Future Energy Center
The Earth’s resources are finite and the world is facing comprehensive challenges. The Future Energy Center (FEC) is an competitive research environment with focuses on renewable energy, resource efficiency and digitalisation – towards a sustainable future, in co-production with industry and society.
The video above shows a short presentation of the different experimental labs at MDU Future Energy.
The research of FEC meets the future challenges in energy and environmental systems by investigating and developing processes and systems for increased resource efficiency and digitalisation in the transition towards a renewable energy system. In co-production with the industry and society our researchers develop efficient, flexible and innovative energy systems that have less negative impact on the environment and that minimise emissions. This is vital research which contributes in a concrete way towards solutions to the global challenges of our time.
7 professors, 20 senior researchers and about 30 PhD students work within Future Energy Center.
Future Energy Center conducts research within the following areas:
- Renewable energy with focus on affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy
- Resource efficiency with focus on energy efficiency, low emissions and nutrient and material recovery
- Digitalisation with focus on energy efficiency and environmental perfomance
Third-cycle studies
The framework of the research specialisation of Future Energy Center encompasses the third-cycle subject area of energy and environmental engineering. Furthermore this activity is involved in Resource-Efficient Energy Systems in the Built Environment, Array, Future Proof Cities and INDTECH.
Renewable Energy
In Renewable Energy the researchers work with components, processes and systems for converting biomass, with focus on waste streams, to heat, electricity and vehicle fuel, and utilisation of solar and wind energy.
Digitalisation of Future Energy
In Digitalisation researchers work with advanced modelling methods and measurement techniques for energy efficient processes and systems with environmental benefits.
Resource efficiency
Resource efficiency includes utilizing bioenergy sources and at the same time enabling recovery of other resources, as for example nutrients and sustainable cities built in an ecologic, economic, and social sustainable way.
More information about Future Energy
Fore more information about Future Energy,
please contact Eva Thorin, Head of Research.
Ongoing research projects
A common criticism to large-scale solar farm is the competition between land for energy andland for food that creates deep conflicts among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).One of the sustainable and technological solutions to address the SDGs competition is theadoption of agro-photovoltaic systems, which combine electricity and crop production andincrease land use productivity. By using a water-food-energy-climate nexus approach, thisproject aims to provide an in depth understanding on the interrelationships between solarradiation distribution at crop level, photovoltaic production, microclimate, and crop yieldresponse underneath of the APV systems. In particular, the project will investigate throughexperiments how complex shading conditions created by agro-photovoltaic systems affect thedistribution of the albedo and of the photosynthetically active radiation converted into biomassby crops.
Project manager at MDU: Pietro Elia Campana
Main financing: FORMAS
Målet med detta projekt är att utveckla nya lösningar för klassificering och användning av fast avfall (SW) baserade på avancerad AI-teknik, såsom regenerativ AI, bildigenkänning och förstärkningsinlärning, som kan förbättra energieffektiviteten och minska driftskostnaderna och utsläppen av föroreningar vid användning av SW i kraftvärmeverk.
Project manager at MDU: Hailong Li
Main financing: AI@MDU
The purpose of REEDEAM is to establish a long-term collaboration between the universities based on our scientific areas of strength and contribute with relevant competence at an advanced level adapted to the real needs of business in the climate transition.
Project manager at MDU: Konstantinos Kyprianidis
Main financing: The Knowledge Foundation
The project aims to develop a new technology for cleaning syngas from gasification.
Project manager at MDU: Eva Thorin
Main financing: European Commission
SOLVE is a consortium of universities and public/private sector partners performing collaborative, needs-driven research projects aiming at rapid expansion of solar energy in the Swedish electric grid.
Project manager at MDU: Mohammed Guezgouz
Main financing: Swedish Energy Agency
This PhD project, conducted in collaboration with MDU’s strategic partners – the VEMM group, aims to explore innovative, cost-effective, and flexible solutions for managing water, waste, and energy, including possible future food production systems. Inspired by the extreme resource efficiency of space missions, the project focuses on developing hyper-circular system (HCS) concepts that integrate resource use in a closed-loop manner, thereby minimizing waste and maximizing sustainability. This project is part of the KKS Jubilee PhD student network.
Project manager at MDU: Eva Thorin
Main financing: KK-Stiftelsen