Kenniscentrum Techniek
The Energy Transition Requires More and Faster Steps
We must pull out all the stops to accelerate the energy transition. That's what Dr. Renée Heller, lector Energy and Innovation at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) in her lectoral speech on Tuesday 8 February 2022. The Energy and Innovation lectorate researches and develops the technical interventions that are required.
The theme of Energy and Innovation, which Heller and her team are exploring, is more important than ever in 2022. The use of fossil fuels is responsible for 65% of global emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and thus global warming.
The UN established in the Paris Agreement (2015) that global warming must be limited to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. Various countries have subsequently taken steps to reduce their CO2 emissions. Despite this, the warming is being felt worldwide and the critical limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature increase will already be reached in 2030, according to the latest report from IPCC, the climate panel of the United Nations. "To keep it at 1.5 degrees Celsius, we have to take more, and faster, steps in the energy transition," said Heller in her lecture. “Not only on a technical level, but also socially and societally.”
In her inaugural lecture, Heller explains the contributions that the Energy and Innovation Group at the AUAS is making to the energy transition. She highlights in particular positive energy districts as a metaphor for an innovative integral approach to the energy transition in cities. The aim is to set the bar high and speed things up.
Click the link below to read her inaugural lecture.