Ambio | January 2016, Volume 45, Supplement 1

By Lennart Bengtsson, Elisabeth Rachlew , Friedrich Wagner

Introduction

A project launched by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) in 2013 identified possible areas of scientific breakthroughs in energy supply and consumption with a long-term perspective up to and beyond 2050.

The project facilitated interactions and information sharing among scientists in Europe and worldwide through electronic communications and two dedicated workshops. A steering committee with eighteen scientists from eleven countries was appointed by the EASAC participating academies (Box 1). The first workshop concentrated on nuclear energy and explored its possible future scientific and technological developments, while the second workshop addressed renewable energies, energy systems and storage (Table 1). The papers presented in this Special Issue were written by experts who participated in the project and benefitted from the opportunities for international information sharing and discussion.