European Geosciences Union
Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment
President: Sonja Martens (ere@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Christopher Juhlin
(christopher.juhlin@geo.uu.se)
Officer "Above ground":
Viktor Bruckman (viktor.bruckman@oeaw.ac.at)
Officer "Economics & Integration":
Kristen Mitchell (drkristenmitchell@gmail.com)
Officer "Outreach & Education":
Maria Ask (maria.ask@ltu.se)
Officer "Publications":
Michael Kühn (mkuehn@gfz-potsdam.de)
Officer "Subsurface":
Suzanne Hangx (s.j.t.hangx@uu.nl)
ECS Representative:
Natalie Christine Nakaten (ecs-ere@egu.eu)
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together geoscientists from all over Europe and the rest of the world, covering all disciplines of the earth, planetary and space sciences. This geoscientific interdisciplinarity is needed to tackle the challenges of the future. A major challenge for humankind is to provide adequate and reliable supplies of affordable energy and other resources. These should be obtained in environmentally sustainable ways, which is essential for economic prosperity, environmental quality and political stability around the world. One goal of the division Energy, Resources & the Environment (ERE) is to be a leading discussion forum for these issues. The core of the division consists of experts in various fields that will help meet the mutually coupled challenges of Energy, Resources and the Environment.
Sonja is a civil and environmental engineer by training with a background in both academia and industry. Her research focuses on hydrogeology , numerical flow and transport simulations and the sustainable use of georesources and the subsurface, for example investigating CO2 storage in geological media.
Chris has a background in geology and geophysics and has been involved in both academic and industry projects, both in the natural resource and energy sectors. Current research interests include crustal geophysics, high resolution seismics, seismic modelling, mining geophysics, geological storage of CO2, and scientific drilling.
Viktor’s research interests include renewable energy from biomass, with a focus on forests. He is also involved in biochar research and the investigation of carbon and nutrient cycles which includes soil processes and climate change. His interdisciplinary and holistic approaches are directed towards a sustainable and eco-friendly utilization of biomass as a source for energy and industrial raw materials.
Kristen has an academic background in isotope biogeochemistry. As a post-doc Kristen investigated marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean and the Great Lakes. While an AAAS Congressional fellow she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives on energy and environment policy. Kristen currently works on both scientific and policy projects ranging from global change science to ocean policy.
Maria’s research interests are focused on rock mechanics of sediments and rocks and the state of in-situ stress. She is involved in various projects, for example investigating the stress state for storage of CO2 and petroleum prospecting, as well as rock mechanical properties of reservoir and cap rock in CO2 storage.
Michael is a geochemist and hydrogeologist by training with a research focus on the numerical simulation of hydrogeothermal systems in the subsurface. This includes quantification of interactions between deep and shallow groundwater systems, geochemical water-rock-interactions, coupled numerical simulation (hydraulical, thermal, mechanical, chemical), formation of ore deposits, CO2 storage in geologic formations and hydrogeothermal energy provision.
Suzanne is an experimental rock mechanist by background. She has always been curious about the physical and chemical processes that control rock material behaviour in the subsurface, along with the direct relevance of this field to socially relevant issues, such as geological storage of CO2 and geo-energy production. Her background in both academia and industry puts her in a perfect position to combine the best of both worlds, translating and linking purely scientific research to the needs of industry and society, and a sustainable future.
Natalie is a postdoctoral researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Section Fluid Systems Modelling) in Potsdam, Germany. She is an economic geographer by background and focused on techno-economic process modelling. Her research interests are mainly related to the topics Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) as well as gas and energy storage.
As ERE-ECS representative, Natalie aims to motivate ECSs to take part in ERE division activities and hereby strengthen the interchange of scientific knowledge and experiences.
The 2018 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award is awarded to Victor Vilarrasa for significant contributions to the understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical processes inducing seismicity in geo-energy-related operations.
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Sarah Clancy The optimal lateral length and well pad size for maximising recoverable reserves of shale gas in northern England
The 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Adrian Metzgen Impact of pH on hydrogen oxidizing redox processes in aquifers due to gas intrusions
The 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Vincent Rolin Counter-rotating vortex pairs in the wake of a vertical axis wind turbine
Last week, the EGU hosted its first science-policy dinner debate in Brussels. The event, 'Horizon Geoscience: overcoming societal challenges, creating change', was organised in collaboration with the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and brought together geoscientists, policymakers and industry representatives. On the EGU website, we report on the outcome of the discussion and publish the key findings from the Horizon 2020 Geoscience Survey conducted earlier this year.
In the past few weeks, we have also issued three press releases highlighting research published in some of EGU's open access journals. Follow the links to find out how bombing raids in the Second World War impacted the ionosphere, how glacial geoengineering could help limit sea-level rise, and what the point of no return for climate action might be.