Research
The research of the Energy and Technology Policy Group centers on questions related to the governance of technological change in the energy sector. Specifically, we analyze how policy, and its underlying politics affect the invention, innovation, and diffusion of new technology, and how technological change feedbacks into the policy process. For technological diffusion, we specifically analyze the allocation of capital by financial actors.
Our definition of the energy sector includes the producers and users of technologies and energy services, as well as other relevant actors in the energy innovation system.
Our work emphasizes the complexity and non-linearity of innovation. To understand innovation in detail and for technology forecasting, we collaborate with engineering research groups (mostly within ETH Zurich) and build on the engineering background of several of our team members. To evaluate the effect of policies ex-post, we use state-of-the-art empirical methods, including quantitative (causal and non-causal), qualitative, and mixed-method research designs. For ex-ante analyses, we use both in-house models (especially system dynamic and techno-economic models) and closely collaborate with leading energy system modelers and integrated assessment modelers across Europe.
EPG focuses on two main research themes:
Empirically, our expertise spans a broad range of low-carbon energy technologies and includes both high- and low-income contexts.