling o ma-
terials are all being considered so that the
product can be readily industrialized.
In addition to light construction, new small vehicles mayprovide mobility. These vehicles, such as electric-bikes,
achieve a high degree o ef ciency and can quickly re-
lieve commuter traf c. Less bulky, more energy ef cient
and emission ree vehicles are a major environmental
benet in urban agglomerations.
Public transportation
Also, energy perormance o public transportation sys-
tems can be greatly improved. Enhancing comort can
accelerate the shit rom private to public transporta-
tion. The SFOE is unding development work in busessuch as the Light Tram3 Hybrid by Carrosserie Hess,
Inc. in Bellach, is cut where uel consumption by ap-
proximately 40 percent and air polluting emissions by
at least 50 percent. In addition, noise emissions have
been reduced, an important benet as noise is a majorstress actor in modern cities.
Keywords
Light construction
vehiclesLighter vehicles are possi-
ble by means o intelligent
constructions, or examplecopying nature and/or
using materials with lower
densities.
E cient power trains
The ef ciency (tank to
wheels) o contemporaryautomobiles ranges rom
17 percent or common
vehicles with Otto engines,
to over 20 percent or vehi-cles with diesel engines, to
approximately 25 percent
by hybrid vehicles. Modern
electric cars achieve anotably higher ef ciency,
but have a limited range.
This is a signicant disad-
vantage. Exactly this pointis, however, where a total
concept is demanded,
including the productiono uels, hydrogen and
electricity.
intercooler
turbine
compressor
exhaust
throttle
intake
pressure tank
EHVS
Sketch o the principle o a pneumatic hybrid vehicle recently developedat ETH-Zurich. One prototype in 2008 demonstrated a uel savings
potential o about 32 percent.
Transportation accounts or about a third o Switzer-
land's energy consumption. O this about 70 percent
ower to automobile traf c. In spite o considerable im-
provements in ef ciency or the nation's car eet, theenergy consumption or this segment has remained
relatively constant. Increases in the weight o vehicles
and power o motors as well as increased traf c capac-
ity have oset higher ef ciency. The main thrusts or re-search and development are improving or creating newdrive trains, lighter vehicles, small mobility systems and
public transportation.
Fullling high ambitions
Modern vehicles possess exceptional perormance with
regard to minimal exhaust gases, saety and depend-ability. These qualities must not be compromised by
eorts to reduce energy consumption. The average uel
consumption o recently matriculated automobiles in
Switzerland is 7.43 litres per 100 km (2007) and the av-
erage ef ciency o a modern passenger car is less than20 percent. As a result o researching the power train,
the ef ciency can be expected to be improved to wellover 20 percent. At the same time, vehicles should be-
come substantially lighter, thanks to the strategic use o
new materials, without compromising saety. As a long-
term goal, uture cars should consume less than 3 litreso gasoline equivalent per 100 km.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
15/44
13
Improving energy storage
with accumulators
The research programme Accumulators investigates
opportunities to improve electro-chemical and elec-
trostatic energy storage. The ocus o this work is on
secondary batteries or the electro-chemical storage oenergy and super or ultra capacitors (s-caps) or electro-
static charge storage. Not included in this work are non-
rechargeable primary batteries.
Programme goalsThe specic energy output (Wh/kg) rom accumulators
should be increased in the long term rom the current
maximum o 200 kWh/kg to 2,000 kWh/kg.
By reducing inner resistance and optimising the stor-
age structure, uture storage systems should have anelectro-chemical ef ciency o at least 80 to 90 percent,
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_ACCUMULATORS AND ULTRA-CAPACITORS (S-CAPS )
Keywords
Accumulators,also called
secondary batteries, areelectro-chemical energy
storage devices which
release energy in the orm
o direct current. In contrastto primary batteries, they
can be recharged.
Super or ultra capacitorsare physical energy storage
devices which store an
electrostatic energy charge.Discharging and recharging
occur in a manner similar to
batteries.
An example is a zebra-battery based on sodium and nickel chloride.
It has a high storage capacity together with a high ef ciency and longlie expectancy.
a lie expectancy o at least 2,000 charging
cycles, a lietime o at least seven years and
contain no toxic materials. In addition, they
must be sae or handling. Such accumula-tors could increase considerably the use o
renewable energy, because renewable en-
ergy production is rarely synchronized with
energy demand.
In s-caps, specic energy storage should be
increased rom currently 10 to 40 kWh/kg.
Accumulators may play a considerable role
in storing renewable energy and cover de-
mand peaks or electricity.
Approaches
To achieve these goals nano-technology
may be applied. In ocus are accumulators
based on light alkali metals (lithium, sodi-
um) because they yield the highest specicenergy levels. Hydrogen, the smallest light
chemical element, promises the highestpossible specic energy rom this point o
view.
S-cap improvements should be possiblethrough several means, including increas-
ing the specic surace area and intelligent
switching.
SaetyThere is a correlation between the high
specic energy level o a battery and its
tendency to burn out through deagration.
This can be avoided by appropriate storage
and shielding solutions and this is also onegoal o the research programme.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
16/44
14
Task: more ef ciency
and innovative technologies
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS
The importance o electricity has grown and will con-
tinue to grow in uture. The increase in electricity con-
sumption is not only due to the overall increase in
energy consumption; it can also be explained by the
substitution o electricity or other energy carriers. Anexample is the increased use o heat pumps, which in-
crease electricity demand while decreasing demand or
other heat sources like combustion o oil or gas.
The goal o the research programme on electricity is toincrease the ef ciency o the end-use o electricity, and
to develop innovative technologies or its production,
conversion and storage.
Higher investments to save money in the end
Opportunities to save energy can be ound in indus-try, of ces and homes virtually anywhere where new
electrical machines and equipment are purchased and
operated. One goal o applied research is to demon-
strate manuacturers as well as consumers potential
opportunities to save energy, and improvements in en-ergy ef ciency. An example o inef ciency is the stand-
by mode or IT or entertainment electronic appliances.
During standby, these devices consume en-
ergy to no real benet. Technically, it is no
problem to prevent such waste.
In industry special attention is needed orelectrically powered devices. Oten the in-
vestment costs are given all the attention,
operational costs over the service lie o
the motor are not considered adequately.Within the ramework o the research pro-gramme, tools are developed to calculate
costs over an entire lie cycle. Thus, motors
will be identied which are cost ef cient
over their lietime. Buyers o such motors
must, however, be motivated and accept
that a higher initial investment may be nec-essary to achieve lower operating costs and
hence lietime costs.
Storing electricity why not
with compressed airA urther important topic in energy re-
search is storing electricity. One may, orexample reverse, a hydroelectric plant to serve as a
pumping station. A similar principle is the application
o so-called compressed air storage. The idea is simple:
with an electrical motor air is compressed into a suit-able container (or example a pressure tank like those
used or industrial gas). In the reverse process, when
there is a high demand or electricity, the compressed
air is released through the compressor and the electri-
cal motor serves as a generator. The advantage o thisconcept is that there is practically no energy loss over
an extended time. Furthermore, the storage tanks are
relatively mobile and can be used practically anywhere
and their handling is easy. The challenge is now, togeth-
er with industry, to increase the ef ciency and optimisethis approach.
Valuable waste heat
Still at the level o basic research is the work on thermo-
electric processes. The search is ongoing or materials
which can produce electricity directly rom heat, orexample waste heat in the temperature range o 80 to
120 C by means o the Seebeck eect (see key words).
Another topic o basic research is the search or mate-
rials or high-temperature superconductors. Supercon-
ducting materials, when they are below a certain tem-perature, have the property o being able to conduct
electricity with no losses. Thereby, very ef cient electri-
cal applications can be possible.
Challenging Energy Consumption at LonzaThe company Lonza, Inc. in Wallis is one o the largest electrical
consumers in Switzerland. 94 percent o its consumption is rom
electrical motors. A study o the ef ciency o the plant pointedout that energy consumption could be cut up to 30 percent,
with a resulting large cost saving. As a result o this study, Lonza,
Inc. created a position Energy Challenges to systematically
identiy opportunities to economise by saving electricity.
Keywords
Motors
Electrical motors are
responsible or 45 percento the total electricity
consumption in Switzer-
land. Without any loss
in comort it is pos-sible to save 20 percent
by simply optimisingsystematically the drives
and their operation.
Seebeck efect
The Seebeck eectdescribes the production
o an electrical current o
an electrical voltage by
heating the contact pointo dissimilar conductors.
Thereby electricity is pro-
duced directly rom heat.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
17/44
15
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_TH E EL EC TR IC AL GR ID
Flexible, dependable
and economical
At the beginning o the electricity era, electricity was
produced at the location where it was consumed. In the
course o time such decentralised, small power station
based structures have been replaced by large power
plants interconnected by a centrally managed grid. To-day, there is a reversal back to distributed generation.
On the one hand, or ecological reasons small power
generation acilities producing electricity rom renew-
able sources are being promoted. On the other hand,the electricity consumer should be able, in an openmarket, to choose any provider. These new develop-
ments impose increasing demands on the electricity
grid. The electrical grid o the uture must be able to dis-
tribute energy rom both large central power stations
and small decentralised plants with the same degree o
dependability.
The consumer is becoming active
A grid which is able to deliver high perormance as well
as being exible is the backbone o the energy system
o the uture. The delivery o electricity runs not onlyrom the producer via the distributor to the consumer,
but also in the opposite direction, namely, when theconsumer himsel is also the producer. This is the case
or example, when the consumer has his own photo-
voltaic or wind energy electrical generation.
Mathematical models and simulations are being used
to study the basics and investigate new grid architec-
tures in order to develop grids which are very exible,
extremely dependable and economical. In addition to
technical and ecological actors, questions
regarding regulation o the electricity mar-
ket extending beyond national borders
must be considered. Only then can supply
bottlenecks and grid overloads be avoided.
An intelligent grid in Europe
and world-wide
Three programmes are working on de-veloping intelligent grids: the EuropeanTechnology Platorm SmartGrids, ERA-Net
Smart Grids o the European Commission
and the implementing agreement ENARD
(Electricity Networks Analysis Research &
Development) o the IEA (International En-
ergy Agency). The objective is the develop-ment o a uture-oriented electricity grid in
which the consumer, the producer and the
end distributor all work closely together.
Key to this is the intelligent conguration o
the nodes o the network in a manner thatmakes an automatic exchange o inorma-
tion possible. Energy and communicationnets must be intertwined to make the net
operation more ef cient and in the end, to
save energy. Switzerland is an active par-
ticipant in all three programmes.
Business interests versus security
o supply
The transition rom old to new grid struc-
tures within the ramework o liberaliza-tion is a dif cult and major eort. During
this process maintaining a level o supply
security at least equal to today's standards
poses a major challenge.
A balance must be ound between the
criteria o autonomy o supply and inde-
pendence, and economics. Independent
island grids, so called micro grids enjoy
the advantage o not having to react to ar-
reaching grid disturbances. On the otherhand, large grids benet rom being able
to distribute large amounts o electricity
with economies o scale and hence at lower
prices.
Keywords
Multiple energysource systems
The grids o the uture will
deliver not only electric-
ity, but also a complexmix o diverse additional
energy carriers such as
gas and heat or example.
At the intercept pointsbetween grids, energy
will not only be delivered,
it will also be convertedrom one orm o energy
carrier to another.
BlackoutA short overload o a
grid can lead to a wide-
reaching break in powersupply, as or example
happened in Italy on
September 28, 2003. To
avoid such accidentsthe grid and its loads
must be planned and co-ordinated internationally.
Smart Grids and the
IEA Implementing
Agreement ENARDThe EU initiated the
European Technology
Platorm, SmartGrids in
April o 2006. This was ol-lowed with the program
ERA-Net Smart Grids
in 2008. In addition the
IEA (International EnergyAgency) initiated the
Implementing AgreementENARD. One o the goalso these bodies is the
international coordina-
tion o research between
universities, researchinstitutes and industry.
Switzerland has been
active in all three bodies
since their inception.
electricity
natural gas
wood shavings
district heating
electricity
heat
cold
Energy Hub
At ETH-Zurich a model or the uture energy supply is being devel-
oped. The energy network contains so called energy hubs. These
allow the coupling o a specic number o decentralised energysources. The various energy orms can be converted at the hubsto other orms or stored. The goal thereby is to increase reliability
and cost ef ciency. The illustration shows the concept o an energy
hub with dierent energy conversion and storage possibilities.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
18/44
16
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_COMBINED HEAT AND POWER GENERATION
When heat production is combined with electricity gen-
eration, the result is a much more ef cient use o chemi-
cal energy. Combined heat and power (CHP) generation
couples the production o heat and electricity in a single
optimised system. Principally, there is a wide palette oapplications, rom small systems or single-amily houses
to large power plants with connected district heating
networks. Various actors have, however, have prevented
wide spread application o this technology until now.Frequently cited reasons against CHP generation in-clude: low prices o ossil uels, impediments to eeding
power into the utility grid, high investment costs or the
district heating network, high maintenance costs and
low electrical ef ciency.
A multitude o technologies and uelsTo meet heat demand, coupling combined heat and
power generation with a heat pump is an optimal way
to maximize ef ciency and reduce emission o pollut-
ants. From 100 percent energy input in the orm o a
uel, 150 to 200 percent useul thermal energy can be
produced. Stated another way, only hal o the uel is
needed to produce the required heat. The increase in
heat pump ef ciency achieved through research and
development work makes combining a heat pump and
CHP generation all the more interesting.
CHP generation systems make use o piston machines
(gas and diesel engines), gas and steam turbines, uel
cells and Stirling motors. A multitude o niche appli-cations conrm the increased overall ef ciency madepossible by these technologies. Whereas previously, oil
and natural gas were used, in uture many alternatives
can be imagined, including renewable energy rom bi-
ogas, sewage and reuse dump gas, garbage, wood, the
Earth (geothermal) and hydrogen.
More e ciency and less pollution
As many technologies exist or the production o heat
and o power, research and development in this area
extend over a wide range. Accordingly the research and
development o plants producing both heat and power
Production o heat and
power go together
The challenges o the uture are known:energy must be ef ciently used with
less pollution. An important step in this
direction is increasing the ef ciencies
o the individual technologies andapparatuses. A urther important step
is the combination o power and heat
production in a system to ef ciently
cover our energy demand. This latterapproach is called combined heat and
power (CHP) generation and has long
been known, but is not yet used widelyenough.
Research and development eorts
are targeted on identiying andexpanding possible applications o
CHP generation systems in dierent
directions. These applications must be
coordinated with changes occurringin other areas. In various research
programmes, individual components
and apparatuses or energy use andconversion are being improved,
processes simplied and emissions
reduced. Research in CHP generation
brings these single elements togetheras appropriate and then optimises
them or a given application.
Combustion research addressesprocesses and questions regarding
materials or combustion engines. It
seeks optimal solutions or specicuels, considering their properties.
The Programme: Power Plants 2020 is
oriented towards traditional knowledge
on gas and steam turbine technolo-gies. The goal is to promote research to
urther increase ef ciencies while also
sinking costs. Swiss research on uel
cell technologies is helping to achievea break-through in a novel energy
conversion system.
Combining Heat and Power Generation
as a Focus o Development
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
19/44
17
The heart o a combined heat and power generation plant is the combustionengine. It must be optimised to maximize ef ciency under the constraint o
keeping emissions low. The combined heat and power module, consisting o
a gas engine with recycled exhaust gas, represents an important development.
is considered a cross-cutting programme, in contrast
to other research programmes which address specicquestions and solutions. All share a common goal to in-
crease ef ciency o components and whole systems, as
well as reducing emission o pollutants, i.e. in the case
o combustion, particulates, carbon dioxide (CO2), and
nitrogen oxides (NOx).
The goals are oriented according to the state-o-the-art
and so, according to the electrical power o the system,
are set to dierent levels. More ambitious goals or in-
creasing ef ciency and reducing pollution emissions
have been set or concepts up to 100 kW than or largersystems which have already been optimised.
Expectations are particularly high with regard to im-
provements resulting rom research eorts on ossil
uels systems. Such systems will in uture be conront-ed with price increases, supply shortages and stricter
emission requirements. In parallel, emphasis is put on
systems using renewable uels. In the short term, loweref ciencies or electricity production by such systems
Combined heat and power
Combined heat and power generationplants produce work and heat at the
same time, whereby work is mostly
converted to electrical energy.
CO2 emission
The chemical reaction o combustion
produces primarily carbon dioxide (CO2)
and water vapour (H20), but also smallamounts o diverse pollutants such as
carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen
oxides (NOx). As the amount o carbonin the combustion mix increases, so do
CO2 emissions. Hence, burning natural
gas produces less CO2 than heating oil
to produce a given amount o useul
thermal energy.
E ciency
Ef ciency is dened as the relationshipbetween the amount o useul energy
produced compared to the amount o
energy in some other orm which mustbe input into a process. Thereore, all
processes, which can also transorm
some orm o ambient energy into use-
ul energy, are implicitly more ef cientthan processes which are dependent
on the direct combustion o uel to pro-
duce heat and work. Large diesel and
gas engines in stand-alone-operation
can produce rom 100 percent chemicalenergy about 40 to 45 percent electrical
energy and about the same amounto useul heat or heating buildings.
However, i the produced electricity is
used to power a heat pump, useul heat
amounting to 150 to 200 percent o theelectrical energy can be expected.
must be accepted but not higher pol-
lutant emissions. Such plants will likelybe compact distributed applications,
responding to the distributed resource availability. This
raises questions regarding the price o electricity ed
into the grid and stability o the grid.
Striving or cost reductions
Research and development is targeted above all to
strong market diusion rom plants in the lower power
range, which shall be very dependable regarding con-
trol and diagnostics. To overcome the high investment
hurdle, measures to lower costs will be pursued. Thisalso includes operational and maintenance costs. On
the other hand, the success o large heat and power
generation plants can only be sustained i they are
able to tie into a district heating network or some other
large customer or heat.
Keywords
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
20/44
18
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_COMBUSTION
In search o optimised
combustion processes
Combustion processes have always played a central role
in energy supply, and they will continue to be essential
or numerous related tasks in the uture. In the areas o
research and development, the ocus is thereore on
nding solutions to meet increasing requirements onhigh levels o ef ciency, minimum pollutant emissions
and improved economic viability. The concept o zero
emissions thereore represents the ultimate target or
the combustion process. The objective o reducing CO2emissions and the higher prices or ossil uels increasethe pressure to optimise combustion systems and im-
prove the chances or the use o renewable uels.
Growing demands
Continuity in Swiss combustion research has paved the
way or the development o a high level o expertise. Asound basis exists or urther research activities aimed
at meeting the increasing demands to reduce emissions
and improve the ef ciency o combustion systems. By
2020, or example, the goal is to reduce emissions o ni-
trogen oxides and particulate matter rom diesel enginesby a actor o 10. And in order to reduce CO2 emissions,
the degree o ef ciency will also have to be increased. Asa rule, internal measures in engines aimed at reducing
the production o pollutants also tend to lower the level
o ef ciency, and vice versa. In order to achieve these op-
posing goals, our understanding o the complex process-es that are set in motion during combustion needs to be
intensied. For this purpose, a variety o instruments are
required, including optical measuring procedures (laser
spectroscopy), computer-aided calculation
models (modelling) and suitable test acili-
ties in laboratories.
A concentration and continuity o eort inselected areas are essential to assure success.
In the past, this has been the case in the col-
laboration among institutes and laboratories
o the ETH and qualied industry partners.Clear evidences o such eective collabora-tions include the development o sensors
or tracking the processes in a combustion
chamber, special exhaust-handling process-
es and the SwissMotor. The latter is a gas mo-
tor in the 200 kW power range. Its perorm-
ance is impressive, with an ef ciency o over42 percent and minimal emissions.
Main points o urther combustion
research
Combustion must be understood as a chemi-cal, thermodynamic and kinetic process. The
spectrum extends rom eeding the uel, themixture and combustion processes, to the
production and handling o exhaust gases.
Laboratory acilities and equipment are
available or testing and implementation.These include the high-pressure, high-tem-
perature cell; the single-cylinder, two-piston
engine; and a test cylinder or ship diesel en-
gines. The latter contributed signicantly to
the Hercules project o the EU research pro-gramme. Future ship diesel engines should
have reduced gas and particulate emissions as well as
increased ef ciency and reliability.
Research on soot build-up and analysis, on particulatecharacterisation and on cooling processes poses urther
challenges or computation and simulation. A urther de-
sire is to better understand turbulent pre-mixing ames
and the interaction between turbulences and uels. Re-
sults will serve, in particular, to better dimension and ur-
ther improve the perormance o gas turbines.
New uels are coming
The increasing use o new uels, be they new composi-
tions or synthetic uels, sewage gas, biogas, hydrogen
raises new questions. Computations, simulations andtesting are necessary to guide research to optimise sin-
gle and dual-uel operations.
KeywordsSoot build-upSoot consists primarily o
carbon particulates with a
size rom 10 to 300 nano-
metres (nm). The dispersiono such tiny particulates
in the environment poses
a health hazard. Researchactivities aim at limiting
their build-up.
E ciencyEf ciency is the ratio o
delivered power relative to
supplied power. The term,
ef ciency, is used in orderto describe the ef ciency o
energy conversion and alsoo energy transer.
Synthetic uel
Customized uel is a compo-
sition precisely designed orthe needs o modern motor
concepts, so called de-
signer uels. For this various
processes are applied, suchas biomass to liquid (BtL)
gas-to-liquid (GtL), etc.
Single and dual-uel
operations
Dual-uel operation
indicates that either o twomodes o system opera-
tion can be selected, each
with a dierent uel. An
example is an automobilewhich can run on gasoline
or hydrogen. By contrast, a
single-uel system can onlyoperate with one uel type.
A test stand or combustion systems o large 2-cycle ship diesel motors;EU-Project Hercules.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
21/44
19
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_POWER PLANT 2020
Improving large power
plants
It is still possible to improve the ef ciency o the well-
known combined cycle gas turbine technology. Im-
provements are also needed in turbines to enable them
to use other chemical energy sources like hydrogen or
biogas, in addition to ossil uels. The Swiss industry, inco-operation with research institutes, should continue
to be in the position in the year 2020 to plan and build
the best possible plants.
Integration o the whole process chainBasically the goal is to develop targeted technical meas-
ures to increase the ef ciency o electricity generation
rom combined cycle, gas-and-steam turbine proc-
esses. Included, or example, are improvements in air
compressors and turbines, reducing the cooling load by
air, and achieving higher process values. For this work,multiple disciplines are needed, including: aerodynam-
ics, high temperature material science, electrical engi-
neering, process-engineering and combustion physics.
An overriding goal is to reduce CO2 emissions, be it by
process changes in order to acilitate separation and re-
tention o this gas; or by increased use o renewable,
CO2 neutral uels.
For compensation in the electrical grid
The short reaction time o gas turbine power plants
makes them well-suited to oset short term production
variations rom wind or photovoltaic power plants. Forthis reason research is also ongoing to improve the sta-bilisation o the electrical grid by making possible high
demand gradients ( 3% demand variation per second)
or grid-requency independent operation.
The work on Power Plant 2020 is being carried out
in co-operation with an EU research ramework pro-gramme with the initiative Power Plant 21 in Germa-
ny, as well as the FutureGen Programme o the USA.
Power shortages soon
Political and economic boundary conditions are as im-portant as scientic and technical aspects, given the
strong application-oriented structure o the research.Furthermore, the interace to the gas, electricity and
district heating grids poses special challenges or ap-
plying the results o this programme.
Research on combined cycle plants with a high ef cien-
cy and low pollution levels or power and heat produc-
tion is not only interesting or the export industry, it is
essential work. By the year 2020 shortages in the elec-
trical supply in Switzerland can be expected and addi-tional power generating plants have to be oreseen.
The research project Power Plant 2020 should improve the electrical
ef ciency o combined cycle gas turbine processes while reducing the
output o pollutants. In addition these processes should be adapted
to operate using new uels. Finally, interacing with the grid should beoptimised.
Keywords
Combined cycle gas turbine power plants (CCGT)
In CCGT power plants gas combustion drives a gas
turbine. Waste heat rom the ue gas is recovered toproduce live steam which drives a second turbine.
Both turbines together drive a power generator.
This combination o two processes, one at high (gas)
temperature and one at low (steam) temperature, leadstoday to an overall ef ciency o about 60%.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
22/44
20
RATIONAL ENERGY USE_FUEL CELLS
Swiss developments
or a European key technology
Fuel cells produce electricity directly rom a chemical
energy source by means o catalytical combustion.
They have a great potential because o their minimal
emissions and high ef ciency. Polymer electrolyte
cells (PEFC) produce primarily electricity while solidoxide cells (SOFC) are used or producing both heat
and power. The wide range o possible applications
o uel cells is thereore not surprising. The PEFC are
especially well suited or mobility applications. SOFChave been primarily used in stationary applications,though today they are also nding uses in portable
applications.
The uture lies in cell stacks
Basically, three research areas have been given prior-
ity to achieve a technology breakthrough, namely,achieving:
a high degree o dependability rom the cell stacks
and the whole system to enable uninterrupted opera-
tion;
increased lie expectancy o cell stacks through mate-rial science and modelling;
improvements in cell stacks and system technologyto reduce investment costs.
In this way such systems will become more
competitive with conventional technolo-
gies like internal combustion engines,
heating urnaces and accumulators.
Pilot and demonstration projects will have
to demonstrate the readiness and eco-
nomics o uel cells or practical applica-
tions. There is growing support o projectsaddressing system and process technolo-gies to be able to industrially produce cell
stacks and uel cells.
Applications with diferent time
horizons
Given the currently available uels a stepwise introduction o uel cell technology
makes sense. Fuel cells with ef cient ossi l
uel operation should be introduced rst.
Later, these will be replaced by systems
that operate with biogenic energy sourcesor hydrogen. As PEFC operation requires
hydrogen input, long-term research hasto be established in this area. On the other
hand, an internal conversion process al-
lows SOFC to operate with natural gas orbiogas. A more rapid market introduction
o such systems can be expected.
Networked research capabilities
Collaboration between research and pri-
vate enterprises is very important. For ex-ample the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the
University o Applied Sciences o Biel and
the rms Michelin and CEKA are working
together to develop the PEFC. Another
example is collaboration among the ETHin Zurich and Lausanne, the EMPA, the Uni-
versity o Applied Sciences o Zurich and
the rms Hexis, HTceramix and Fucellco to
develop the SOFC.
SFOE emphasizes international networking in thisarea. Swiss researchers are closely involved in research
projects within the ramework o the IEA. This high
priority that this technology enjoys in Switzerland and
international importance are urther illustrated by the
creation o a so-called Joint Technology Initiative orHydrogen and Fuel Cells o the European Commis-
sion. With the united orces o research, business and
policy makers, Europe should take the world lead inthe development o this technology.
Switzerland is strong in basic research, system integration and
the development o complete solutions or uel cells.
Keywords
PEFC
Polymer electrolyte uelcells convert hydrogen
and oxygen into water and
electrical power. A solid
polymer membrane servesas electrolyte. The conver-
sion process is operated at
low temperatures and hasgood dynamic properties,
making it suitable or
mobility applications.
SOFC
Solid oxide uel cells are
operated at high tempera-
ture (800 to 1000 C). In thisuel cell type a ceramic is
used as solid electrolyte.
With this type o uel cellnot only power generation
but also waste heat utilisa-
tion is important, especially
or space heating purposes.
The EUs Joint Technology
Initiative or Hydrogen
and Fuel CellsIn a limited number o
technological areas o high
strategic relevance or theEuropean Union, Joint
Technology Initiatives are
setting up public private
partnerships. Signicantinvestment and research
capabilities rom both the
private and the public
sector are being generated
to push Europe to becomethe world leader in research
and development o thesetechnologies.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
23/44
21
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES_SOLAR HEATING
Increasing the use
o solar heat
The principle o active solar heating can be summed up
as ollows: capture, convert, store and deliver energy ac-
cording to actual demand (see keywords). Active solar
applications are as diverse as the temperature ranges
covered by these technologies, namely rom 25 C orheating buildings or swimming pools, to more than
2,000 C or solar ovens. In between these extremes are
applications or industrial processes demanding tem-
peratures between 100 and 250 C.
The research programme Solar Heat concentrates mainly
on applications with the largest potential: those produc-
ing heat at low temperatures or heating domestic hot
water and space heating. These two applications account
or about 40% o the total energy consumption in Swit-
zerland. Today, solar collector technologies or domesticwater heaters and space heating are technically mature.
Thanks to research and development carried out in the
1990s, systems developed in Switzerland are considered
among the best in Europe.
Reducing cost
Nevertheless, the cost o solar heat to the consumer isstill high compared to the competing ossil uels. Heat
rom at plate collectors typically used or single-amily
houses costs between 25 and 35 Swiss cents per kWh.
Solar heat reduces the amount o conventional energywhich has to be purchased, typically costing only 5 to
20 Swiss cents per kWh. For this reason, current research
ocuses on simpliying installations to reduce the initial
investment and improve perormance in terms o use-
ul kWh/m2 o collector area. Scientists are particularlyinterested in so-called combi-systems or domestic hot
water and space heating. Such systems require between
12 and 20 m2 o collector area or a single-amily house.
Demand or such systems is growing throughout Eu-
rope. They can cover between 30 and 50% o the heat
demand in a well designed and insulated
single-amily house. The longer term goal is
to have ull coverage by solar only.
The challenge or the utureBecause today, solar thermal systems are o-
ten conronted with acceptance problems,
research and development are needed in the
architectural integration o systems. Accord-ingly, the solar thermal research programmehas given priority to new technologies and
components which can be used as building
elements.
Another topic is the increasing demand or
room air conditioning and the resultinglarge increase in demand or electricity. Be-
cause the greatest cooling demand occurs
during sunny weather, solar energy is a logi-
cal means to supply the needed energy or
cooling. Solar applications or this purposeshould be developed which can compete
with conventional electrically operated airconditioning.
Improving storage technologies
Heat storage is a major research topic. Seasonal heatstorage systems store solar energy collected in the sum-
mer or use in winter. Short-term storage systems span
shorter intervals, or example bad weather periods o a
ew days. Heat storage is thereore a key technology to
achieve a high solar coverage o the heat demand bybuildings.
In Switzerland storage technologies are mainly designed
or the single-amily housing market. One perected sea-
sonal system stores low-temperature heat (5 to 30 C) inthe ground, then raises the temperature to useul levels
with a heat pump. Such systems, however, are still wait-
ing to nd a place in the market. Research is also address-
ing the ef ciency o heat storage in water tanks and the
use o new materials. Heat storage via physical-chemical
processes promises to achieve high energy storage den-sity and low heat losses. The goal is to achieve the heat-
ing autonomy o buildings by covering 100% o the heat
demand by a solar technology at reasonable costs.
The main Swiss institutions researching the use o lowtemperature solar heat are the University o Applied Sci-
ences in Rapperswil with its Institute o Solar Technolo-
gies, the University o Applied Sciences o the CantonVaud in Yverdon and the Federal Institutes o Technology
(ETH), in particular in Lausanne.
Compact combi-systems or domes-
tic water heating
and space heating
are tested at theUniversity o Ap-
plied Sciences in
Rapperswil. Promis-ing results indicate
that a signicant
improvement in
solar heat deliveryat less cost may be
achieved, thanks to
compact design and
system optimisation.
KeywordsActive use
In the active use o solarenergy, solar radiation is
converted by collectors
to usable heat at an
appropriate temperature,typically between 30 and
60 C. Components
(pipes, possibly pumpsand heat exchangers)
transer the solar generated
heat to the point o use.
Passive use
In the passive use o
solar energy, solar energy
is collected, distributedand stored by the building
itsel. Because the building
is the key, this technol-ogy is presented in the
programme Energy and
Buildings (see page 10).
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
24/44
22
Photovoltaic energy enters
the industrial phase
Solar radiation is the most important source o energy
on earth. Every day it supplies enough energy to satisy
more than 10,000 times the daily energy needs o the
whole world. It would thereore be suf cient to convert
0.1 o this radiant energy into electricity to cover all othe worlds energy current consumption.
The conversion o solar radiation into electrical energy
has been possible or some time. In act the rst solarcell prepared rom silicon crystal (see keywords) was per-ected by American researchers already in 1954. The idea
is simple and based on a principle well known by physi-
cists: the photoelectric eect. The act is that some sub-
stances emit electrons when they are exposed to light.
This transormation occurs without movement, noise, or
any other emission.
Industry o the uture
Today, photovoltaic (PV) energy has made its mark in
the industrial era. Thanks to the quality o its research,
Switzerland has a trump card to play in this new mar-ket, which globally is growing annually 30 to 40% and
increasing. Based on a survey o the Swiss PV industry,exports rom the country were estimated to total about
500 million Swiss rancs in the year 2007. I national sales
are included, the total sales volume or the Swiss photo-
voltaic industry rises to at least 600 million Swiss rancs.
Furthermore, the sector has a large unexploited poten-
tial. Scientists estimate that the price o solar cell installa-
tions can still be reduced by a actor o 3 or 4. Only i this
is achieved can this technology be truly competitive andlarge scale applications easible.
Giving priority to applied research
Given these acts, PV research is ocused on improving
existing technologies by projects that are directly ori-ented towards practical applications. Accordingly, 90%
o Swiss public research resources allocated or the PV
energy sector are assigned to reducing system costs. This
includes all components o systems: the photovoltaic
modules which are responsible or two-thirds o the
system costs, the inverter and the mounting structure.Further, the technical ef ciency o the complete system
should be improved.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES_PHOTOVOLTAICS
Developing second-generation cells
The main ocus o this research is developing thin-lm
cells made rom silicon or semi-conductor compounds
(see the glossary). Second-generation cells oer the ad-
vantage o needing much less material and energy ortheir production, compared to the silicon crystal cells
o the rst generation that still make up the backbone
o todays photovoltaic industry. However, the market
share o thin-lm cells has recently increased. Second-generation solar cells have a greater potential or costreduction than those o the rst generation. In addition,
thin-lm cells oer greater exibility to meet the needs
o a range o applications and they can be readily com-
bined with building materials. Current research projects
aim to urther improve the cell ef ciency, optimise the
manuacturing process and establish the inrastructurenecessary to support the industrial partners. Thin-lm
technologies are nearing industrial maturity. Paradoxi-
cally, the success o classical technologies based on crys-
tal silicon has been helpul or the new technology. The
production capacity o the rst-generation cells cannotkeep up with demand, resulting in increased demand or
the second-generation cells.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
25/44
23
From undamental research to the market: The thin-
lm cell technology, developed in the laboratories othe Institute o Microtechnics (IMT) o the University o
Neuchtel (today integrated into the EPFL in Lausanne)
is being urther developed today by a spin-o rm.
VHF Technologies in Yverdon is getting the thin-lm
technology or application on exible substrates readyr the market. This is proceeding in collaboration with
the world's largest solar cell manuacturer, Q-Cells.
solar radiation on a surace based on Meteosat data), as
well as at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen (thermo-
photovoltaics).
Imitating natureIt is thought that thin-lm cells and crystalline cells
would co-exist or a long time. This has indeed been the
case because rst-generation cells continue to show po-
tential or considerable improvement. This is in particularevident in the areas o materials, cell ef ciency and pro-duction processes. Such developmental work is princi-
pally the job or industry.
It is becoming apparent that three generations o cells
will probably coexist. Approximately 10% o public unds
(not invested in applied research) benets undamentalresearch projects with applications oreseen rst ater
the year 2020. This research aims to develop a new gen-
eration o solar cells that are organic or polymer-based,
making use o nanophysics. The motivation or this work
is the hope or materials with lower costs, using raw ma-terials in unlimited supply and easier to work. The ulti-
mate aim is to imitate nature in order one day to achievearticial photosynthesis.
Close collaboration with the industry
Thin-lm silicon cell techniques are being developed
mainly at the Swiss Federal Institute o Technology in
Lausanne (EPFL) with the support o two universities o
applied sciences: the Haute Ecole Arc Ingnierie in LeLocle and the Interstate University o Applied Sciences
o Technology (NTB) in Buchs (SG). In parallel, the EPFL
continues to work on the development o cells with
colour dyes (Graetzel cells). The Swiss Federal Instituteo Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) is investigating the de-velopment o solar cells comprised o semi-conductor
compounds. These institutions all collaborate closely
with industry and several receive support rom the Swiss
Innovation Promotion Agency (CTI). They are well inte-
grated into international networks, especially in projects
o the European Union.
Other Swiss competence centres or PV research can be
ound at the University o Applied Sciences o the Italian-
speaking region o Switzerland in Lugano (photovoltaic
panel technology) and at the University o Applied Sci-ences in Burgdor (inverters and electrical systems). Sup-
plementary activities take place at the Universities oBerne (antenna-solar cells) and Geneva (determining the
Keywords
First-generation cells
First-generation crystal-
line cells are made osilicon in mono-crystalline
or poly-crystalline orm.
Solid silicon is used because
o its semi-conductingproperties. It is present in
abundant quantities onthe Earth, as sand or quartzin an oxygen compound
(silicon-oxide, silicates). The
use o silicon or solar cell
production requires theappropriate processing.
Second-generation cells
Second-generation cellsare made up o a thin-lm
or layer o material which
is applied over a sub-strate material. The goal
o thin-lm technology
development is to reduce
the amount o material andenergy required by the cell
production. The new cells
should have similar physical
properties, oer more ex-ibility or dierent types o
applications and cost less.
For thin-lm photovoltaiccells dierent materials can
be used, namely amorphous
silicon and its derivatives
(micromorphous silicon),or II-VI compounds o the
periodic table o elements.
Substrates can be made o
glass, metal or plastics.
7/30/2019 Public Energy Research in Switzerland
26/44
24
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES_HIGH TEMPERATURE SOLAR ENERGY
Keywords
Thermo-chemical cyclesThe long-term scientic goal is to produce hydrogen by means o the material
cycle o zinc and zinc-oxide. Solar energy is to be used or splitting zinc oxide into