The S3 Group focuses on demand-side systems as entry points for sustainable transformations. The group analyses demand for energy and materials through the lens of service provision of mobility, shelter, and consumer goods, as well as how lifestyle changes can contribute to consumption reduction.
© Jon Anders Wiken | Dreamstime.com
The S3 Group have two overarching research objectives. First, to understand the evolution of behaviors and lifestyles around energy services and assess their environmental impacts; and second, to identify and understand policy interventions that can change behaviors and lifestyles to minimize environmental impacts. The group’s research binds together work on three domains that are critical for a transformation toward sustainable societies, namely buildings, mobility, and consumer goods, which are connected through changes in infrastructures and lifestyles. S3 aims to establish and lead a research community on demand-side transitions and to innovate conceptual frameworks for demand-side model comparisons.
Selected Publications
Kikstra, J. , Vinca, A. , Lovat, F. , Boza-Kiss, B. , van Ruijven, B. , Wilson, C. , Rogelj, J. , Zakeri, B. , Fricko, O. , & Riahi, K. (2021). Climate mitigation scenarios with persistent COVID-19-related energy demand changes. Nature Energy 6 1114-1123. 10.1038/s41560-021-00904-8.
Mastrucci, A. , van Ruijven, B. , Byers, E. , Poblete-Cazenave, M., & Pachauri, S. (2021). Global scenarios of residential heating and cooling energy demand and CO2 emissions. Climatic Change 168 (3-4) e14. 10.1007/s10584-021-03229-3.
Rao, N.D. & Wilson, C. (2021). Advancing energy and well-being research. Nature Sustainability 5 98-103. 10.1038/s41893-021-00775-7.
Poblete-Cazenave, M., Pachauri, S. , Byers, E. , Mastrucci, A. , & van Ruijven, B. (2021). Global scenarios of household access to modern energy services under climate mitigation policy. Nature Energy 6 824-833. 10.1038/s41560-021-00871-0.
Battiston, S., Monasterolo, I., Riahi, K. , & van Ruijven, B.J. (2021). Accounting for finance is key for climate mitigation pathways. Science eabf3877. 10.1126/science.abf3877.
News
03 May 2022
How solving Central Asia's water-energy conflict can also boost renewable energy generation
Researchers from the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program found that agricultural efforts in downstream countries in Central Asia, traditionally hampered by a lack of water for irrigation during the summer growing season, would be significantly boosted with a “dual water and energy storage scheme”, which also paves the way for high shares of renewable energy generation in the region.
06 April 2022
New IPCC Report: we can halve emissions by 2030
Between 2010 and 2019, average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest levels in human history, but the rate of growth has slowed. Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C is beyond reach. However, there is increasing evidence of the success of climate action, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
Projects
Sustainable development pathways achieving Human well-being while safeguarding the climate And Planet Earth (SHAPE)
Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS)
Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS)
Next generation of AdVanced InteGrated Assessment modelling to support climaTE policy making (NAVIGATE)
Models
An interactive Web-based scenario analysis tool which allows the concurrent assessment of multiple energy objectives
The Global Energy Assessment (GEA) Scenario database documents results and assumptions of the GEA energy transformation pathways that underpin the GEA. The database serves as a central data repository for the dissemination of GEA scenario information.
Focus
29 November 2021
Using energy demand reduction for decarbonization in Japan
Options Winter 2021: In an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, Japan has put ambitious strategies in place to reduce energy demand. IIASA researcher Shinichiro Fujimori and his colleagues used modeling to explore potential energy system changes and their cost implications.
17 November 2021
People at the heart of climate change
Options Winter 2021: Human activity is the main cause of climate change. It is also people who endure the worst of its impacts. It is a matter of utmost urgency that people are part of the solution.
Events
23 May 2022 Vienna, Austria and online
IIASA at EGU 2022
16 September 2021 Online via Zoom
ENGAGE Project: Asian Stakeholder Workshop
22 September 2021 Online via Zoom