Associate Professor Floor van der Hilst
By doing interdisciplinary scientific research on renewable energy we enable informed decision making by governments, industry and consumers on how to move towards a more sustainable society.
Why do you work at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and what do you do?
I鈥檓 an associate professor in the field of renewable energy. My particular focus is on the sustainability of bioenergy (for example bioethanol or biodiesel for the transport sector, biodiesel for the aviation sector or bioelectricity). The grand sustainability challenges we face today, require an interdisciplinary approach. Working for the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, which is one of the world leading institutes on this topic, enables me to do high quality sustainability research with experts of various disciplines. My work consists of both research and education. As a researcher I coordinate multiple international research projects on sustainability of bioenergy and supervise several PhD candidates and junior researchers in their research. As a teacher in the Energy Science master, I teach about current and future sustainability challenges related to the energy and resource system and equip students with multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills to deal with these complex problems in their future professions.
Why is Energy Science so important?
The fossil dominated energy system we have today cannot be sustained in the long run because of the exhaustion of fossil resources and the major contribution of the use of fossil fuels to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In order to meet stringent GHG emission reduction targets to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 挺C (preferably 1.5 挺C) above pre-industrial levels, as agreed in the Paris Agreement, we need a rapid transition towards a renewable energy system. This is highly complex due to interdependencies within the energy system and continues technological and societal developments. This requires a thorough understanding of energy technologies and the energy system as well as the societal and policy context. The interdisciplinary systems approach of Energy Science is key to enable this urgently needed energy transition.
What kind of research do you (currently) focus on?
In my research I focus on the sustainability of bioenergy. In order to meet our targets of the Paris agreement, bioenergy is needed in a mix of several renewable energy options. However, there are many sustainability concerns related to the production and use of bioenergy. Most of these concerns (such as: competition with food production, deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil fertility loss, competition for water resources), are related to the production and use of biomass. These impacts highly depend on the type of biomass produced but also where and how these are produced (for example the impacts of sugar cane cultivation for ethanol production in the Amazon region in Brazil are very different from the impacts of sugar beet cultivation for ethanol in Groningen). For that reason, I assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of bioenergy supply chains taking into account the specific characteristics of the supply chain as well as local biophysical and socio-economic conditions.
Can this research change our daily lives? If so, in what way?
I think it is more about being able to sustain our livelihood in the future. We face so many challenges: climate change, food security, increasing population, inequality, biodiversity loss etc. Only if we approach these challenges in an integrated way will we be able to tackle them, and be able to preserve our planet for future generations. By doing interdisciplinary scientific research on renewable energy we enable informed decision making by governments, industry and consumers on how to move towards a more sustainable society. Within Energy and resources we work on both global challenges (for example the global sustainable bioenergy potential) as well as local solutions (for example optimization of a local electricity grid with solar panels and charging electric vehicles).
What makes your job enjoyable/challenging?
I have a very interesting and challenging job. I find it important to contribute to a more sustainable world. Even though individual contribution may be limited I鈥檓 proud to be part of a community that strives for changes for the better. I very much enjoy the collaboration with so many different people, both within the academic world as outside such as government, industry and NGOs. I work with young students as well as old professors, with scientists of many different disciplines and backgrounds and from all over the world. I have learned so much from these collaborations. I have to travel regularly for field work, collaboration with research partners, and for international conferences and workshops. Although I try to minimize this as much as possible and try to do as much as possible by online meetings.