The department's research is divided into four major research areas:
- Environmental Observation focuses on developing technologies, models, and systems to study changes in the environment and climate at scales ranging from local to global.
- Energy Conversion develops technical solutions to make industrial processes more resource-efficient and less environmentally harmful.
- Environmental and Sustainability Assessment covers methods and processes for analysing the environmental and sustainability impacts of technologies and actors, as well as for evaluating risks.
- System Transition involves research on social, economic, and institutional mechanisms that can support, accelerate, and shape the transition to sustainable technological systems and societies.
The four areas are closely interconnected. Studies of environmental changes form the basis for identifying what needs to be addressed and for evaluating the effects of interventions. Conducting relevant environmental and sustainability assessments also requires knowledge of energy and material conversion processes. Effective strategies for system transitions, in turn, rely on robust environmental assessments that incorporate social, economic, and geographic dimensions.
Research divisions
The research at the Department of Environmental and Energy Sciences is organised in five divisions:
Energy Technology's competence is in energy systems analysis and thermal/thermochemical energy conversion processes and systems. The combination of expertise combined with a unique experimental research infrastructure – the Chalmers Power Central – databases and models contributes to an innovative environment that presents ideas that can make significant contributions to social development.
Environmental Systems Analysis
From a systems approach, we perform research on assessment and sociotechnical transition of different technical systems in order to meet the environmental challenges and resource limitations that our society faces.
Geoscience and Remote Sensing has studies of processes in the atmosphere that are important to the climate as the main focus. The research is based on remote measurement of geophysical phenomena such as forests, sea ice and ocean currents, as well as on-site studies of human as well as natural emissions into the atmosphere.
Maritime Environmental Science
With focus on road and maritime transport, we combine modelling and experimental work to provide science for the development of a sustainable transport sector.
Physical Resource Theory focuses on interactions between technology, society and nature. We use system perspectives to do multidisciplinary research that includes theory development, mathematical modeling as well as quantitative and qualitative analyzes. The research unit of Space Geodesy and Geodynamics studies processes that affect and change the earth's form, gravity field and rotation.