Because the energy transition relies on many disciplines to be successful, my latest research interest is to explore the opportunities provided by interdisciplinary research. This path is not one I can walk alone. I am, therefore, constantly seeking partners in other disciplines. Here are some big-picture research questions we could tackle together:
How would scenarios based on sufficiency impact the economy, the social pact, geopolitics, ...?
How can we phase out fossil fuels without breaching planetary limits or compromising social well-being?
How can we harness disruptive events and polycrisis to accelerate—not postpone—the energy transition and build an antifragile system?
Interdisciplinary research is extending our branches to others doing the same. We still require a strong trunk and deep roots in our discipline. Our experience focuses on modeling energy systems of different sizes: micro (house, factory, etc.), meso (residential district), and macro (country, EU, etc.). Moreover, we also perform experiments in our lab on energy storage systems: metal fuels, Carnot batteries, electro-chemical batteries, e-fuels in piston engines, ...
Across all our topics, we also face two big challenges:
Because we have limited knowledge about the hundreds of parameters in our models, how can we design robust systems?
Because not everything can be modelled, how can we identify must-dos and must-avoids, together with the range of tradeoffs where decision makers have their say?
To tackle these challenges, we have developed methods for uncertainty propagation, near-optimum search, decision tree, and robust design optimisation.