FAQ on EU-Funded Environmental Protection Research
December 12, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
As part of its commitment to fighting climate change and reducing CO2 emissions, the European Union (EU) released this paper describing examples of its environmental protection research projects.
How has EU-funded research aided environmental protection?
The EU is contributing significantly to environmental research with its main financial tool, the European Research Framework Programme (FP7). FP7 has a budget of €54 billion for various categories of funding during the period 2007-2013.
Environmental-related research projects are funded under FP7's Environment theme as well as under many other themes, such as Transport, Energy and Nanotechnology.
Out of the €32,365 million for the FP7 Cooperation Programme, €1,800 million is dedicated to Environment (including climate change), €2,300 million to Energy and €4,160 million to Transport.
However, research on environmental topics can also be funded under other FP7 categories, such as infrastructures, plus grants for researchers, but this is more difficult to evaluate a priori.
What kind of research projects are funded under the Environment theme?
Within the Cooperation Programme, the dedicated Environment theme includes climate change research and has funding of €1,800 million for 2007-2013.
Research funded under this theme aims primarily at advancing our knowledge of the interactions between the climate, biosphere, ecosystems and human activities. Particular emphasis is given to quantification of climate change; feedback on advanced climate modeling; climate change impacts on vulnerable ecosystems, humans and key economic sectors; and identification and assessment of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Research also aims at developing new technologies, in order to reduce the environmental impact of human activities and protect the environment. This includes, for example, water technologies, soil protection technologies, waste treatment technologies, technologies for the built environment, and technologies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
In Environmental research, FP7 has also increased the emphasis on international research collaboration, which is seen as the best way to deal with global challenges like climate change, as well as to help developing countries improve their research capabilities.
Issues of high importance to developing countries are being addressed, such as avoiding deforestation, climate change and water resources availability, climate change and security, and state-of-the art climate projections at the local/regional scale to better assess the impacts and provide cost-effective adaptation measures.
Research actions will also take into account sustainable consumption and production, renewable energy and low-carbon and resource-efficient products in order to enhance the development and uptake of environment friendly technologies and services.
A total of 632 proposals requested EU funding from FP7's €200 million budget for 2007.
Examples of Environmental research projects can be found on the European Commission (EC) web site on Environment Research: Climate Change. This web site also includes examples of research that aims to understand the likely impacts of climate change and find ways to mitigate its effects.
How does energy research contribute to fighting climate change?
Without the development and adoption of new technologies, it would not be feasible for countries to meet their internationally agreed upon commitments, such as those laid out in the Kyoto Protocol. Only through strong investment in research will Europe achieve its 2020 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, ensure that the EU energy mix contains 20% of renewable energy sources and reduce EU global primary energy use by 20%.
Within the Cooperation Programme, research in the Energy theme is dedicated to developing green technologies and is supported by a budget of €2,300 million.
One key initiative is the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), which provides a blueprint for Europe to develop a world-class portfolio of affordable, clean, efficient and low-emission energy technologies.
The Work Programme 2009 of the Research Directorate-General will take into account the priorities and technologies identified in the SET Plan. In particular, a large effort is dedicated to research on second-generation biofuels.
Under the 2010 Work Programme, there will be special focus on the key challenges of the SET Plan, including anticipating the objectives of the European Industrial Initiatives in wind power, solar energy, bio-energy, nuclear fission, carbon capture and storage, and electrical networks.
In some cases, green energy technologies require bringing together the resources of different themes. The joint call for proposals on biorefineries launched last September created a common pool of €57 million for multidisciplinary research, drawing together funds from the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries; Biotechnology, Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and New Production Technologies; Energy; and Environment themes.
Biorefinery is the sustainable processing of biomass into both energy (biofuels, power and heat) and a range of more valuable products (chemicals, materials, food and feed). For more information, see the EC web page on €57 million for multidisciplinary research into biorefinery Infoday and brokerage session.
The EC is also encouraging public-private partnership in this area. A joint technology initiative (JTI) on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen has been launched by the EC and the private sector in October 2008 to fight greenhouse gas emissions with the introduction of new technologies.
The JTI on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen works on introducing these carbon-free technologies into the market, with a budget for research of nearly €1 billion over the next six years. For more information, see the web site on European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform.
What are some examples of current research projects funded by FP6 to make energy production greener?
- Making solar energy more effective - Scientists of the EC-financed FULLSPECTRUM project have developed photovoltaic (PV) multi-junction (MJ) solar cells that are able to convert 39.7% of sunlight energy into electricity. This is the highest percentage ever reached in Europe.
The main barrier to large-scale deployment of PV systems is the high production cost of electricity, due to the significant capital investment costs. Research is engaged to reduce manufacturing costs and to raise the efficiency of the cells. Conventional PV cells made of silicon are currently converting only a fraction of the solar light spectrum, around 17%.
FULLSPECTRUM is an integrated project involving 19 European public and industrial research centers from seven EU member states, as well as Russia and Switzerland. From the overall budget of €14.7 million, the EC financed €8.4 million.
- CO2 capture and storage - The CASTOR (CO2 capture and storage) project is working on the capture and geological storage of 10% of European CO2 emissions, or 30% of the emissions of large industrial facilities, mainly conventional power stations. The costs of capture and separation of CO2 should come down from €60/ton of CO2 to €20-€30/ton.
The results of the project will help to make energy systems cleaner and reach internationally agreed-upon emission targets. It will also contribute to European security of supply because it will be possible to continue to use coal-fired plants as low-carbon infrastructures for energy.
The facility built by the project at a coal-fired power station in Denmark is the largest in the world. The 30-partner team, involving 10 EU member states plus Norway, also uses geological modeling, reservoir simulation and seismic simulation to illustrate how the captured CO2 can be safely stored underground. The budget is about €15.8 million, of which the EC funding is about €8.5 million.
- Wind power - In order to realize a significant contribution of wind energy to the global electricity supply (such as the target of 20%), in the future, very large wind turbines with an installed power of over 10 megawatts each, operating as wind power plants (often called wind farms) of several hundreds of megawatts capacity will become necessary.
The European UpWind project looks towards the design of very large wind turbines (8-10 MW), both onshore and offshore. The challenges inherent in the creation of wind farms of several hundreds of megawatts require the highest possible standards in design, because future wind turbine rotors may have a diameter of over 150 meters.
The UpWind consortium, composed of 40 partners, brings together the most advanced European specialists of the wind industry.
What is the role of Transport research?
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8% of the 1990 level by 2008-2012. However, if current trends continue, emissions will go up instead, due to increased traffic.
Research funded under the Transport theme will allow greener and safer transport, supported by a budget of €4.16 billion over seven years.
For surface transport, research will aim to develop technologies for reduced air, water and soil pollution. In air transport, research will focus on furthering green engine technologies, including alternative fuels technology.
Clean air transport was identified as a key research orientation when selecting topics for the new European JTIs. The Clean Sky JTI will demonstrate and validate the technology breakthroughs that are necessary to reach the following environmental goals by 2020: 50% reductions of CO2 emissions, 80% reduction of NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions and 50% reduction of external noise. For more information, see the web site on Clean Sky JTI.
Some €1.6 billion, equally shared between the EC and industry, will be spent on these objectives over the period 2008-2013.
What are some examples of current research projects funded by FP6 to make road transport greener?
- Lithium-ion batteries - The POMEROL research project led by Saft is developing high-powered, low-cost, lithium-ion batteries by using a breakthrough in materials. The materials and batteries will be used for fuel-cell hybrid and conventional hybrid drive train automotive applications.
POMEROL has a budget of €4.9 million, of which €2.5 million comes from the EC. It involves seven partners from public research institutes and private companies in three EU member states and Switzerland.
- Fuel cell power trains - The FELICITAS project is developing fuel-cell systems that are capable of meeting the demands of heavy-duty transport for road, rail and marine applications.
FELICITAS has a budget of €126 million, of which €8 million comes from the EC. It involves 15 public and private partners from eight member states.
- Optimizing hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines - The HYICE project, led by BMW, is working on optimizing hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines.
HYICE has a budget of €7.7 million, of which €5 million comes from the EC. It involves 11 public and private partners from four member states.
Source: European Commission.