Concept

Sustainability

Related people (68)
Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer
Claudia R. Binder, a Swiss, Canadian and Colombian citizen, was born in Montreal and spent most of her childhood in Switzerland and Colombia. She studied at ETH Zurich from 1985 to 1996, earning a degree in biochemistry and then a PhD in environmental sciences. After conducting her post-doctoral research at the University of Maryland in the US from 1996 to 1998, she returned to Switzerland and took a position as a senior research scientist at ETH Zurich, studying the interaction between human and environmental systems at the Institute for Natural and Social Science Interface. In 2006, Binder joined the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, and in 2009 moved to the University of Graz in Austria where she served as a full professor of systems science. In 2011, she took a position at the University of Munich’s Department of Geography as a full professor of human-environment relations. Binder joined EPFL in March 2016 and set up the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) at ENAC; she also holds the La Mobilière Chair on Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living. Her research involves analyzing, modelling and assessing the transition of urban systems towards sustainability. She looks in particular at how we can better understand the dynamics of urban metabolism, what characterizes a sustainable city, and what drives and hinders transformation processes. She does so by combining knowledge from social, natural and data science. Her research focuses on food, energy, and sustainable living and transport in urban systems. In Switzerland, Binder was appointed to the Research Council, Programs Division of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2016 and serves on the Steering Committee of the SNSF’s National Research Program 71, “Managing Energy Consumption” and the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER). She is also a member of the Steering Board on Sustainability Research for the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the University Council of the University of Munich (LMU). At EPFL, Binder is the academic director of Design Together, a cross-disciplinary teaching initiative. She was appointed to the management team of the Energy Center in 2018 and as head of the working group on EPFL’s energy and sustainability strategy in 2019.
Sophie Lufkin
FORMATION 2010 - Thèse de doctorat au sein de l'EDAR (Ecole doctorale Architecture, Ville, Histoire) sur la densification des friches ferroviaires, co-dirigée par les Prof. Inès Lamunière et Vincent Kaufmann 2005 - "Master of Art" en architecture, sous la direction des Prof. Patrick BERGER et Inès LAMUNIERE 2003 - Année d'échange à l'ETHZ 1999 - Entrée à l'EPFL, section architecture 1998 - Maturité type B, Collège Claparède, Genève EXPERIENCE PROFESSIONNELLE 2010 - Architecte, Cheffe de projet chez LAR - Fernando Romero, México 2006 - Assistante de recherche à l’EPFL au Laboratoire d’architecture et mobilité urbaine (LAMU), projet de recherche PNR54 "Densification des friches ferroviaires" 2005 - Architecte chez Devanthéry & Lamunière, Genève 2004 - Stage d’architecture, Eric Maria, Genève 2003 - Stage d’architecture, Sumi & Burkhalter, Zurich 2001 - Stage d’architecture, Devanthéry & Lamunière, Genève RECOMPENSES ET BOURSES 2001 - Prix SIA Vaudoise pour le projet "Fondation Ella Maillart à Chandolin" 2005 - Prix de l'Association des diplômes A3-EPFL 2008 - Bourse Erna Hamburger LANGUES Français (maternelle), allemand et anglais (courantes), portugais (notions)
Loïc Vivien Fumeaux
Loïc Fumeaux was born in 1978 in Geneva. After a scientific degree, he joined the EPFL . He graduated as an architect in 2007 under the direction of Professors Jean- Paul Jaccaud and Bruno Marchand. His master's thesis was about sustainability integration from urban scale to the architectural details. This master’s project was awarded with the SIA Prize and the Construction and sustainable development Prize (BG Ingénieurs Conseils). In addition to his studies, Loïc develops independant activities and collaborated with LVBK Rotterdam and Lacroix- Chessex Geneva. In 2009 , he founded xy-ar.ch with Amélie Poncety . The office participates in many competitions and won the competition for the redevelopment of the Place de la Planta in Sion , currently under development . In 2010, he became studio assistant at the LAST (Laboratory of architecture and sustainable technologies) headed by Prof. Emmanuel Rey. After a period dedicated to teaching he starts a PhD focused on the integration of sustainability criteria into the design process of temporary event infrastructures . He is a member of the group of architects at SIA section Vaud and Treasurer of InterAssAr.
Edgard Gnansounou
  • 1983 Ing. Civil EPFL
  • 1991 Dr ès Sciences techniques, EPFL
  • Directeur du Laboratoire de systèmes énergétiques (LASEN) de 2003 à 2008
  • Dès 2008, Responsable du groupe de Recherche en Bioénergie et Planification énergétique
  • Co-fondateur du bureau d'étude ENERS Energy Concept
  • Président de la Fondation SUD (Solidarités Universitaires pour le Développement)
Je suis membre de différentes associations professionnelles parmi lesquelles figuent le Conseil Mondial de l'énergie (CME) et l'Association internationale pour l'économie de l'énergie (AIEE). Comme membre du groupe d'étude du CME sur les vulnérabilités, j'ai développé les métriques utilisées pour évaluer la vulnérabilité énergétique des pays industrialisés. Depuis janvier 2008 : membre du Comité d'édition du journal international Bioresource Technology. Depuis 2009: membre du Comité de la "European Biofuels Technology Platform"
François Maréchal
Ph D. in engineering– Chemical process engineer Researcher and lecturer in the field of computer aided process and energy systems engineering. Lecturer in the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and environmental sciences engineering in EPFL. I'm responsible for the Minor in Energy of EPFL and I'm involved in 3 projects of the Competence Center in Energy and Mobility (2nd generation biofuel, Wood SOFC, and gas turbine development with CO2 mitigation) in which i'm contributing to the energy conversion system design and optimisation. Short summary of my scientific carrer After a graduation in chemical engineering from the University of Liège, I have obtained a Ph. D. from the University of Liège in the LASSC laboratory of Prof. Kalitventzeff (former president of the European working party on computer aided process engineering). This laboratory was one of the pioneering laboratory in the field of Computer Aided Process Engineering. In the group of Professor Kalitventzeff, I have worked on the development and the applications of data reconciliation, process modelling and optimisation techniques in the chemical process industry, my experience ranges from nuclear power stations to chemical plants. In the LASSC, I have been responsible from the developments in the field of rational use of energy in the industry. My first research topic has been the methodological development of process integration techniques, combining the use of pinch based methods and of mathematical programming: e.g. for the design of multiperiod heat exchanger networks or Mixed integer non linear programming techniques for the optimal management of utility systems. Fronted with applications in the industry, my work then mainly concentrated on the optimal integration of utility systems considering not only the energy requirements but the cost of the energy requirements and the energy conversion systems. I developed methods for analysing and integrating the utility system, the steam networks, combustion (including waste fuel), gas turbines or other advanced energy conversion systems (cogeneration, refrigeration and heat). The techniques applied uses operation research tools like mixed integer linear programming and exergy analysis. In order to evaluate the results of the utility integration, a new graphical method for representing the integration of the utility systems has been developed. By the use of MILP techniques, the method developed for the utility integration has been extended to handled site scale problems, to incorporate environmental constraints and reduce the water usage. This method (the Effect Modelling and Optimisation method) has been successfully applied to the chemical plants industry, the pulp and paper industry and the power plant. Instead of focusing on academic problems, I mainly developed my research based on industrial applications that lead to valuable and applicable patented results. Recently the methods developed have been extended to realise the thermoeconomic optimisation of integrated systems like fuel cells. My present R&D work concerns the application of multi-objective optimisation strategies in the design of processes and integrated energy conversion systems. Since 2001, I’m working in the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI) of Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where I’m leading the R&D activities in the field of Computer Aided Analysis and Design of Industrial Energy Systems with a major focus on sustainable energy conversion system development using thermo-economic optimisation methodologies. A part from the application and the development of process integration techniques, that remains my major field of expertise, the applications concern : Rational use of water and energy in Industrial processes and industrial production sites : projects with NESTLE, EDF, VEOLIA and Borregaard (pulp and paper).Energy conversion and process design : biofuels from waste biomass (with GASNAT, EGO and PSI), water dessalination and waste water treatment plant (VEOLIA), power plant design (ALSTOM), Energy conversion from geothermal sources (BFE). Integrated energy systems in urban areas : together with SCANE and SIG (GE) and IEA annexe 42 for micro-cogeneration systems. I as well contributed to the definition of the 2000 Watt society and to studies concerning the emergence of green technologies on the market in the frame of the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
Romano Tobias Wyss
Ph.D. in Geography Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (Germany) M.Sc. in Economics and Geography Utrecht University (The Netherlands) B.Sc. in Geography University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Ralf Seifert
Ralf W. Seifert is Professor of Technology & Operations Management (TOM) at the College of Management of Technology (CDM) at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) since 2003. His primary research and teaching interests relate to operations management, supply chain strategy and technology network management. He is also active in industry analysis, international project work and new venture formation. Based on his work with companies, Professor Seifert has co-authored more than 30 case studies covering different industries. These efforts have been recognized by multiple international case awards granted by EFMD in 2018, 2012, 2009 and 2003, ECCH in 2011 and 2006, as well as POMS in 2004. He continues to actively research issues of supply chain strategy, supply chain finance and technology management and has more than 70 articles and international conference presentations to his credit. In addition, he co-authored two books: one focused on strategic supply chain management and another one concerning start-up challenges of technology ventures. In parallel to his appointment at EPFL, he continues to serve a position at IMD, were he has been appointed Professor of Operations Management in 2000. Prior to joining IMD, Professor Seifert studied and worked in Germany, Japan and the US. He earned PhD and MS degrees in Management Science at Stanford University, a Diplom Ingenieur degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and a Master's degree in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University. While in the US, he consulted for Hewlett-Packard and served as Teaching and Research Assistant at Stanford University. In Germany he worked for Booz & Company, McKinsey & Company and Freudenberg & Co. In addition, he spent one year as a Visiting Scholar in Operations Research at Waseda University in Tokyo.
Marilyne Andersen
Marilyne Andersen is a Full Professor of Sustainable Construction Technologies and heads the Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID) that she launched in the Fall of 2010. She was Dean of the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) at EPFL from 2013 to 2018 and is the Academic Director of the Smart Living Lab in Fribourg. She also co-leads the Student Kreativity and Innovation Laboratory (SKIL) at ENAC. Before joining EPFL as a faculty, she was an Assistant Professor then Associate Professor tenure-track in the Building Technology Group of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning and the Head of the MIT Daylighting Lab that she founded in 2004. She has also been Invited Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2019. Marilyne Andersen owns a Master of Science in Physics and specialized in daylighting through her PhD in Building Physics at EPFL in the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO) and as a Visiting Scholar in the Building Technologies Department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Her research lies at the interface between science, engineering and architectural design with a dedicated emphasis on the impact of daylight on building occupants. Focused on questions of comfort, perception and health and their implications on energy considerations, these research efforts aim towards a deeper integration of the design process with daylighting performance and indoor comfort, by reaching out to various fields of science, from chronobiology and neuroscience to psychophysics and computer graphics. She is leveraging this research in practice through OCULIGHT dynamics, a startup company she co-founded, which offers specialized consulting services on daylight performance and its psycho-physiological effects on building occupants.     She is the author of more than 200 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences and the recipient of several grants and awards including: the Daylight Award for Research (2016), eleven publication awards and distinctions (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019) including the Taylor Technical Talent Award 2009 granted by the Illuminating Engineering Society, the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Grant (2009), the Mitsui Career Development Professorship at MIT (2008) and the EPFL prize of the Chorafas Foundation awarded to her PhD thesis in Sustainability (2005). Her research or teaching has been supported by professional, institutional and industrial organizations such as: the Swiss and the U.S. National Science Foundations, the Velux Foundation, the European Horizon 2020 program, the Boston Society of Architects, the MIT Energy Initiative and InnoSuisse. She was the leader and faculty advisor of the Swiss Team and its NeighborHub project, who won the U.S. Solar Decathlon 2017 competition with 8 podiums out of 10 contests.    She is a member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction and Head of its Academic Committee. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Building and Environment by Elsevier, and of the journals LEUKOS (of the Illuminating Engineering Society) and Buildings and Cities, by Taylor and Francis. She is expert to the Innovation Council of InnoSuisse and Founding member as well as Board member of the Foundation Culture du Bâti (CUB), and is also founding member of the Daylight Academy and an active member of several committees of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and International Commission on Illumination (CIE).