The shift toward sustainable energy systems is increasingly recognized as a shared challenge, requiring collaboration across governments, businesses, and other stakeholders.
The national goal of achieving a sustainable energy system comes with many different aspects and challenges, most of which involve multiple stakeholders. Two major challenges are those of energy and material transition. It is an undeniable truth that our society needs both energy and materials to function and support our daily lives. Energy is mostly required in the form of electricity, heat (both domestic and industrial temperatures) or as energetic content of transport fuels. In our current energy system, it is primarily generated from fossil sources (e.g., natural gas, coal). Sustainable energy transition could be achieved by replacing these energy sources with renewables (wind, solar, biomass) or reducing the associated emissions of existing processes, for example through CCS. The material transition is concerned with the emissions associated with the production and consumption of our products. For example, the production of plastics requires carbon which is currently taken primarily from fossil sources (e.g., crude oil), which results in carbon emissions both during the production process and in the end-of-life stage of the products if they are not collected and recycled. Sustainable material transition could be achieved by replacing fossil carbon sources with biogenic carbon sources (different types of biomass) or increasing recycling capabilities, all of which will require the development of new technologies and infrastructure.
Our Approach
Meeting these energy and material demands using sustainable alternatives to current, highly efficient and integrated processes is a challenge that requires strong coordination between relevant parties such as industry, industry clusters, government and companies concerned with infrastructure. Quo Mare provides these and other stakeholders with quantitative analyses that support investment decisions, strategic planning and coordination. Our tried-and-tested mathematical methods offer something to hold on to through the overwhelming challenges that the energy and material transitions pose, and stimulate stakeholders to make responsible, informed investments while considering technological, economical and sustainable goals.