Seeking enhanced efficiency in energy production (actually, harvesting energy from the natural environment), conversion and use is an important and viable aim, even though it is likely that this will not lead to total reductions in energy use as long as the benefits of using more energy will be considered to outweigh costs, including environmental costs. Especially because of the increase in intermittent energy production from renewable sources, energy efficiency is in practice increasingly and intimately related to energy systems integration, and a systems perspective on efficiency is central. This can relate to the capacity factor of wind turbines and the source of electricity during low-wind periods, the use of relatively small-scale thermal storage functions in buildings to buffer variations in electricity production, or to a systems assessment where the true (energy) costs of improved new buildings or renovations is weighed against the potential energy savings. In the broader picture, it is often the true total system of costs and savings to society which should be in focus, not the energy producer’s or consumer’s perspective, which may be strongly affected by taxes and subsidies. It is likely that significant new Research Infrastructures will be necessary to optimally approach these challenges. As the future system is constructed, it is vital that it can reliably and securely supply the necessary base-load power at all times and at reasonable cost

Current status

ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS Energy use during the lifecycle of buildings has impact on both total energy efficiency and emissions, and should be considered. For example, concrete production leads to significant CO2 release. Building design can increase energy efficiency and decrease CO2 emissions by, for example, allowing future flexibility of use, avoiding energy-expensive constructions that reduce energy consumption during the use but are globally energy ineffective, smart energy-use control systems, and suitable choices of materials. Also, area planning may indirectly contribute to reduced environmental impact through – e.g. effects on micro-climate and on patterns of human behaviour.
The designs also need to consider possible future changes in climate and human activities for the envisaged lifetime of each construction. Neighbourhood heating and cooling systems, including major thermal reservoirs, may have an increasingly important role in contributing to energy efficiency and assisting in balancing future energy systems with significant amount of electricity from non-dispatchable sources.

Energy use for buildings is significant and deserves serious consideration: climatic and other conditions are very different in different parts of Europe, some relevant technologies are evolving, and patterns of human behaviour may change considerably in the coming decades. It follows that various research and demonstration infrastructures of different types and in different places will be important. The complexity and high costs of some relevant infrastructures implies that effective pan-European coordination is imperative.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND USE IN INDUSTRY Several concepts mentioned above regarding buildings and the need for a systems perspective are also relevant for industry, which is a major consumer of energy. In addition, there are major possibilities for improved energy efficiency and/or reduced greenhouse emissions from many industrial processes, as well as for better use of some industrial waste products. Further automation, in traditional and new forms, computer-based modelling, and connectivity will continue to affect industrial production significantly, especially with increased ambitions regarding energy and materials efficiency, waste reduction, product quality and lifetime, and recycling.

Energy reserves (fossil fuels and others) are used in industry not only for energy but also, sometimes simultaneously, as feedstock or chemical reagents, for example for production of plastics, iron and cement. In such production, fossil-based hydrogen as reducing agent could be replaced by, for instance, hydrogen produced using electricity from renewable resources. Various major research and pilot projects are now ongoing in Europe, e.g. in the steel industry.Hybrit, Fossil-free steel
https://www.hybritdevelopment.se/en/

The European financing system should allow major public investment in research as well as pilot and demonstration plants which, while very important, may also be very expensive and in the “grey zone” between research and implementation. The high costs often involved mean that new insights and solutions developed in different European countries should be effectively spread.

POWER-TO-X (P2X) AND HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIESTheBecause electricity supply and demand must match instantaneously, an electricity system heavily reliant on non-dispatchable electricity production from renewables will only be viable if there are effective components in the system ensuring that supply and demand balance. The most significant such component is likely to be electricity storage. Batteries are an unlikely solution since the volumes of storage achievable based on current lead- and lithium-based technologies is not sufficient. An alternative form of chemical storage of surplus electrical energy, for example in the form of hydrogen, appears to be fundamentally necessary, to be reconverted to electricity when necessary (“Power to x to power” or “P2X2P”). Considering the low recovery efficiency (about 30%) for electricity, the energy-carrying chemicals produced from surplus power may become important in the transport and industrial sectors, for example replacing fossil fuels in transport and in industrial processes.

If Europe’s future energy system is to be dominated by electricity production from intermittent renewables – as opposed to other low emission technologies such as nuclear, geothermal or CCS – major investments in new research, pilot and demonstration plants for P2X, and later X2P, will be necessary. Many such initiatives are ongoing or planned, but significant improvements in efficiency and costs are necessary. Research on a broad front, from materials science to large scale energy systems appears necessary. The need for improved relevant technologies is clearly recognised in current EU policies. 

CARBON CAPTURE, STORAGE AND UTILIZATION  In Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), carbon dioxide from some industrial process – e.g. electricity production from coal, or steel production – is separated from the exhaust of the plant, transported, and deposited in some suitable geological formation, where it is expected to remain indefinitely. CCS is today only viable for large, stationary facilities such as power plants. CCS will reduce total emissions irrespective of the origin of the captured carbon, e.g. from biomass, cement production or fossil fuel. It is possible that emission reductions achievable in this manner may in the future outperform many other emission reduction strategies, both in terms of cost and in terms of practically viable speed of large-scale implementation. In the Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilisation (CCSU) concept, some or all of the carbon is to be used or utilized as feedstock to some process. For instance, methane or some other hydrocarbon to be used as fuel or for some non-energy product could be produced by combining hydrogen with carbon from the carbon dioxide. 

CCS is not a new concept, and projects that have been running for many years, including the ESFRI Landmark ECCSEL ERIC, demonstrate there is no doubt that large quantities of carbon can be captured, transported and stored. Costs are currently dominated by initial capture and have been relatively high. However, as sources of feedstock to the chemicals industry will continue to be necessary, CCS costs are likely to decrease as technology evolves, and the cost-premium of dispatchable electricity sources may increase considerably with increasing dependence on non-dispatchable renewables. There seems little doubt that if the EU and the world wish to reduce CO2 emissions significantly and on a relatively short time scale, then CCS should be considered and supported much more than is currently the case, a view supported for example by the IEAIEA
https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage. This implies that major investments in research, pilot and demonstration plants, as well as large-scale implementation are strongly motivated.

GAPS, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE NEEDS

Energy research may have been too heavily focused on single components, rather than on the analysis of complex energy systems where the different elements interact. Research Infrastructures investigating systems in practical use would be of significant benefit. One example of this is the use of ENERGY IN BUILDINGS and the supply of energy from buildings. The latter may relate to production of electricity, for example, or to exploiting the thermal storage potential of buildings to facilitate the use of intermittent electricity production from renewable sources. Similarly, projects related to the use of waste products from industry for energy production, as well as for improved efficiency and savings, have significant potential. Realizing such potentials may demand research Infrastructure initiatives, leading into pilot and demonstration activities on commercial scale.

Power-to-X addresses core research questions on electrolysis and plasma-chemical conversion, including catalysis, materials, membranes and efficiency on one hand, and the synthesis of fuels and base chemicals on the other hand. For P2X processes to be a major component in the future energy system, they must be adequately energy efficient and cost efficient. Major investments, from research to pilot and demonstration plants, will be necessary to achieve this, with R&D tasks ranging from basic research to questions of up-scaling towards demonstration of large plants combining production and use. Local infrastructures and expertise in electro-chemical and plasma-chemical conversion, physical separation of gases and chemical synthesis need to be combined and developed on European scale for creating efficient and effective integrated P2X solutions. This gap could be filled by an ESFRI distributed RI bringing together resources and testing facilities of European industries as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations.

It remains unclear if large-scale CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE, STORAGE AND UTILISATION will become an important part of the energy system, but there is a possibility that this is the case. Therefore, further major investments in relevant Research Infrastructure should be considered among the topics mentioned above.