REESBE
REESBE (Resource Efficient Energy Systems in the Built Environment) is an industry-research school run by the University of Gävle in collaboration with Mälardalen University, Dalarna University and companies from the regions of Gävleborg, Mälardalen and Dalarna in Sweden. The research school is funded by The Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) and by 20 participating companies. Twenty PhD students are involved in Reesbe, alongside supervisors at the three participating universities and mentors and corporation leaders from the companies.
The goals of the research school are:
- The education of PhD students to become specialists within the companies
- New findings that are implemented in the companies and that lead to new technical or business solutions
- Corporate-related research in collaboration with companies
- Academic research developed in collaboration between the three universities
- New collaboration between the companies as a result of the research collaboration between PhD students
The aim of the research within Reesbe is to find solutions for more efficient energy use within residential and public buildings that are connected to the district-heating network. The research is not all about energy-saving technical solutions; rather, it is also about business models for joint efforts from energy and housing companies. A special subject of interest for the project is the study of the implementation of solar energy technology to reduce the use of finite resources (fossil fuels) and to achieve lower impacts on the climate and environment.
The aims of the research are:
- Significantly more efficient energy distribution systems
- A significant reduction of energy use in buildings
- Improved indoor climate for both existing and new buildings within the district-heating networks
- An increased share of renewable energy within the district-heating networks through the installation of solar energy systems
SHINE
SHINE is a European research school where 13 PhD students within solar heating are funded by the EU Marie Curie program. SHINE has five doctoral courses and several short workshops and seminars developed for PhD students both in SHINE and in other projects. The research is focused on three areas: solar heating for district-heating networks, solar heating for industrial processes, and long-term thermal storage. The plan for PhD students is to have completed their disserations by 2017-2018. The project at Dalarna University is a techno-economic study on centralized and decentralized systems for solar heating in district-heating networks. The project is coordinated by the University of Kassel, Germany.