Perform economic and legal assessments of clean technologies

We have developed a methodological framework for techno-sustainability analysis (TSA) for cleantech in function of its technology readiness level (TRL), in which techno-economic, environmental and social LCA are integrated.

Whenever trade-offs exist, it becomes difficult to choose among alternative clean production pathways. Societal techno-economic assessment then is a way to integrate the environmental aspects with economics in order to make optimal investment and/or policy decisions regarding cleantech. Recently, efforts are directed more towards the integration of environmental aspects with (private) economic aspects by means of shadow prices. The latter is what we call a societal TEA that reflects both the societal value of environmental impacts and the private costs and benefits associated with cleantech. If appropriate and properly measured, those shadow prices help to determine optimal (societal) strategies for the transition towards more sustainable production and consumption as environmental and economic aspects can be expressed in one single monetary indicator.

The legal research includes amongst others comparative studies of different regional/national/European/international regimes, assistance to governments/businesses with legal bottlenecks, help with forward looks and the creation of new legal frameworks.

Projects

• PERCISTAND - Development of all thin-film perovskite-on-chalcogenide tandem photovoltaics
• ASCENT 1 - Alternative Jet fuel Supply Chain Analysis
• ALTERNATE - Potential climate change mitigation strategies based on the use of alternative jet fuel pathways
• AGROMINE - The project aims to exploit ore differently, plants are used to take care of it gently
• STARGATE - is the response of a consortium of 22 entities led by Brussels Airport committing to create green airports as multimodal hubs for sustainable and smart mobility
• CleanH2 - CLEANH2 will address the critical issues to make hydrogen production through solar-powered water splitting efficient and affordable
• SolarEMR - The project helps in getting integrated PV over the current roadblocks