E – Energy Systems
Carbon-neutral energy systems require a new comprehensive design strategy. Material pro-duction and component manufacturing enter the system analysis, as does the interaction of the system with the natural environment during its operation. New energy carriers gain im-portance with an expected dominance of electricity besides hydrogen and synfuels. The ob-jective of MEP in this area is to assess energy conversion, storage and supply sustainability bymerging System of Systems (SoS) understanding with the innovation potential of 4D Materials as sustainable energy carriers and renewable energy sources, and by the development of new methods to combine the simulation of natural systems and the energy system. Research on holistic models of energy systems and their interaction will be driven by innovative methods for advanced systems analysis. Such models deliver optimization targets to evaluate the im-pact of 4D Materials at the SoS level throughout all energy sectors. SoS understanding helps to integrate different energy systems and to bridge energy conversion and storage, and ma-terial production. A close cooperation with the e-conversion cluster is anticipated. Another emphasis of the focus area will be on the interaction between energy and food production. The energy-related use of resources is one of the key aspects in the near future and will es-tablish new benchmarks and guidelines.