Empa

The joint campus of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf has grown by three buildings in the past three years. These offer employees and guests more comfort, attractiveness and security – and provide significantly more space for research and innovation. Innovations from the Empa and Eawag laboratories have also been implemented during their construction, for instance in the field of energy generation and storage as well as wastewater treatment and recycling. The campus extension bears the evocative name co-operate – because that is what Empa is all about.

Under the leadership of Empa scientist Mashael Yazdanie, an international research team is investigating ways to better plan for climate-resilient energy systems in the Global South. Focusing on the case study of Accra, the capital of Ghana, the multidisciplinary team expanded conventional energy system modeling approaches by incorporating a range of socio-techno-economic challenges, climate change impacts, and resilience metrics into their models. Their approaches are applicable worldwide to support widespread sustainable and resilient energy system transitions.

A new study by the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) shows how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to reduce the impact of climate change on Switzerland. The experts involved have high hopes for satellite-based earth observations and AI models. According to Empa researcher Gerrit Kuhlmann, one of the co-authors of the study, these could quickly identify the sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ultra-light, thermally insulating and biodegradable: Cellulose-based aerogels are versatile. Empa researchers have succeeded in 3D printing the natural material into complex shapes that could one day serve as precision insulation in microelectronics or as personalized medical implants.

Is it possible to convert CO₂ back to fuels or other useful chemicals? Absolutely – but not in a very targeted way just yet. Empa researcher Alessandro Senocrate is looking at defects in materials that will help us achieve this goal.

A team of researchers from Germany and Switzerland involving Empa is setting a milestone in weather and climate research: At the beginning of February, the renowned climate and weather model ICON has become available to all interested parties under an open source license. This is intended to make science and the scientific services behind it more transparent. At the same time, further scientific progress is made possible in an area from which society can particularly benefit in times of climate change.