Units within the Department of Energy Technology

The Department of Energy Technology covers research areas of both technical and interdisciplinary character. Research fields include turbomachinery, aeroelasticity, thermal energy storage, fuel cell technology, combustion of biofuels, heat pumping technologies, heating and ventilation, heat transfer, energy and climate policies, market analysis and sustainability assessments, energy systems modeling in buildings and neighborhoods, modeling of resource flows at national and regional level. Since about 15 years, sustainability issues have been strongly emphasized in research and education. The research tradition is based in Mechanical Engineering, but extends towards chemistry, materials science, physics, urban planning and economics.

The visitor to the department will be impressed by the large lab space and the advanced and unique rigs for research on turbomachinery, combustion and gasification, heat pumping technologies and heat transfer. Equally important is the computational work on modeling of components and energy systems, e.g. turbomachinery, heat transfer, heat pumps, development of sustainable energy and resource systems globally, and the work on energy systems transitions, methodologies for impact assessments, socio-economic relations between energy and development, and energy and climate policies.

The department’s staff and students come from all over the world, forming a very international mix. Furthermore, the department is responsible for more International Master’s programs than any other department at KTH, attracting close to 200 new students annually who specialize in Energy Technology.