Skip to main content
  • Paul Scherrer Institut PSI
  • PSI Research, Labs & User Services

Digital User Office

  • Digital User Office
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)
Search
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)

Hauptnavigation

  • Our ResearchOpen mainmenu item
    • Current topics from our research
    • Future Technologies
    • Energy and Climate
    • Health Innovation
    • Fundamentals of Nature
    • Large Research Facilities
    • Brochures
    • 5232 — The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute
    • Research Divisions & Labs (only english)
  • IndustryOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Technology Transfer
    • Expertise
    • Spin-off Companies
    • Park Innovaare
  • Proton TherapyOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Physician & Patient Information
  • CareerOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Job Opportunities
    • Working at PSI
    • Personnel Policy
    • Equal Opportunities, Diversity & Inclusion
    • Training and Further Education
    • Vocational Training
    • PSI Education Centre
    • Career Center
    • Support Program "PSI Career Return Program"
    • PSI-FELLOW/COFUND
  • Visit to PSIOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Visitor Centre psi forum
    • Schülerlabor iLab
    • Public Events
    • How to find us
  • About PSIOpen mainmenu item
    • PSI in brief
    • Strategy
    • Guiding principles
    • Facts and figures
    • Organisational structure
    • For the media
    • Suppliers and customers
    • Customers E-Billing
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR

Digital User Office (mobile)

  • Digital User Office

You are here:

  1. PSI Home
  2. Our Research
  3. Current topics from our research
  4. How can we secure our gas supply?

Secondary navigation

Our Research

  • Current topics from our research Expanded submenu item
    • Future Technologies
    • Energy and Climate
    • Health Innovation
    • Fundamentals of Nature
    • ESI Platform
    • Large research facilities
    • Project SLS 2.0
    • Topic Overview
    • Archive
  • 5232 – The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute
    • Contact
  • Brochures
  • Films
    • Virtual Tour
  • Social Media
    • PSI Community Guidelines
  • Media corner
    • Media Releases
6 March 2023

How can we secure our gas supply?

Energy and Climate ESI Platform Energy transition

Switzerland has no available fossil gas reserves. It also lacks substantial domestic storage capacities, like those used by Germany. Because of this, geopolitical conflicts and crises can lead to supply shortfalls. Synthetic methane could be a way of getting around this dependency. It can be produced sustainably in Switzerland and fed directly into the existing gas grid.

Around 15 percent of Switzerland’s energy needs are met by fossil gas. This is mainly used to generate heat in private households and industry, and, to a smaller extent, for transport. Compared with the rest of Europe, the figure of 15 percent seems rather low. Nevertheless, some 300,000 private households, which need this fuel for heating, cooking and hot water, would be affected by a gas shortage.

There are many possibilities for heating homes in a carbon-neutral way that reduce dependency on energy imports. With ground source heat pumps, for example, pipes are buried deep in the soil to extract the Earth’s natural energy stored underground. Air source heat pumps absorb ambient outside air and convert it into heat. Both technologies are heavily dependent on location, however. Heating with electricity from renewable sources, solar power or pellet-fuelled heating systems are other alternatives.

The advantage of the Swiss gas network is that the energy source can be stored and distributed across the existing infrastructure. Synthetic methane could therefore be part of the solution. The gas is carbon neutral and can be produced sustainably in Switzerland and fed directly into the existing gas network. Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute are conducting intensive research into the synthesis of methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. In the first episode of our Energy Future series we explain how the technology works.

Synthetic methane is set to play an important role in the Swiss gas grid in the future. Here we explain how the technology works.
(Video: Paul Scherrer Institute/Benjamin A. Senn and Mahir Dzambegovic)

The video series Energy Future deals with everyday questions on the topic of Switzerland’s energy transition. Each short video focuses on one particular issue. Possible solutions are put forward taking the latest results of energy research at the Paul Scherrer Institute.

Text: Paul Scherrer Institute/Benjamin A. Senn

Further information

  • Combining forces for the energy transition – Media release, 5 September 2022
  • The energy system of the future and Power-to-X – Media release, 3 July 2019
  • Stress test passed – News article, 24 October 2017
  • Higher methane yield from bio-waste – News article, 23 January 2017
  • Turning electricity into gas – and back into electricity – News article, 27 June 2016
  • Energy transition

Contact

Dr. Tilman Schildhauer
Methanation Research
Paul Scherrer Institute, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 56 310 27 06, e-mail: tilman.schildhauer@psi.ch [German, English]

Copyright

PSI provides image and/or video material free of charge for media coverage of the content of the above text. Use of this material for other purposes is not permitted. This also  includes the transfer of the image and video material into databases as well as sale by third parties.

Sidebar

01/2023

5232 — The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute

01/2023
View in issuu.com
Download
Subscribe to our magazine

Follow PSI

 Twitter
 LinkedIn
 Youtube
 Facebook
 Instagram

All social media channels


Visitor Centre psi forum

Experience research live


The iLab School Laboratory

Experience Science - Explore Research

top

Footer

Paul Scherrer Institut

Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Telephone: +41 56 310 21 11
Telefax: +41 56 310 21 99

How to find us
Contact

Visitor Centre psi forum
School Lab iLab (in German)
Center for Proton Therapy
PSI Education Centre
PSI Guest House
PSI Gastronomie (in German)
psi forum shop

Service & Support

  • Phone Book
  • User Office
  • Accelerator Status
  • PSI Publications
  • Suppliers
  • E-Billing
  • Computing
  • Safety (in German)

Career

  • Working at PSI
  • Job Opportunities
  • Training and further education
  • Career Center
  • Vocational Training (in German)
  • PSI Education Center

For the media

  • PSI in brief
  • Facts and Figures
  • Media corner
  • Media Releases
  • Social Media

Follow us: Twitter (in English) LinkedIn Youtube Facebook Instagram Issuu RSS

Footer legal

  • Imprint
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Editors' login