Professor Dr. Alexandros Flamos, Director of the Technoeconomics Energy Systems laboratory (TEESlab), participated in a radio broadcast of the Greek radio station “SKAI 100.3FM”, where he discussed the issue of the energy crisis in Europe and the European Commission’s proposal for a cap on gas prices.

Professor Flamos highlighted the important role that energy-efficiency measures and renovations can play in the energy transition, serving as a long-term strategy to reduce energy demand in the residential sector, and energy costs, especially burdening energy vulnerable households.

He also added that, based on research studies conducted by TEESlab, the renovation rate in the residential sector should be at least doubled than the one suggested by the latest version of the Greek National Energy Climate Plan (NECP) to achieve decarbonisation by 2050. Moreover, investments in electrification and heat pumps can achieve the goal at a lower cost compared to investments in natural gas.

Finally, Professor Flamos argued that since some renewable energy sources are hard to be controlled, new investments in technologies like smart grids and energy storage should be prioritised as feasible solutions. In this context, special focus should be given to the further development of the electricity grid infrastructure, which seems to be saturated in specific regions causing delays in investments, and to pumped hydro storage, which at the time is a cheaper solution to batteries.

You can find the full discussion in Greek here! Please, note that the discussion starts at 00.17.25.