DTU’s 2013 international energy conference turned the spotlight on how green technologies can help to power growth in our society. The conference concluded on 12 September with a round-table discussion where Martin Lidegaard, the Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, was one of the panel members.
Smart cities and intelligent energy systems, energy storage, fuel cells and hydrogen technology were some of the topics covered at the conference, along with heat pumps and sustainable energy technologies such as solar, wind and biofuel. These are all aspects that are expected to play a key role in the sustainable society of the future.
The topics were discussed at individual sessions over a period of three days, and the conference concluded with a round-table discussion with a panel comprising heavyweight representatives from the energy sector including Marting Lidegaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Claus Hviid Christensen, Head of Group R&D at DONG Energy, Hans Peter Slente, Director, Danish Energy Industries Federation, Anders Stouge, Deputy Director General, Danish Energy Association, Michael Weinhold, Professor, Siemens AG, and Ulrik Dan Weuder, Vice President, ATP.
“One aspect mentioned repeatedly by the participants was their great satisfaction with the excellent working relationship between DTU, politicians and the business community. We at DTU are striving to carry out research whose results which will benefit society. It is therefore pleasing to note that sector organisations, politicians and enterprises all think that we are succeeding in this area,” says Hans Hvidtfeldt Larsen, Vice Dean at DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, which hosted the conference.
In his presentation, Martin Lidegaard asked the following question: The government has an ambitious plan for energy in the run-up to 2020, and this makes high demands on Denmark. But why are we doing this? He then provided the answer:
“We are doing it for the climate; we are doing it because we think it makes economic sense, and we are doing it quite simply because it’s good business. Over the next 20 years, it will be necessary to renovate or replace more than 80% of the energy production facilities in Europe, so we currently have a unique opportunity to replace them with new technologies. And the thought of—for example—simply replacing existing coal-fired plants with new ones makes no sense to me. We have to seize the chance to make a change while it’s there.”
The conference gathered more than 200 participants from the international energy community, including researchers, industrial players and civil servants from ministries and boards of directors. A total of 25 countries were represented, with Denmark being joined by a range of other EU member states, as well as more distant countries such as Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States.
Left to right: Hans Hvidtfeldt Larsen, Vice Dean, Martin Lidegaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, and Anders Bjarklev, President of DTU (Photo: Mikal Schlosser)
The members of the panel for the round-table discussion were Martin Lidegaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Claus Hviid Christensen, Head of Group R&D at DONG Energy, Hans Peter Slente, Director, Danish Energy Industries Federation, Anders Stouge, Deputy Director General, Danish Energy Association, Michael Weinhold, Professor, Siemens AG, and Ulrik Dan Weuder, Vice President, ATP (Photo: Mikal Schlosser)