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The 22nd Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge on methods, policies and technologies for increasing the sustainability of development by de-coupling growth from the use of natural resources and by a transition to a knowledge-based economy. All taking into account the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development.
One of the main issues of the coming decades is to improve efficiencies by integrating various life-supporting systems, using excess from one, as resource in another in the correct moment. Integrating electricity, heating, cooling, transport, water, buildings, waste, wastewater, industry, forestry and agriculture systems will be pivotal towards sustainable development.
Sustainability being also a perfect field for interdisciplinary and multi-cultural evaluation of complex system, the SDEWES Conference has become a significant venue for researchers in those areas to meet, and originate, discuss, share, and disseminate new ideas:
Sustainability science, metrics and governance
- Sustainability comparisons and measurements (metrics and indices; multi-criteria decision analysis; external costs; exergy analysis; footprint methods; life cycle assessment; dynamic life cycle assessment; material flow analysis; industrial metabolism; planetary boundaries; safe and just operating space; ecosystem services; biodiversity impacts; nature-positive development; embodied carbon accounting; digital product passports; environmental product declarations; critical raw materials assessment; sustainability reporting and disclosure)
- Green, circular and regenerative economy (circular economy; low-carbon and net-zero development; resource efficiency; sufficiency; water reuse; waste prevention; industrial symbiosis; sustainable consumption and production; jobs and regional development; macroeconomic analysis; sustainable finance; financial and regulatory mechanisms; green public procurement; taxonomy and ESG methodologies; rebound effect; energy economics; environmental economics; development economics; sustainability economics)
- Governance for sustainable development (multi-level governance; policy integration; institutional innovation; stakeholder participation; public engagement; science-policy interface; mission-oriented innovation; just transition governance; intergenerational equity; Sustainable Development Goals; local, regional and global sustainability strategies)
System planning, modelling and digitalisation
- Smart and integrated energy systems (sector coupling; integration of electricity, heating, cooling, transport, water, waste, wastewater, industry, buildings, forestry and agriculture systems; smart grids; smart thermal grids; smart energy networks; microgrids; energy communities; community energy; energy cooperatives; virtual power plants; aggregators; dynamic electricity pricing; local energy markets; demand response; demand-side flexibility; thermal flexibility; industrial flexibility; vehicle-to-grid; flexibility markets)
- Energy system analysis and planning (energy planning; power system planning; integrated energy system planning; smart energy systems; 100% renewable energy systems; high penetration of renewables; net-zero energy systems; climate-neutral energy systems; island energy systems; regional energy systems; development of energy planning tools; long-term demand planning; internalizing environmental externalities; electrification of transport, heating and industry; storage versus grids versus demand management; integration of power and district heating systems; integration of power and water systems; integration of power and transport systems; power-to-X; hydrogen valleys; hydrogen system planning)
- Digitalisation, artificial intelligence and data-driven sustainability (digital twins; artificial intelligence; machine learning; generative AI and foundation models for sustainable systems; AI-assisted planning and operation; forecasting of demand, supply and flexibility; predictive maintenance; cyber-physical systems; Internet of Things; edge computing; GIS; remote sensing; open data; data governance; cybersecurity of sustainable infrastructure; digital platforms for energy, water and environment systems; validation and benchmarking of energy system models; uncertainty and sensitivity analysis; explainable AI (XAI) for energy applications; open-source models, data repositories and reproducible computational frameworks; blockchain applications for energy networks and peer-to-peer energy trading)
- Resilient infrastructure systems (resilience of energy systems; resilience of water systems; resilience of environmental systems; resilience of agricultural systems; resilience of social systems; resilience of engineering systems; critical infrastructure protection; climate adaptation of infrastructure; extreme weather impacts; disaster risk reduction; recovery and restoration of services; infrastructure interdependencies; cascading failures; resilient islands, cities and regions)
- Transport system analysis and management (transport system analysis; sustainable mobility; electrification of transport; charging infrastructure; vehicle-to-grid; multimodal transport; public transport; active mobility; shared mobility; smart logistics; railways; shipping; aviation; port decarbonisation; green shipping corridors; sustainable aviation fuels; e-fuels; transport demand management; congestion management; autonomous and connected mobility)
- Water-energy-food-materials nexus (water management; water system analysis; water pricing; water resources; river basin management; arid and drought-prone areas; water security; desalination; hydro energy; water-renewables integration; water use in agriculture and food processing; nutrient recovery; food-energy-water interactions; materials and critical raw materials in sustainable systems; climate change adaptation; digitalisation of water systems; AI and IoT for water management; GIS and remote sensing)
- Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage (sustainable tourism; climate-resilient tourism; green hotels; certification; resource efficiency in tourism; water and energy use in tourism; waste prevention; sustainable mobility for tourism; protection of cultural and natural heritage; carrying capacity of destinations; climate adaptation of coastal and island tourism)
- Urbanism, cities and communities (climate-neutral and smart cities; positive energy districts; zero emission districts; urban planning; zoning; transit-oriented development; sustainable urban mobility; district heating and cooling; zero energy buildings and districts; renovation strategies; urban circularity; urban nature-based solutions; urban heat island effect; sustainable energy and climate action plans; local energy communities; city indicators and benchmarking)
- Regional planning and cooperation (sustainable islands; sustainable regions and cities; 100% renewable regions; cross-border cooperation; regional energy and water planning; regional industrial transition; rural and coastal sustainability; local resource mapping; cohesion, development and territorial impacts of the transition)
Transitions, policy, markets and society
- Energy and climate policy (security of supply; climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; energy transition; net-zero strategies; renewable energy support schemes; energy efficiency policy; employment creation; carbon pricing; fossil fuel subsidy reform; energy taxation; market design; strategic autonomy; competitiveness; policy mixes for climate-neutral development)
- Markets, regulation and flexibility (electricity market design; energy market design; market coupling; price coupling; liberalisation and regulation; retail markets; local energy markets; flexibility markets; balancing markets; capacity mechanisms; demand response; aggregators; role of storage; role of district heating; role of desalination and water pumping; grid tariffs; net billing and self-consumption; price caps; affordability and consumer protection)
- Carbon management and negative emissions policy (carbon capture, utilisation and storage; carbon dioxide removal; direct air capture; bioenergy with carbon capture and storage; biochar; enhanced weathering; mineralisation; carbon accounting; monitoring, reporting and verification; carbon certification; carbon contracts for difference; carbon utilisation markets; social acceptance of carbon management)
- Emission markets and climate instruments (emission trading systems; cap and trade; carbon border adjustment mechanisms; transport participation; heating participation; industrial participation; carbon pricing revenues; distributional effects; links between carbon markets and innovation)
- Environmental policy and management (waste management; wastewater management; circular economy policy; climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; air pollution policy; water pollution policy; land management; biomass management; biodiversity policy; rewilding; nature-based solutions; blue carbon; strategic environmental assessment; environmental impact assessment; corporate sustainability responsibility; quality management systems; environmental management systems; eco-management and audit schemes; occupational health and safety systems; integrated management systems)
- Industrial transformation and competitiveness (industrial decarbonisation roadmaps; energy and material efficiency in industry; electrification of industry; hydrogen in industry; carbon management in industry; industrial symbiosis; circular manufacturing; clean technology manufacturing; strategic value chains; supply chain resilience; critical raw materials policy; skills for industrial transition; regional industrial transition; green jobs and competitiveness)
- Agricultural, forestry and food system policy (energy and water use in agriculture and food processing; sustainable food systems; irrigation efficiency; renewable energy in agriculture; agrovoltaics; sustainable biomass; food versus biofuels; sustainability of biofuel production; soil carbon; nutrient recovery; forestry management; land-use change; biodiversity and ecosystem services)
- Societal dimensions, justice and acceptance (social acceptance; public participation; energy justice; climate justice; just transition; inclusion; gender aspects; energy poverty; energy affordability; distributional impacts; procedural justice; behavioural change; NIMBY and YIMBY dynamics; citizen energy; community ownership; hidden and special interests; cost-based pricing; employment and regional impacts)
- Energy security, geopolitics and resource security (energy security; water security; food security; climate-security nexus; resource security; critical raw materials; supply chain security; strategic reserves; infrastructure security; geopolitical risks; international cooperation; energy diplomacy; conflict and sustainable development; resilience of supply chains)
- Research, innovation and development (industry-academia partnership; quadruple helix; living labs; innovation ecosystems; knowledge-based society; knowledge management; technology foresight; learning curves; demonstration projects; mission-oriented research; technology transfer; science diplomacy; open science; responsible research and innovation; systematic review methodologies; replication studies of foundational energy models; open-source benchmark datasets)
- Education and capacity building in sustainable development (governance; environmental awareness; higher education; engineering education; lifelong learning; professional skills for the energy transition; reskilling and upskilling; interdisciplinary education; digital skills; climate literacy; citizen science)
Resources, infrastructure and technologies
- Renewable energy resources (biomass; hydro; wind; offshore wind; solar; geothermal; wave and ocean energy; technical and economic potentials; barriers; costs and benefits; integration; environmental impacts; climate adaptation of renewable energy resources)
- Strategic energy resources and supply chains (renewable resources; sustainable biomass; geothermal resources; nuclear fuels; hydrogen resources; critical raw materials; lithium; rare earth elements; copper; nickel; cobalt; graphite; recycling of strategic materials; supply chain resilience; environmental and social impacts of resource extraction)
- Renewable electricity conversion systems (biomass power; hydro power; wind power; offshore wind; floating offshore wind; photovoltaic systems; agrivoltaics; building-integrated photovoltaics; concentrated solar power; geothermal power; wave and tidal power; ocean thermal systems; hybrid renewable power plants; repowering of renewable energy plants)
- Flexible and low-carbon power generation (flexible operation of power plants; combined cycles; advanced cycles; cogeneration; low-carbon dispatchable generation; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; biomass with carbon capture; waste-to-energy with carbon capture; hybrid power plants; grid-supporting operation; nuclear energy; advanced nuclear systems; small modular reactors; microreactors; hybrid nuclear-renewable systems)
- District heating and cooling (integration of renewable heat; cogeneration; industrial waste and excess heat; data centre waste heat; waste-to-energy; power-to-heat; electric boilers; large-scale heat pumps; wastewater heat pumps; seawater heat pumps; aquifer heat pumps; geothermal district heating; solar thermal district heating; thermal energy storage; low-temperature district heating; fifth generation district heating and cooling; heat maps; distribution systems; integration of CHP with district heating and electricity markets)
- Advanced sustainable energy conversion systems (fuel cells; electrolysers; thermoelectric systems; organic Rankine cycles; waste and excess heat recovery; heat pumps; absorption heat pumps; high-temperature heat pumps; solid oxide systems; PEM systems; molten carbonate fuel cells; hybrid fuel cell-gas turbine systems; power-to-X systems; ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuel production)
- Renewable heat systems (solar thermal; geothermal heat; sustainable biomass; biogas; biofuels; ambient heat; industrial heat pumps; high-temperature heat pumps; thermal storage; renewable heat integration in buildings, districts and industry)
- Biofuels, biogas and biorefineries (biodiesel; bioethanol; biogas; biomethane; advanced biofuels; second and third generation biofuels; waste-to-biofuels; algae; anaerobic digestion; biomass-to-liquids; biorefineries; sustainable aviation fuels; sustainable maritime fuels; pyrolysis; torrefaction; gasification; coproducts; infrastructure; sustainability assessment; land-use impacts)
- Hydrogen, derivatives and alternative fuels (renewable hydrogen; low-carbon hydrogen; hydrogen valleys; electro-fuels; power-to-gas; power-to-liquid; synthetic fuels; ammonia; methanol; methane; dimethyl ether; sustainable aviation fuels; maritime fuels; hydrogen certification; renewable fuels of non-biological origin; guarantees of origin; production; storage; distribution; vehicles; infrastructure; safety; skills; market development)
- Methanol economy (green methanol from clean hydrogen and renewable carbon dioxide; e-methanol; bio-methanol; low-carbon methanol; methanol as fuel, chemical feedstock, hydrogen carrier and carbon carrier; methanol-based pathways to formaldehyde, acetic acid, dimethyl ether, olefins, propylene, aromatics, gasoline, sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen and oxygenated fuel additives; methanol-derived products including resins, solvents, polymers, BTX aromatics, MTBE, methyl formate, methylal and dimethyl carbonate; maritime methanol; methanol fuel cells; storage, distribution and infrastructure; certification; safety; market development; sustainability assessment)
- Hydrogen and carbon dioxide transport infrastructure (hydrogen pipelines; hydrogen blending; liquefied hydrogen shipping; compressed hydrogen shipping; ammonia transport; methanol transport; carbon dioxide pipelines; carbon dioxide shipping; storage hubs; import terminals; ports; safety; regulation; infrastructure planning)
- Electric, hybrid and smart vehicles (battery electric vehicles; plug-in hybrid vehicles; fuel cell electric vehicles; charging systems; smart charging; vehicle-to-grid; battery swapping; heavy-duty electric vehicles; electric buses; electric rail; electric maritime transport; batteries; infrastructure; lifecycle impacts; recycling and second life of batteries)
- Energy storage and flexibility technologies (thermal energy storage; ice storage; phase change materials; aquifer thermal energy storage; borehole thermal energy storage; hot water storage; pumped hydro storage; hydropower as storage; compressed air energy storage; liquid air energy storage; flywheels; batteries; redox flow batteries; sodium-ion batteries; solid-state batteries; hydrogen storage; ammonia storage; synthetic fuel storage; chemical energy storage; storage optimisation modelling; financial support mechanisms; power market arbitrage; flexibility provision; direct lithium extraction from brines; State-of-Health (SoH) and State-of-Charge (SoC) estimation; advanced Battery Management Systems (BMS); degradation modeling and life-cycle performance of grid-scale and distributed energy storage)Electricity transmission and distribution (grid extension and reinforcement; grid resilience; power quality; high-voltage direct current transmission; meshed HVDC grids; interconnectors; dynamic line rating; flexible alternating current transmission systems; virtual inertia; fast frequency response; grid-forming inverters; power electronics; distribution automation; congestion management; connection of renewable energy resources; offshore grids; cybersecurity of power networks; grid-forming converters and inverters; power system dynamics, stability and protection in high-renewable grids; grid control and dynamic flexibility markets)
- Sustainable data centres and digital infrastructure (energy efficient data centres; AI energy demand; cooling of data centres; waste heat recovery; flexible computing loads; integration with district heating; renewable electricity procurement; water use in data centres; digital infrastructure resilience; carbon accounting of digital services)
- Water treatment and water quality (drinking water; industrial water; advanced water treatment; membrane technologies; water quality monitoring; emerging pollutants; micropollutants; PFAS; resource-efficient treatment; digital monitoring and control)
- Water desalination (reverse osmosis; forward osmosis; electrodialysis; distillation; energy recovery; brine and discharge management; renewable energy and desalination coupling; flexible desalination; desalination for islands and arid regions; environmental impacts; circular use of brines and minerals)
- Waste, wastewater treatment and resource recovery (waste prevention; reuse; recycling; composting; anaerobic digestion; resource recovery from wastewater; nutrient recovery; water reuse; waste-to-energy; gasification; pyrolysis; RDF and SRF; mechanical biological treatment; circular wastewater systems; wastewater heat recovery; digitalisation of waste and wastewater systems)
- Cogeneration, trigeneration and polygeneration (heat, cold and power; water and power; biofuels and power; transport and energy; food and energy; industrial applications; district energy applications; flexible operation; optimisation strategies; integration with renewable energy and storage)
- Energy and water decarbonisation and efficiency in industry and mining (cement and lime; construction materials; glass; pulp and paper; food industry; metallurgy; chemical industry; mining; process optimisation; kilns; boilers; heat exchange networks; pinch analysis; exergy and exergoeconomic analysis; energy audits; water use and waste minimisation; eco-innovation; total site integration; life cycle assessment; eco-design and eco-labelling; cleaner production; environmental impact assessment; electrification; hydrogen in industry; carbon capture and utilisation; material efficiency; circular manufacturing; high-temperature heat pumps for industrial decarbonization; waste heat recovery in hard-to-abate sectors; industrial process electrification)
- Energy efficient appliances and end-use technologies (smart appliances; labelling and standards; user behaviour; demand-side management; flexible loads; efficient motors and drives; efficient cooling; efficient heating; digital control; consumer-side energy management)
- Lighting and efficient electrical services (LED lighting; organic LED; advanced lighting control systems; daylighting; direct current lighting; smart lighting; efficient public lighting; lighting and human well-being)
- Sustainable cooking and household energy (electric cooking; induction cooking; improved biomass cooking; solar cooking; domestic biogas; clean cooking solutions; energy access; indoor air quality; affordability and behavioural aspects)
- Buildings and construction (nearly zero energy buildings; zero emission buildings; passive buildings; positive energy buildings; smart buildings; smart metering; ICT in buildings; load management and demand-side flexibility; green buildings; building codes and standards; building certification; HVAC; heat pumps; district heating; renewables integration; energy storage; building renovation; deep renovation; sustainable architecture; embodied carbon; material efficiency; circular construction; prefabrication; additive manufacturing; timber and bio-based materials; insulation; high-performance windows; dynamic glazing; cool roofs; reflective materials; natural ventilation; heat recovery ventilation; airtightness; dynamic building envelopes; building-integrated photovoltaics; building-integrated solar thermal systems; building-integrated phase change materials; climate resilience of buildings; transactive energy systems; grid-interactive efficient buildings; occupant-system interaction dynamics; dynamic building envelope flexibility)
Cross-cutting sustainability challenges
- Climate change modelling and analysis (climate change scenarios; narratives of climate change; integrated assessment models; climate risk analysis; adaptation pathways; mitigation pathways; climate tipping points; downscaling; uncertainty analysis; climate services for energy, water and environment systems)
- Modelling for pollution avoidance and resource efficiency (CFD models; air pollution modelling; water pollution modelling; heat and mass transfer modelling; combustion modelling; dispersion modelling; exposure assessment; integrated environmental modelling; digital twins for pollution prevention; optimisation of resource efficiency)
- Biodiversity, ecosystems and nature-based solutions (biodiversity impacts of energy, water and infrastructure systems; ecosystem restoration; nature-based solutions; ecosystem services; land-use conflicts; blue carbon; rewilding; ecological connectivity; sustainable biomass and land management; environmental flows; nature-positive infrastructure)
- Sustainable development, politics and global transitions (long-term planning; Sustainable Development Goals; role of political leaders and voters; democratic governance of transitions; international cooperation; Global South perspectives; emerging economies; climate finance; sustainable finance; security and sustainability; resource and political security; international conflict versus sustainable development)
- Resilience, security and adaptation across systems (climate adaptation; energy-water-food security; critical infrastructure resilience; disaster risk reduction; cyber resilience; geopolitical disruptions; supply chain disruptions; societal resilience; health and well-being impacts; migration and demographic change; coastal, island and urban resilience)
- Ethics, responsibility and human dimensions of sustainable systems (intergenerational justice; social justice; human rights; responsible innovation; data ethics; AI ethics; public trust; transparency; participation; inclusiveness; cultural dimensions of sustainability; education and awareness)
