Building the future together

The mission of EPFL Energy Center (CEN) is to promote energy research led by EPFL, by challenging state-of-the-art technologies and addressing society’s challenges together to shape tomorrow’s energy system.

Key figures

90

Laboratories

9

Centers

6

Faculties

4

Campuses

Outreach

Energy Center interacts closely with EPFL’s laboratories and startups to address current and future challenges of the energy sector. It serves as an entry point for individuals and companies searching for world-class education and competence in energy research and technology.

Outreach

CEN is EPFL’s interface between its energy research laboratories and the public, companies and investors. Its role is to inform about the latest developements in energy research at EPFL, establish the link with competent laboratories and support the development of collaboration projects.

Energy Sectors

EPFL’s research in energy encompasses the five sectors: efficiency, conversion, storage, systems, and society. Take a tour of the labs!

Efficiency

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), efficiency policies could enable the world to achieve more than 40% of the emissions cuts needed to reach its climate goals without new technology. At EPFL, energy efficiency research covers a vast number of aspects such as power-to-gaz and cogeneration, building design, industrial separation processes, small scale turbomachinery, (…)

Storage

Energy storage is the biggest challenge drawn by the transformation of the energy system. The shift from fissile and fossil fuels to renewable energy carriers imply the development of affordable storage systems at an unprecendented scale. EPFL laboratories address energy storage from fundamental to applied research, including materials theory and simulation, metal organic frameworks, and (…)

Conversion

Conversion technologies allow the transformation of energy forms and therefore the recovery of all energy sources, which include: electromagnetic radiation from the sun, internal heat of the earth, thermonuclear fusion or dams. EPFL is one of the main energy research institutions in the world, tackling significant subjects such as perovskite solar cells, thermo / electro (…)

Systems

Along with decentralization and decarbonization, digitalization is the third “D” describing the current worldwide energy transition. Using the campus as a grid laboratory, EPFL researchers develop breakthrough technologies for the electrical grid control and stabilization. For instance, the digitalization of hydropower generation is investigated in large international and interdisciplinary projects and the continent’s energy system (…)

Society

The energy system is not only a connected collection of physical and chemical devices. Society, e.g. human beings, is at the heart of it. New energy technologies must be acceptable, manageable, and affordable. To make it most effective and complete, energy research at EPFL fully embraces topics such human-environment interactions, urban sociology and economics, and (…)

News

Discover the energy news of EPFL.

Three spin-offs make the finals of a deep tech startup competition

News
Innovation

Three EPFL spin-offs – CompPair, Hydromea and Nanogence – have made it through to the finals of the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge, an international startup competition that is being held virtually this year. The teams will have three minutes to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts.

Using electric current to stabilize low-permeability soils

13.10.20NewsResearch

EPFL scientists have developed a new approach to stabilizing clay soils. The method involves using a battery-like system to apply electric current to carbonate and calcium ions in order to promote soil consolidation. Their findings were published yesterday in Scientific Reports.

New turtle-like drone can fly twice as long

06.10.20NewsInnovation

EPFL start-up Flybotix is showcasing its dual-propeller drone today at Xponential the world’s largest tradeshow for unmanned and autonomous systems. Intended for inspecting hazardous locations, this flat-engined aircraft is quiet, saves flight time, and is also capable of flipping like a turtle if it finds itself upside down on the ground.This drone propellers were developed through a joint effort between Flybotix and a major company in EPFL’s Innovation Park. The new drone is expected on the market in 2021.

All news

Education

EPFL Energy Center contributes to the development of a coherent education program in energy at EPFL, including the traditional bachelor, master and PhD education programs. It also designs and organizes tailored education programs such as summer schools, MOOCs and executive training in energy.