Working group reports

17 Oct Biogas

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National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2016
The 14 members of the NATF working group on biogas published its report in early 2016.  Historically speaking, biogas, resulting from the decomposition of organic matter, has been known since the late 18th century, when Alessandro Volta analysed the composition of swamp gas, finding methane as the main component.  In France and India, the exploitation of this process through bacterial “fermentation” in digesters started in the late 19th century while China builds a whole infrastructure around biogas, but always on a local scale, taking advantage of carbon credits from European industry for their funding.  In Europe, the production of biogas on an industrial scale takes off somewhere between 1980 and 1990, while France joins in at a somewhat slower pace than some other countries
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17 Oct Resource Efficiency – Facts and Trends Towards 2050.

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Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering (IVA)
2015
A report from IVA project Resource Efficient Business Models – Greater Competitiveness, 2015 36 pp.
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17 Oct Biogas (Report only in French)

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National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2016
EDP Sciences 2016 Biogas, resulting from the decomposition of organic matter, is known since the late 18th century: swamp gas. In Europe, the production of biogas on an industrial scale takes off somewhere between 1980 and 1990. The report describes sources and processes for the generation of biogas: hermetically sealed waste dumps and the capture of biogas from anaerobic digestion; industrial anaerobic fermentation of household waste with different species of bacteria at different temperatures; fermentation of agricultural crop waste and animal droppings; processing of biodegradable sludge from waste water treatment plants; etc. Biogas plants using a second generation methanisation process at high temperatures have been built in Germany and Sweden. Biogas is regarded as a renewable energy but is not fit for industrial use in untreated form as it contains various contaminants that need to be filtered. The success of biogas as a substitute for natural gas depends on the financial incentives granted.
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17 Oct Energy Vectors (English version)

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National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2012
Editions Le Manuscrit 2012 Energy procurement/uses, influenced by oil prices and climate change, may differ in different countries. These influences continue but time-scales change (e.g. for peak oil and gas). The Fukushima accident has shaken confidence into nuclear power. This Report proposes a robust methodology for making relevant economic and ecological choices related to energy transition. Focussing on the French situation, it deals with Energy Vectors: the support system delivering energy ready to use (electricity, petrol, gas, or heat, etc.) to consumers; the intermediary stage of vectors between sources (coal, gas, U, wind, hydro) and demand of final energy (for transport, heating, industrial processes, etc.). While end-consumers may not be aware of the source for the final energy, distinguishing between them would allow economic and ecological competition (when C02 emissions carry a price-tag). This report throws new light on the political decisions that must be taken and provides guidelines with a long-range relevance.
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17 Oct Impact of ICT on world energy consumption – and carbon footprints (Report only in French)

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National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2015
EDP Sciences, 2015 The report analyses the impact of ICT’s worldwide energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, considering the impacts generated by the operation of its various hardware and infrastructure, and the savings it spawns in other areas of activity. Conclusion: The final energy and carbon balance of all ICT categories together is clearly a positive one. In 2012, ICT accounted for 4.7% of worldwide electricity consumption, and a total carbon footprint of about 1.7 percent. These numbers are on an upwards trend, but in smaller proportions than the growing use of ICT, thanks to its contribution to reduce these footprints in other areas of activities such as in the transport sector, buildings, manufacturing industries, or even dematerialised procedures. The report focuses on the (global) transport/mobility sector benefitting from digitisation in and around vehicles and lists current lines of research aimed at better performance of computing, with lower energy consumption.
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08 Juil Methane – where does it come from, what is its impact on the climate? (Report only in French)

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National Academy of Technologies of France
(NATF) 2014
EDP Sciences 2014 Strong variations of atmospheric concentrations of the potent greenhouse gas methane have accompanied glacial and interglacial periods - influencing timetable and magnitude of past and present climate changes. The report describes and analyses natural and human-related sources and sinks of atmospheric methane with particular attention to potentially massive emissions from thawing permafrost and clathrates. The methane fluxes between main reservoirs and the atmosphere is measured via ground-based networks or from outer space. As atmospheric methane is destroyed over time (half-life ~7 years), its GHG-efficiency is not straight-forward. While fossil fuel exploitation is an important methane source, emissions could be limited at reasonable cost. Feedbacks from wetlands and soils are more difficult to control. Recommendations are made in areas such as agricultural practices, waste- and landfill management, biomass combustion, exploitation of coal, natural gas and oil. The potential exploitation of methane from permafrost and marine clathrates should be closely followed.
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08 Sep Information sharing practices in the field of cybersecurity

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Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW)
September 2018
Authors: Solange Ghernaouti, Laura Crespo, Bastien Wanner Main themes: cybersecurity Nature of publication: report The publication analyses information sharing practices in the field of cybersecurity. It summarises the context, needs and constraints of information sharing to ensure security, resilience, and the fight against cybercrime.
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08 Août Swiss industry’s innovative capacity 1997–2014: reassessed

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Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW)
August 2018
Authors: Hans-Peter Herzig, Rita Hofmann, Claudia Schärer, Peter Seitz Main themes: innovation Nature of publication: study Switzerland regularly comes top of rankings evaluating countries’ innovative capacity. Despite this positive assessment, an increasing number of voices are noting an alarming decline in the innovative capacity of Swiss industry. Where does the truth lie?  
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08 Avr Renewable energy production is head of the pack

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Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW)
April 2018
Authors: Bjarne Steffen, Dominique Hischier, Tobias S. Schmidt Main themes: energy Nature of publication: study Specialists of the Energy Politics Group at ETH Zurich were commissioned by SATW to analyse - for the first time ever - the total energy balance of key forms of power production in Switzerland using standardised methodology. The study examined natural gas, geothermal energy, nuclear power, photovoltaics, coal, hydro power, and wind power and firstly calculated their non-renewable cumulative energy demand required to build and supply a system and for power production. For fossil fuel production processes and nuclear power, this is first and foremost the energy in the relevant fuel (gas, coal, uranium). The second element determined was the energy return on energy investment (EROI), which describes the relationship between the power produced and the (‘grey’) energy invested across a system’s entire life cycle. These key figures were used to assess total energy balance. Hydro power’s total energy balance is outstanding. What is impressive is how much it outstrips other forms of power production in terms of its energy return on energy investment.
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08 Août Critical metals: How Swiss industry can look ahead

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Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW)
August 2017
Authors: Alessandra Hool, Hans-Jörg Althaus, Christian Hagelüken, Ernst Lutz, Armin Reller, Patrick Wäger, Bruno Walser, Margarethe Hofmann Main themes: resources, metals Nature of publication: workshop results The term “critical raw materials” refers to raw materials (and in particularly metals) defined by the European Union as being urgently needed for this business location in the future but presenting, due to their unsecure supply, risks for the European economy – this affects Rare Earth Elements as well as other elements such as indium, cobalt, tungsten and many more. Participants from research, industry, medium-sized companies, associations, and politics came together in a workshop to discuss ways in which Switzerland could respond to the threat of supply bottlenecks for critical raw materials. They identified obstacles preventing the topic from being suitably prioritised by companies, attributed involved key stakeholders, and discussed ways of establishing greater transparency in the field of critical raw materials. The greatest challenge was identified as being not a lack of data, but rather an unclear and dispersed flow of information, few opportunities for companies to individually gather information, and a lack of knowledge on strategies for handling raw materials limitations. The greatest challenge facing Switzerland and Europe is to increase awareness of the issues surrounding secure supply of raw materials. The short brochure offers an overview of the topic, focusing on Switzerland in particular, and provides recommendations.
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