Professor Henrik Lund from the University of Aalborg in Denmark recently visited the Department of Architecture Science and Technology and gave a talk on utilization and design of 100% renewable energy. After introducing the concept and content of smart energy systems, professor Lund identified challenges in the transformation of existing energy systems into coherent 100% renewable energy systems.

Professor Henrik Lund during his talk

Professor Lund began his talk with a discussion of Denmark’s energy policy. Denmark advocates the use of renewable energy and with the help of smart energy systems, aims at becoming independent from non-renewable fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. Then professor Lund illustrated the necessity and challenge of building smart energy systems, analyzing the energy storage price and efficiency curve of different types of energy. Smart energy systems are complete systems that include energy-related infrastructure, facility design, operational strategies and solutions. Smart energy systems consider the energy supply and demand side and the energy transmission process to achieve the most efficient and affordable use of energy, such as large-scale use of wind energy. At the same time, the energy demand needs to be reconsidered. Professor Lund explained Denmark’s national heating and cooling strategy that shows a gradual decrease in the use of fossil energy for heating of residential buildings. At the end of his talk, he discussed with the audience common problems of energy planning and implementation in Denmark and China.