Post by SustainaLab

This Tuesday, we hosted the 8th edition of SustainaLab Talks, titled Rethinking Materials for the Energy Transition.  The session addressed the complex issue of our growing energy demands and the many ways we can obtain that energy. Four speakers gave us an introduction to their lens on this issue:  Ke Wang, Global Lead for Energy Minerals and Circularity at World Resources Institute Institute Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition, defined the term ‘critical materials’ as an economic term and highlighted the importance of a circular economy for energy transition minerals.                                                   Benjamin Sprecher, Assistant Professor at TU Delft | Industrial Design Engineering showed us how even our vacuum cleaners are an example of an ineffective use of raw materials, and the importance of design in everyday objects to reduce our dependency on raw materials and have their life expectancy increased.     Esther Alarcon Llado, Head of the 3D Solar Cells Group at AMOLF and Professor by special appointment at the Universiteit van Amsterdam of Amsterdam, spoke about the role of fundamental research. Specifically, her research in eco-designing solar cells, going into how the climate impact of solar cells can be reduced using physics and technical innovations.     Florenz Buß, CEO & Co-founder of BOR-LYTE B.V. explained how materials for batteries are becoming strategic infrastructure and gave his perspective on the topic as someone operating early in the value chain. The talks were followed by a lively panel discussion moderated by Chris Slootweg, Professor of Circular Chemistry at the Universiteit van Amsterdam of Amsterdam.  Innovative directions and opportunities for energy solutions and rethinking materials were discussed along with practical matters and ethical concerns on both an individual and social systemic level.  Thank you to everyone who participated in this event and to all the attendees! We hope to see you at our next SustainaLab events soon! #SustainaLabTalks #EnergyTransition #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #SustainaLab    Matrix Innovation Centers - office and laboratory space for deep tech entrepreneurs in Amsterdam Amsterdam Science Park IXA - Innovation Exchange Amsterdam Roeterseiland Impact TU Delft Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (University of Amsterdam) Amsterdam Chemistry Network (ACN) Abeer Hossain, Ph.D. 🟥 UvA Faculty of Science