Projects

Project Trier par ordre décroissant Description Duration Trier par ordre croissant Contact
Metafuels

This project is a collaboration between PSI and the Swiss start-up Metafuels, supported by BFE, to develop a new process for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from methanol.

2024-2026 Karin Treyer
ESYN

The ESYN project, funded by the ETH Future Mobility Research Program, investigates the competition between battery electric vehicles and synthetic fuels in Africa's passenger road transport, using…

2024-2026 Dr. Christian Moretti
ReFuel.ch

The SWEET ReFuel.ch project, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, aims to develop sustainable fuel and platform chemical pathways by combining advanced technologies, policy, and market…

2023-2030 Dr. Christian Moretti
UPTAKE

UPTAKE aims to facilitate the sustainable upscaling of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods by developing a set of robust strategies through technical, theoretical, and practical analysis…

2023-2027 Christian Bauer
PRISMA

PRISMA aims to achieve substantial advances in the state of the art of Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) to provide an improved set of tools for the analysis of environment-economy-society…

2023-2026 Christian Bauer
SCENE

The SCENE project establishes a Center of Excellence to advance Switzerland's net-zero goals through integrative, transdisciplinary collaboration among ETH Domain institutes and universities.…

2023-2026 Christian Bauer
WIMBY – Wind in my Backyard

The WIMBY Horizon Europe project aims at engaging communities for the acceptance and adoption of wind energy in the EU. The project will develop innovative tools to facilitate citizens and…

2023-2025 Dr. Peter Burgherr
REACT: gREen spACE logistics tool

Satellites support humans in their daily life activities. These satellites are transported to specific orbits around the globe by launchers, or so-called «Space Transportation Vehicles». Some…

2023-2025 Karin Treyer
SPEED2ZERO

SPEED2ZERO, a multidisciplinary initiative co-financed by the ETH Board, develops strategies, tools, and assessments to support Switzerland's transition to net-zero emissions by 2050, combining…

2023-2025 Dr. Christian Moretti
AEGIS-CH

Advanced geothermal systems have the potential to make the Swiss energy system more resilient by providing decarbonized and decentralized domestic heating and electrical power. This helps…

2022-2026 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Carbon Dioxide Removal: LCA and MRV

Together with the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab) at ETH Zurich, PSI Technology Assessment evaluates different options for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). The evaluation concerns the…

2022-2023 Christian Bauer
Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-X in the Swiss residential sector

Swiss net-zero GHG emission goals require a phase-out of fossil fuels. While the focus in research has often been on a transition of mobility and industry so far, also the residential sector has…

2022-2023 Christian Bauer
SUstainable and Resilient Energy for Switzerland (SURE)

SURE is part of SFOE’s SWEET programme. Over the next six years, ten research institutions under the project lead of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) will study how Switzerland can ensure its…

2021-2027 Dr. Peter Burgherr
WISER

The WISER flagship aims to build a digital ecosystem in which public and private stakeholders can contribute and share greenhouse gas (GHG) knowledge. By making different GHG data sources and…

2021-2025 Michael Weinold
HySPI

The HySPI project is funded by the French agency for Energy and aims to provide a methodological framework to analyze and quantify, in a systemic and prospective manner, the environmental impacts…

2021-2024 Dr. Romain Sacchi
SHELTERED

This project will evaluate the role and perspectives of sustainable chemical transportation fuels within a “net-zero” Swiss energy system. To this end, techno-economic, environmental and social…

2021-2024 Christian Bauer
DemoUp CARMA

DemoUpCARMA is a pilot project lead by ETH Zurich. It aims to demonstrate the implementation and scale-up of two pathways leading to negative CO2 emissions, i.e. a long-term…

2021-2023 Dr. Romain Sacchi
TT1000

This project finalizes development and validation of TwingTec`s first product concept, the TT1000, the world`s first megawatt scale mobile airborne wind energy system together with leading experts…

2021-2023 Karin Treyer
Energy System Integration (ESI) platform

With the envisaged phase-out of fossil energy carriers and the integration of substantial amounts of intermittent renewables into the Swiss energy supply, the complexity of the energy system will…

2021-2023 Christian Bauer
SynFuels – PSI-Empa Joint Initiative

Reducing the impact of aviation on climate change requires the development of synthetic, non-fossil aviation fuels, which can substitute today’s kerosene in a cost-efficient and environmentally…

2021-2023 Dr. Romain Sacchi
ROBINSON

ROBINSON’s main mission is to develop an integrated energy system tailored to islands with industrial activities coupling locally available energy sources, electrical and thermal networks, and…

2020-2024 Christian Bauer
IEA Annex 83: Positive Energy Districts

IEA Annex 83 aims to develop an in-depth definition of Positive Energy Distric (PED) as well as relevant technologies, planning tools, and decision-making process. PSI contributes to subtask C…

2020-2024 Xiaojin Zhang
Ariadne

Achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement requires not only a complete transformation of energy supply, but also substantial changes in the way energy is consumed. The project…

2020-2023 Christian Bauer
ATELIER

AmsTErdam BiLbao cItizen drivEn smaRt cities (ATELIER)

Smart City project aiming to create and replicate Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) within two Lighthouse Cities and six Fellow Cities…

2019-2024 Kannan Ramachandran
Project Trier par ordre décroissant Description Duration Trier par ordre croissant Contact
Net-zero GHG Emissions in the Building Area (Bottom-up Approach)

The building sector, responsible for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, must achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy's 2023 project aims to define strategies…

2024 Xiaojin Zhang
LCA of space missions: ESA GSL-ACT

Our daily life depends on satellites orbiting or situated around the globe. The European Space Agency Future Launcher Preparatory Program (ESA FLPP) wants to learn more about the environmental…

2022-2023 Karin Treyer
CCL

The NFP73 Co-Creation Lab Data Transparency for Sustainable Production will allow for the creation of personalized carbon footprints of Swiss households. The latest ecoinvent and EXIOBASE…

2021-2023 Dr. Artos Jakobs
The potential European hydrogen economy

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions towards zero requires a portfolio of low-carbon, non-fossil energy carriers – hydrogen is one among them. This research project, carried out in collaboration with…

2020-2021 Christian Bauer
LCA of passenger and freight transport

The environmental performance of passenger and freight transport is a key issue in the context of energy and environmental policy and it must be evaluated applying Life Cycle Assessment using…

2020-2021 Dr. Romain Sacchi
IMPEGA

“IMPEGA” stands for “IMPort of Electricity-based GAs”. The import of synthetic fuel to Switzerland to replace fossil fuels represents an option for reduction of Swiss GHG emissions. The IMPEGA…

2019-2024 Xiaojin Zhang
Environmental burdens of synthetic aviation fuels

Impacts on climate change from aviation represent an important contribution to the overall carbon footprint of Switzerland. These need to be reduced in line with Swiss climate policy. Synthetic…

2019-2024 Karin Treyer
IEA Annex 72: Assessing Life Cycle Related Environmental Impacts Caused by Buildings

In recognition of the significance of energy use in buildings, in 1977 the International Energy Agency has established an Implementing Agreement on Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC). Tasks…

2019-2022 Xiaojin Zhang
Technology monitoring for SFOE: Hydrogen and electricity storage

As part of SFOE’s technology monitoring, the Technology Assessment group is carrying out a techno-economic and environmental evaluation of hydrogen and electricity storage technologies. This…

2019-2021 Christian Bauer
NFP73 OASES

The NFP73 OASES project aims to quantify the global environmental and social burdens associated with current Swiss production and consumption from a life-cycle perspective.

2018-2021
Transformation Towards Sustainable Transport Systems - The Next Generation Policies

The Transformation Towards Sustainable Transport Systems project combines sustainability assessment, integrated modelling, econometrics, and policy analysis to find economically,…

2018-2020 Christian Bauer
Assessment of the potentials, costs and environmental burdens of electricity generation technologies for Swiss electricity supply until 2050 (Swiss Energy perspectives 2050) - Update

Building upon the analysis performed in 2016-2017, this project provides an update of electricity generation costs and potentials for selected technologies for the Swiss electricity supply until…

2018-2019 Christian Bauer
ELEGANCY

The ELEGANCY project – a European research activity with academic and research partners from five different countries – aims to provide three crucial benefits, which are the decarbonization of…

2017-2020 Karin Treyer
SCCER-HaE

SCCER Storage aims to develop the science and technology of electricity & heat storage in order to guarantee the continuous (temporal and regional), reliable, and cost-efficient supply of…

2017-2020 Xiaojin Zhang
SCCER Mobility - Phase 2

The SCCER Mobility expands the research and development capacities within the field of mobility. In Phase II (2017-2020) the Technology Assessment group will continue to provide the state-of-the-…

2017-2020 Dr. Peter Burgherr
SCCER-SoE - Phase 2

The SCCER-SoE aims to develop fundamental research and innovative solutions in the domains of GeoEnergies (Deep Geothermal Energy and CO2 sequestration) and HydroPower. In Phase II (2017-2020) it…

2017-2020 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Electricity-based mobility

This project is aiming at a better understanding of the optimal integration of the future Swiss electricity and transport sectors: which vehicle technologies and fuels (and combinations of them)…

2017-2019 Christian Bauer
ESI Platform

The Energy System Integration (ESI) Platform is a real life demonstration comprising multiple energy conversion and storage system at PSI, which offers research and industry an experimental…

2016-2020 Christian Bauer
Ocelot

The Ocelot project is a joint effort by the Paul Scherrer Institut and the ecoinvent centre to build an open source library for applying system models in life cycle assessment. System models are a…

2016-2017
Assessment of the potentials, costs and environmental burdens of electricity generation technologies for Swiss electricity supply until 2050 (Swiss Energy perspectives 2050)

Within this project, power generation technologies possibly contributing to Swiss electricity supply until 2050 are evaluated. The evaluation concerns technology development, generation (or import…

2015-2017 Christian Bauer
THRIVE

This joint project aims to substitute electricity and fossil fuels used for cooling and heating of buildings in Switzerland with low-grade waste heat from industrial processes and thermal energy…

2014-2018 Karin Treyer
Risk Governance of Deep Geothermal and Hydro Energy (RISK-GOV: DGE & Hydro)

The exploitation of underground energy resources as well as the use and expansion of hydropower, are, like all energy technologies, not completely risk free. The primary risks identified in the…

2014-2018 Dr. Peter Burgherr
FRS

The Future Resilient Systems program (FRS) develops a framework, concepts, and tools to make interconnected infrastructure systems more robust and resilient. FRS is the second research program…

2014-2018 Dr. Peter Burgherr
High-Temperature Combined Sensible/Latent-Heat Storage Based on Novel Materials for Electricity Storage Using Advanced Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (AA-CAES)

The overall objectives of the joint project are twofold: To demonstrate a combined sensible/latent-heat storage at an industrially relevant scale for use in advanced adiabatic compressed air…

2014-2018 Dr. Peter Burgherr
ISCHESS

The project studies the impacts of adding distributed stochastic generation to the Swiss electricity system is divided in 2 phases. The first phase focuses on evaluating the impact of RES (mainly…

2014-2017 Christian Bauer
Efficient Technologies and Systems for Mobility (SCCER Mobility) - Phase 1

The SCCER Mobility expands the research and development capacities within the field of mobility. It aims to find new solutions and products with a measurable impact on energy efficiency and CO…

2014-2016 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Heat & Electricity Storage: Materials, Systems and Modelling (SCCER Storage) - Phase 1

SCCER Storage aims to develop the science and technology of electricity & heat storage in order to guarantee the continuous (temporal and regional), reliable, and cost-efficient supply of…

2014-2016 Xiaojin Zhang
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of nuclear power in Switzerland

The environmental performance of nuclear power generation should be based on objective evidence that can also be compared to other electricity generation technologies. For this purpose, Life Cycle…

2014-2015 Xiaojin Zhang
Demonstration of 500 kWe alkaline fuel cell system with heat capture (POWER UP)

In project POWER-UP, a 500 kWe alkaline fuel cell (AFC) system will be demonstrated at Air Products (AIRP) industrial gas plant at Stade (in Lower Saxony, in northern Germany). This ambitious…

2013-2018 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Ammonia-fuelled alkaline fuel cells for remote power applications (ALKAMMONIA)

In project ALKAMMONIA a proof-of-concept system designed to provide power in remote applications will be developed and tested. The project will integrate three innovative and proven technologies:…

2013-2018 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE) - Phase 1

The SCCER-SoE aims to develop fundamental research and innovative solutions in the domains of GeoEnergies (Deep Geothermal Energy and CO2 sequestration) and HydroPower. Thanks to the innovation of…

2013-2016 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Geothermal Reservoir Processes: Towards the implementation of research into the creation and sustainable use of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (GEOTHERM-II)

The pressing need to rethink the Swiss Energy Mix following the decision to phase out nuclear power in Switzerland by 2034 lends added importance to accelerating the development of Enhanced…

2013-2016 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Modelling frequencies and expected maximum consequences of catastrophic events in Switzerland based on historical observations (MODCAT-CH)

In this project an analytical approach is developed and implemented to evaluate the frequencies and associated consequences of selected hazard scenarios for Switzerland based on historical data.…

2013-2014 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Oil Spill Risk Assessment for Different Regions and Facilities (SPILL-RISK)

The current study can be divided in two distinct phases. In the first phase the collection and preparation of spill data by means of PSI’s Energy-related Severe Accident Database (ENSAD) is…

2013-2014 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Solar Storm Impact on Critical Infrastructure (SoSCI)

Tsunamis, hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes can lead to hundreds of fatalities and billions of economic losses. In the last decades, critical infrastructures were developed in the way to ensure…

2013-2014 Dr. Peter Burgherr
TA Swiss Deep Geothermal Energy (TA Swiss DGE)

Deep geothermal energy is a potential resource of both heat and electricity generation that is extremely large, nearly CO2 free, domestically sourced and probably reliable.

2013-2014 Dr. Peter Burgherr
OPTImization of the use of Wood As a Renewable Energy Source (OPTIWARES)

OPTIWARES is a joint CCES-CCEM project focusing on wood combustion. Wood combustion and other biomass combustion represent renewable energy sources, and contribute to reduce global CO2 emissions…

2012-2016 Dr. Thomas Heck
Scenario to Risk (STOR)

STOR processes, analyzes and visualizes expert data gathered in the project “Risks Switzerland". For each hazard different scenarios are considered for which estimates the probability (frequency)…

2012 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Technology-centered Electric Mobility Assessment (THELMA)

The THELMA project is a large scale, ambitious project aimed at an integrated assessment of a significant penetration of electric vehicles into the Swiss transport sector, and the impacts on both…

2010-2014 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Carbon dioxide management in power generation (CARMA)

Within the framework of future energy scenarios, the CARMA project aims to explore the potential and feasibility of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) systems in Switzerland. Furthermore, it…

2009-2012 Christian Bauer
Techno-economic Comparison of Ultimate Disposal Facilities for CO2 and Nuclear Waste

The Technology Assessment group takes part in the IAEA Coordinated Research Project I12004. The TA group contributes a comparative assessment of nuclear and fossil electricity generation…

2008-2012 Christian Bauer
IMpact of Biomass burning AerosoL on Air quality aNd ClimatE (IMBALANCE)

In the IMBALANCE project the physical and chemical properties of emissions caused by the intended burning of biomass for cooking and heating will be comprehensively characterized in order to allow…

2008-2012 Dr. Thomas Heck
Security of Energy Considering its Uncertainty, Risks and Economic implications (SECURE)

The SECURE project develops appropriate tools for evaluating the vulnerability of the EU to the different energy supply risks, and for promoting the optimization of EU energy insecurity mitigation…

2008-2010 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Cost Assessment for Sustainable Energy Systems

This project aims to provide a complete and consistent assessment of the full cost of energy sources, i.e. the external cost plus the private cost, which is of paramount importance for energy and…

2006-2008 Christian Bauer
Multi-disciplinary evaluation of future electricity generation technologies

A broad portfolio of eighteen fossil, nuclear and renewable electricity generation technologies, together with their associated energy chains, were the focus of a comprehensive LCA based project…

2005-2006 Christian Bauer
New Energy Externalities Developments for Sustainability (NEEDS)

The NEEDS consortium included 66 partners, representing 26 Countries (12 Member States from the EU15, 9 new EU Member States, 3 Mediterranean Countries, and 2 Countries from other parts of the…

2004-2009 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Assessment of natural gas accident risks

This study was commissioned by the Schweizerischer Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches (SVGW). Its framework encompassed a primarily experience-based comparison of accident risks associated with the…

2004-2005 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Swiss Energy Perspectives 2035 – New Renewables and New Nuclear Technologies

The Technology Assessment group conducted a study for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) on potentials and costs of electricity generation by means of “new” renewables and new nuclear…

2004-2005 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Sustainability of electricity supply technologies under German conditions

This study was commissioned by the Internationale Länderkommission Kerntechnik (ILK, International Committee on Nuclear Technology). The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) carried out a limited scope…

2003-2004 Dr. Peter Burgherr
Extension of Accounting Framework and Policy Applications

This project is a continuation of the ExternE project series for the analysis of the external costs of energy. Its objectives include (1) improving, validating and extending the methodology of…

2002-2004 Dr. Peter Burgherr