Energy Systems and Environmental Assessment

Background

A sustainable development requires adaption to and mitigation of climatic changes as well as long-term energy security, which in turn put high demands on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. In addition, to be sustainable, energy systems need to be analyzed together with significant interacting systems, such as social-ecological systems. Furthermore, integration of such analyses in policy and planning requires methods and tools that can incorporate knowledge on legislative boundaries and planning processes, particularly concerning environmental assessment.

Aims

The aim of the research is to develop methods and tools for integrated sustainability assessment of energy-related policy and planningoptions, to reach a more sustainable development.

Approaches

The research involves development of methods and tools for integration of climate and environmental considerations in policy, planning and decision making. This includes, for instance, decision support tools for forest biomass harvesting on different scales, integrating ecosystem services such as bioenergy yield and biodiversity, wind power planning, urban planning, and spatial modelling of sustainable energy landscapes.

Keywords

Energy systems analysis, environmental systems analysis, environmental assessment, integrated sustainability assessment, spatial modelling, geographic information systems.

Links

Find information about on-going and earlier projects as well as publications here

Find more information about the Environmental Management and Assessment research group here

Project leaders

Associate Professor Ulla Mörtbergand Professor Berit Balfors, EMA research group, SEED Dept., KTH

Other project members

Xi Pang, Post Doc, PhD, EMA, SEED, KTH
Assistant Professor Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi, University of Catania, Affiliated Professor at EMA, SEED, KTH
Deepa Manolan Kandy, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Vincent Wretling, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Flavio Freitas, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Johan Högström, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Sofia Eckersten, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Selome Tessema, PhD student, EMA, SEED, KTH
Anna Kuhlefelt, research engineer, EMA, SEED, KTH

Additional funding (apart from StandUp for Energy)

EMA group project leaders:

2019-2022: Regional planning of wind power – REWIND. Swedish Energy Agency.

2019-2020: Planning support for sustainable urban development – LEAM Stockholm. KTH and Region Stockholm.

2020: RePlanning for Nature-Based Solutions. FORMAS.

2016-2019: GIS-based methods for sustainable wind power planning. Swedish Energy Agency.

2017-2019: The Södertörn model. Vinnova.

2015-2017: Strengthen the strategic municipal energy planning. Swedish Energy Agency.

2015-2018: Integrating Sustainability Strategies in Urban Environments (ISSUE). FORMAS.

2014-2017: Sustainable Planning and Environmental Assessment Knowledge (SPEAK). Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

2014-2016: Collaborative Platform for Sustainable Suburban Dynamics. VINNOVA.

2012 – 2014: Green spaces for integrated city and transport planning. Swedish Transport Agency.

2008 – 2014: Improving the environmental performance of the construction sector through harmonizing green procurement and environmental impact assessment. FORMAS.

2005 – 2011: Impacts of region-wide urban development on biodiversity in strategic environmental assessment. FORMAS.

Collaborations:

2021-2024: With Prof. Yifang Ban, Geoinformatics, KTH. Earth Observation Big Data and Deep Learning for Change Detection and Environmental Assessment. Digital Futures, a Strategic Research Area funded by the Swedish Government.

2018-2021: With Prof. Joakim Widén, Uppsala University. Energy and mobility in urban areas. Viable Cities, Swedish Energy Agency et al.

2020-2021: With Lund University et al. Modelling the Global Earth System (MERGE), a Strategic Reseearch Area funded by the Swedish Government.

2016-2019: With Prof. Mark Howells, Division of Energy Systems Analysis, KTH. Role of technologies in an energy efficient economy – model-based analysis of policy measures and transformation pathways to a sustainable energy system (REEEM). EU Horizon 2020.

2009 – 2016: With Associate Prof. Joanne Fernlund, Dept of Land and Water Resources, KTH. Environmental assessment of road geology and ecology in a system perspective. FORMAS.

2010 – 2016: With John Mango, Dept. of Mathematic, Makerere Faculty of Science, Makerere University. Mathematical modeling of eutrophication and pollution in Lake Victoria, Uganda. ISP.

2008 – 2015: With Associate Prof. Monica Hammer, Södertörn University College. Ecosystems as a common-pool resources – Implications for building sustainable management institutions in the Baltic Sea Region. Östersjöstiftelsen.

2010-2014: Energy Systems Analysis Agency. EU Horizon 2020.