Project description
Democratising energy production adapted for the new Millennium
The current global energy system remains overly reliant on a centralised model that often fails to provide sustainable or equitable fuel production. The ERC-funded DREAM project aims to help the transition toward a distributed energy economy by focusing on decentralised solar fuel and materials processing. It will use a high-temperature solid-state photoelectrochemical device that leverages thermal synergies to increase efficiency, lower costs and enable complex reactions such as nitrogen reduction. By providing accessible technology, the project’s goal is to empower local communities and individuals to become producers, ultimately advancing energy justice and equity in all sunny regions worldwide.
Objective
Humanity still lacks a sustainable, large-scale energy economy. Efforts to transition toward such a system focus on electrification, renewable electricity, energy flow management, efficiency improvements, and behavioral changes. However, these measures fail to address the critical challenge of producing sustainable fuels and materials, which is also a centralized, undemocratic process, relying on production and distribution networks controlled by a few large players. While this suits fossil fuel economies with concentrated resources, a renewable energy economy—especially solar—offers broadly distributed resources and should imply a broader spread of fuel and material production.
The project “Democratization of Renewable Energy Adapted for the New Millennium” (DREAM) will provide the tools and devices to enable a transition towards a renewable but also democratic and distributed energy economy. Focusing on solar fuels and materials processing, DREAM seeks to increase the process efficiency (i.e. utilizing significantly more of the solar spectrum) by integrating thermal synergies and (high-temperature) thermal transport in the field of photoelectrochemistry. We propose a high-temperature (>400 K) solid-state photoelectrochemical (PEC) device, avoiding wasting thermal energy, lowering overpotentials, and enabling the use of abundant materials. The synergistic combination of thermochemistry and photoelectrochemistry in a single device will allow for increased reaction rates and for running reactions that have so far not been successful in (photo)electrochemical mode only (e.g. nitrogen reduction).
The integrated operation of such a high-temperature PEC device will reduce economic and energy costs, with the vision that each household, farmer, or local community can become a fuel or materials producer. The success of DREAM will provide fuel and material processing technology that can be utilized in all sunny regions in the world and advances equity and energy justice.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.