Mind the gaps
Focusing on four major gaps – production, efficiency, sufficiency and resources – a wide range of contributors presented dilemmas and challenges but also possible solutions and new technology.
A key idea behind this conference is to bring together people from different disciplines and various sectors and I think we really succeeded here; more than 250 different affiliations were represented – small companies, large companies, research institutions and government were all present. I believe everyone walked away with some new knowledge and, I hope, also with some new contacts made.
Twin transition and its dilemmas
A big thank you goes out to all the contributors who presented, pitched, discussed, chaired and moderated! There were really too many highlights to name them all, but personally I particularly appreciated learning more about some of the perspectives that are often overlooked or forgotten.
The green and digital transition, often referred to as the twin transition - are certainly not identical twins. As several speakers stated, the projected energy need from data centres and artificial intelligence may pose a real challenge in the coming years. While digitalization is undoubtedly a key part of the solution for the complex power systems of the future, it may very well also become part of the problem - driving up emissions.
Poster competition
A new invention this year was the poster competition, allowing two handfuls of students to showcase their research and interact with the conference participants. You can read more about this here, and I am quite sure this is an activity we would like to expand further.
Thank you for coming!
Finally, I would like to thank all the participants who spent the day at Blindern; you were a very active crowd! 120 questions were asked in the Q&A-system we used, and the majority of the audience took part in voting up the best questions.
It was obviously not possible to answer all of them, but they do represent great input in terms planning the next version of The Future of Energy. And if you didn’t make it this time, maybe we will see you next year?
One thing is clear: meeting places like this conference are essential for forging the solutions we need.
As Henrik S?tness, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Statkraft, aptly stated: "The energy transition can't be stopped, but it can be delayed."
Let’s ensure we continue to push forward - together.