Green Energy Research: Collaboration and Tools for a Sustainable Future

The Urgency of Green Energy Innovation

The recent Climate Change 2023 synthesis report emphasizes the consequences of delayed emission reductions: fewer effective adaptation options for a warming planet². Geopolitical factors like the Russia-Ukraine conflict further underscore the need for a green energy transition, with Europe’s energy security concerns highlighting the reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The Green Energy Research Landscape

Against this backdrop, green energy development has become a critical area of research, reflected in a more than 10-fold increase in related publications from 2010 (1,105) to 2023 (11,346), according to Digital Science’s Dimensions database. Researchers around the world are striving to improve green energy technology and society’s ability to harness renewable energy sources more efficiently.

According to data analysed by Nature Navigator, which uses artificial intelligence to generate comprehensive summaries of research topics, ‘renewable energy systems and technologies’ is the field’s most frequently mentioned subtopic (Fig.1). At a research concept level, wind power generation, grid optimization and resource management all feature as common underlying themes.

Of the primary green energy research subtopics presented by Nature Navigator, it is telling that ‘materials for energy storage and conversion’ is the fastest-growing, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.2% over the last five years. This may reflect a growing consensus among researchers and industry that a lack of options to efficiently store electricity generated by intermittent renewable sources for later use is a key bottleneck preventing the greater penetration of these sources into the grid.

Real-World Example: Accelerating Heat Pump Innovation

Changmo Sung, a prominent green energy researcher at Korea University, leveraged Nature Navigator to identify trends, key areas, and potential breakthroughs in heat pump technology. This facilitated a collaborative project with LG Electronics, accelerating their research efforts.

“It also enabled the rapid discovery of researchers and institutions outside Korea working on similar or complementary projects related to heat pumps” Sung says.