With the current developments in energy policy and climate change, there is an urgent need to increase both electricity production and storage capacities from renewables in Switzerland. The ongoing glacier retreat offers opportunities for new storage lakes and corresponding new hydropower schemes in the Alps (Figure 1). The hydropower potential of such new reservoirs in locations which are expected to become ice-free has been systematically examined in a recent research project in the scope of the National Research Programme 70 of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Weiterlesen
Next-generation rooftop solar panels achieve record efficiency
The Swiss company Insolight is taking a whole new approach to creating high-efficiency solar modules for the rooftop market. Its patented optical system concentrates light onto an array of tiny spacegrade multi-junction photovoltaic cells. While today’s rooftop standard modules typically show an efficiency of 17-19%, Insolight’s pre-production module has been validated at an impressive 29% by the Universidad Politécinica de Madrid (IES-UPM), two years after a first record on a lab prototype. The company based at the EPFL Innovation Park has taken a decisive step towards industrialization with its first pre-production full-size series, cost-effective and compatible with existing assembly equipment.






Energy efficiency is the first fuel in a modern, global energy system
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency IEA, presents the IEA market report on Energy Efficiency 2018 and emphasizes that energy efficiency needs to have a seat at the big table, when it comes to major global decisions about energy in the 21st century.






The 2nd China-Switzerland Energy Working Group took place in Beijing, Hangzhou and Yichang end of November 2018. The event built on the successful 1st Meeting which was held in Switzerland in October 2017. The Working Group has its foundation in a Memorandum of Understanding for energy cooperation signed during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Switzerland in January 2017.






Switzerland has made commendable progress in its energy and climate policies
Mit diesem Satz beginnt der neueste Tiefenprüfungsbericht, den die internationale Energie-Agentur (IEA) zur Energiepolitik der Schweiz erstellt hat. Die Schweiz erhält von der IEA also gute Noten für das bisher Erreichte, aber auch Empfehlungen für die bevorstehenden Aufgaben. Weiterlesen






After three successful experiences, the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) organizes a new competition for students in architecture, called “Sustainable is beautiful”. Weiterlesen






Mechanics – the key to unlocking subsurface resources for energy supply and storage
The International Symposium on Energy Geotechnics organized by EPFL’s Laboratory of Soil Mechanics brought together more than 250 research scientists and practitioners from 35 countries at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre in Lausanne to exchange ideas, practices and state-of-the-art developments. Weiterlesen






MAtCH is a exchange program for cleantech start-ups between Switzerland and Massachusetts/USA, operated by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The Swiss born architect Eric Nelson (46) has joined the program in fall 2017. In this interview he summarizes his experiences. Weiterlesen












Energy-efficiency gap, Bounded rationality and energy-related financial literacy






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