Presentation

CONFERENCE OUTLINE

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that, in order to avoid the dramatic environmental impacts due to climate change if a higher increase of 1.5 C global mean temperature is reached, humankind should start now reducing the greenhouse gas emissions with the objective of achieving by 2050 net-zero CO2 emissions at global level. This urgent challenge called for the European Commission to present a proposal for cutting greenhouse emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and to the European Parliament to endorse the European Union objective of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and a climate-neutral society by 2050 at the latest. Following the EU and several European countries, three major Asian economies recently announced targets for reaching net-zero emissions: Japan and South Korea by 2050, and China by 2060. Furthermore, the USA government has announced the alignment of its climate policy with Paris agreement on greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

In the achievement of this huge challenge, polygeneration systems can play a key role since they refer, thanks to an efficient energy process integration, to the combined production of electricity, heat, cold and any other useful products such as potable water, dry air, biofuels and/or synthetic fuels, among others. Properly designed, polygeneration systems enable an effective way to achieve a lower consumption of natural resources, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and pollutant emissions as well as economic savings relative to conventional separate production. Likewise, they allow for the cost-effective, energy efficient and environmentally friendly integration of different technologies with renewable energy, contributing significantly to achieve the worldwide goals concerning energy and environmental policies, such as the Paris agreement adopted in December 2015.

The ICP 2023 was held hybrid in order to effectively reduce the environmental greenhouse gas emissions and costs associated to the travels of the attendees to these international gatherings, as well as to facilitate as much as possible the participation from whatever place in the world. It will also allow to better protect the health of the participants, in case COVID-19 vaccine deployment has not been completed worldwide.