Response Doctoral Programme

We wholeheartedly congratulate RESPONSE fellow Linda Brodnicke for her successful participation in the MSCA Science-Policy Pitch Competition 2023, that took place in Toledo, Spain.

During this MSCA Presidency conference, 15 MSCA fellows and alumni presented their research or projects bringing science closer to policy-making in front of a high-caliber jury and the audience. The jury selected Linda Brodnicke being the winner in category “Contribution to wider EU policy priorities“.

In her pitch, Linda suggested that energy systems optimization can be a valuable tool to assess the impact that policies can have on the energy transition on a residential level. She illustrated this using the example of family Ruralia, who live in a nice suburban home close to Zurich and install a solar panel on their roof when a feed-in tariff is introduced. Thus, they are able to reduce not only the emissions related to their energy supply, but also their overall cost due to receiving the subsidy. However, what is beneficial for some people does not have to be good for everyone: A second family living in a building in Zurich city, family Urbania, cannot install solar panels since they live in a shared building. Thus, for them the policy does not reduce emissions, but significantly increases their energy cost due to increased retail electricity prices. Hence, tools such as mathematical optimization can be valuable for policy assessment, but should be used with care to ensure a successful and equitable energy transition.

Linda’s pitch was based on her publication in Applied Energy, which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121276