How can we save energy for later?

Converting electricity into hydrogen in order to store sustainable energy over a longer period is a hot topic. With the expertise and the tools of researchers, a master's student at ETH Zurich has investigated whether the use of a so-called power-to-hydrogen-to-power system in a multi-family house makes sense. How do you bring surplus energy from summer into winter? This is one of the central questions with regard to how we will ensure our energy supply in the future in a sustainable and at the same time secure way - especially since we want to avoid fossil fuels. This topic is also of interest to master's student Josien de Koning: "The Swiss power grid currently has excess production in the summer, while we are dependent on imports in the winter. This imbalance will be further increased by electrification and the replacement of nuclear power plants with renewable energy sources such as solar energy. It's important to find solutions to counter this." In her master's program in "Integrated Building Systems" at ETH Zurich, she therefore wanted to take a closer look at one of the possible solutions in a semester thesis. Experts from Empa's Urban Energy Systems lab supported her in this project, which she did at the beginning of 2022.