‘ THINK BIG, BECAUSE THE TASK WE FACE IS A BIG
ONE’
COLUMN BY PAUL ALTHUIS
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At TU Delft, around 1,000 scientists are working on the shift towards a sustainable energy supply. In order to ensure it makes a real impact, the university is investing heavily in innovation. In the next year, seven Future Energy Labs are being further developed to enable the rapid adoption by society of new and promising technologies and applications, writes Paul Althuis, director of the TU Delft Innovation & Impact Centre.
“By definition, the energy transition means that we have to think big. Because the task we face is a big one. Ultimately, this is a climate problem and the energy transition is an essential process in our attempt to curtail global warming. This urgency calls for leadership, not only in identifying solutions (fundamental research), but also in terms of the next step: ensuring that society can quickly reap the benefits (valorisation). “Thinking big also involves the need to integrate. This university is the perfect place for a grand vision, focused on system integration. In the energy transition, that will be essential in achieving success since it affects the whole of society and we need to design totally new, sustainable energy supply chains. With interaction between molecules, electrons and heat as energy carriers. From generation, conversion, storage, transport through to end-user. And the energy market that is part of all that. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“ This university is the perfect place for a grand vision, focused on system integration.” ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“In order to accelerate innovation in the field of energy, we are creating seven Future Energy Labs (see box) focused on the themes that we expect to be working on in the long-term and in which TU Delft can play a leading role. This includes the development of a local, CO2-neutral energy system for the built environment
