Technology Assessment Group

1. To improve understanding and thereby enable comparisons of current energy technologies and future energy options for the electricity, heating and transport sectors based on environmental, economic and socially relevant factors.
2. To provide quantitative, systematic, and interdisciplinary assessments of energy technologies and energy supply strategies through the development and application of consistent methodological frameworks and databases.
3. To support rational decision-making for sustainable development in the Swiss and international energy sectors, and to communicate balanced research findings to decision-makers and stakeholders.

New Tools by TA-Group members:

• Sacchi, R., Bauer, C., Cox, B. and Mutel, C. (2020) carculator: an open-source tool for prospective environmental and economic life cycle assessment of vehicles.

New reports from major projects led by TA-Group members:

• AA-CAES Research Project Summary: "Electricity storage via adiabatic air compression"

• THRIVE Research Project Summary “Sustainability of adsorption heat pumps”

• Potentials, costs and environmental assessment of electricity generation technologies - An update of electricity generation costs and potentials.

New publications in scientific journals by TA-Group members:

• Angelica Mendoza Beltran, Brian Cox, Chris Mutel, Detlef P. van Vuuren, David Font Vivanco,  Sebastiaan Deetman, Oreane Y. Edelenbosch, Jeroen Guinée and Arnold Tukker (2020). When the Background Matters: Using Scenarios from Integrated Assessment Models in Prospective Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 24(1), 64-79.

• Brian Cox, Christian Bauer, Angelica Mendoza Beltran, Detlef P. van Vuurend and Christopher L. Mutel (2020). Life cycle environmental and cost comparison of current and future passenger cars under different energy scenarios, Applied Energy, Vol. 269, 115021.

• Laurent Vandepaer, Evangelos Panos, Christian Bauer and Ben Amor (2020). Energy System Pathways with Low Environmental Impacts and Limited Costs: Minimizing Climate Change Impacts Produces Environmental Cobenefits and Challenges in Toxicity and Metal Depletion Categories. Environmental Science & Technologies.

• Cristina Antonini, Karin Treyer, Anne Streb,  Mijndert van der Spek, Christian Bauer and Marco Mazzotti (2020). Hydrogen production from natural gas and biomethane with carbon capture and storage – A techno-environmental analysis. Sustainable Energy Fuels.

• Sebastian Rauner, Nico Bauer, Alois Dirnaichner, Rita Van Dingenen, Chris Mutel and Gunnar Luderer (2020). Coal-exit health and environmental damage reductions outweigh economic impacts. Nature Climate Change.  

• Patrick Gasser, Marco Cinelli, Anna Labijak, Matteo Spada, Peter Burgherr, Milosz Kadziński and Bozidar Stojadinovic (2020). Quantifying Electricity Supply Resilience of Countries with Robust Efficiency Analysis. Energies, 13, 1535.