Master thesis: Enabling the energy transition (multiple ideas)

Doing your master thesis with us at IVL gives you the opportunity to get a unique insight into our research and our work. It's a chance to learn a lot more in your field of study. We welcome master thesis students every semester.

About the master theses
The energy group at IVL is advertising for multiple master thesis students for spring 2024. In the energy group, experts and researchers are working together to solve challenges related to the energy and climate transition in society, both in research projects and consultancy assignments. Together we cover a wide range of energy-related topics, from holistic analysis of the energy system including the sector coupling between multiple energy carriers and sectors, to more specific analysis into different sectors (for example industry, buildings, transport, district heating, hydrogen etc).

For the spring 2024, we have multiple ideas within on-going research projects where we would like to welcome master thesis students to join our team!

Below is a list of ideas for master thesis topics - further definition of the master thesis will be done together with the student based on interest and project needs.

- End-user engagement and incentives for demand side management through behavior change and acceptance of automatic measures. How to incentivize residents to change their behavior to benefit the energy system? What role can buildings and its residents have in optimizing the energy system? (electricity, district heating, building sector, consumer engagement)

- Creation and analysis of energy demand profiles. The question of understanding the impacts on the heating demand in buildings and to develop a method of estimating hourly heat demand based on public and open-source data. (energy systems modelling, data analysis and management, coding, GIS)

- How to connect business models and financial evaluations to energy systems modelling results? (energy systems modelling, industrial economy)

- Energy and mass balance calculations in the cement sector assuming different technologies for concrete production. (energy transition of cement sector in Sweden)

- How to better represent emissions in energy systems modelling and connect the results to LCA analysis? (energy systems modelling, method development, LCA, emission factors)

- Futher development and calculations based on an existing GIS-model of the heat and electricity sector on the island of Gotland.

- What role will district heating have on the electrical ancillary markets (flexibility markets) in Sweden in the future? Student will work together with experts in energy system modelling to assess the current and future potential of different flexibility assets. (power system, flexibility markets, energy systems modelling, district heating)

- What is the role that biomass and biofuels may play in different parts of the cement and concrete value chain, in the cement industry, in the concrete industry and in the construction sector?

- how demand for cement and alternative binders may develop given different development paths in the concrete industry and in the construction and infrastructure sector how the supply of established and new alternative binders can be assumed to develop over time?

- What are the potentials for avoiding new construction, thereby lowering energy use and related GHG emissions, through extending the lifetime of the existing building and infrastructure stocks, renovations and refurbishment, repurposing existing buildings, and reducing underutilization of floor-space?

The students will be invited to work from our offices located in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. One or two supervisors from within the energy group will be appointed to each student and we encourage our master thesis students to support each other.

Swedish or English applications are welcome. Please send in your application together with information about your areas of interest according to the list above.

Contact
For questions, you are welcome to contact:

Dmytro Romanchenko (dmytro.romanchenko@ivl.se)

Nathalie Fransson (Nathalie.fransson@ivl.se)

Interested?
Submit your interest by clicking on "Registration of interest".