The MIT Portugal Program’s Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) focus area had a strong presence at the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) annual meeting at ETH Zurich January 26–29, 2009. Seven MIT Portugal posters were accepted for display, and the poster submitted by the team of Nuno Climaco Pereira (Instituto Superior Técnico, IST), Carrie Brown (MIT) and Steve Ray (MIT) received one of the six Best Poster awards given this year.  Best Poster winners Steve Ray, Carrie Brown and Nuno Climaco Pereira The winning poster, on “Retrofit Options for Increasing Energy Efficiency in the Existing Building Stock—Lisbon Case Study,” explained the trio’s research on ways in which Lisbon might reduce the percentage of energy consumption accounted for by its building stock. This includes developing a methodology that Lisbon can use to include energy retrofitting in its building rehabilitation projects, determining the most energy efficient roofing technologies for Lisbon’s buildings, and optimizing the assessment of technology choices in built environments like Lisbon’s.  Read the poster abstract
Posters by the following MIT Portugal SES students also were accepted and displayed at the AGS Annual Meeting: Joana Abreu (IST), Filipa Amorim (IST), Sylvia Essendi (IST), Rhonda Jordan (MIT), Woei Ling Leow (MIT), Daniel Livengood (MIT), Alexandra Marques (IST), André Pina (IST), and Ana Rita Neves (FEUP). Other SES PhD students from MIT, FEUP, IST and Coimbra also attended the AGS annual meeting: Daniel Wiesmann, Maria Kapsalaki, Pedro Almeida, Gustavo Souza, Filipe Joel Soares, Ana Gonçalves, Leonardo Rosado, Ariovaldo Lopes de Carvalho, Pedro Manuel Ferreira Gonçalves, Bryan Palmintier, David Quinn and Kevin Brokish. All MIT Portugal students submitted posters, and each pairing or group included students from Portugal and from MIT. Other SES PhD students from MIT, FEUP, IST and Coimbra also attendedthe AGS annual meeting: Maria Kapsalaki, Pedro Almeida, Gustavo Souza, Filipe Joel Soares, Ana Gonçalves, Leonardo Rosado, André Pina,Ariovaldo Lopes de Carvalho, Pedro Manuel Ferreira Conçalves, Bryan Palmintier, David Quinn and Kevin Brokish. All MIT Portugal students submitted posters, and each pairing or group included students from Portugal and from MIT. The MIT Portugal students were joined in Zurich by the SES focus area leads, Professors David Marks and John Fernándes (MIT) and Paulo Ferrão (IST), as well as by MIT Professor Stephen Connors, who, in collaboration with MIT Portugal students and faculty—including IST’s Professor Carlos Silva—presented posters about MIT Portugal’s Green Islands initiative in the Azores. (One poster summarized the project’s effortsto help the Azores become energy self-sufficient; another looked at means of maximizing renewable electricity on the Azorean island of São Miguel.) In addition to the poster sessions, the AGS meeting featured workshops, keynote addresses and panel discussions. Among the latter were panels on the role of research institutions in developing sustainable energy systems, transforming building stock for sustainability, and “pro-poor” urban futures in developing countries. Speakers included Professor Ernest Moniz, Director of MIT’s Energy Initiative (MITEI), and MIT Professor Fernández. (IST PhD student Leonardo Rosado assisted Professor Fernández in the presentation of Urban Metabolism research.) The AGS is a partnership of MIT, the University of Tokyo, Chalmers University of Technology, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Formed in 1997, its aim is to speed progress toward sustainability via collaboration among leading research institutions. As a precursor to the Zurich meeting, MIT Portugal hosted its own event (at MIT) on urban sustainability, on November 21, 2008. Looking forward, in March 2009, nearly two dozen DFA students from Portugal will travel to MIT for a workshop in which they will network with U.S.-based sustainable energy companies and attend lectures on sustainability and innovation.  SES PhD student Rhonda Jordan explaining her poster on geothermal power production
Retrofit Options for Increasing Energy Efficiency in the Existing Building Stock—Lisbon Case Study
BEST POSTER | Nuno Climaco Pereira (Instituto Superior Técnico, IST), Carrie Brown (MIT) and Steve Ray (MIT) Smart Charging Strategies for EVs
Felipe Joel Soares, Pedro Almeida, M. Moreira da Silva Azores Green Islands: Maximizing Renewable Electricity in Sao Miguel
Andre Pina, Edward Spang, Carlos Silva, Stephen Connors Designing Models for Urban Energy Demand and Sustainability Evaluation
Ana Gonçalves, Alexandra Marques How to Invest in Natural Resources Under Uncertainty
Rhonda Jordan MIT Portugal Green Islands Project: Research Overview
Stephen Connors, Edward Spang, Carlos Silva, Christos Ioakimidis Shaping the Demand Side: The Human Factor
Dan Livengood, Joana Abreu Sustainable Campus & UC
Pedro Gonçalves Urban Metabolism of Lisbon: ReMAP
David Quinn Schools as Energy Efficiency Triggers
Nuno Climaco Pereira, Joana Abreu, João Parente Renewables for Azores Green Islands--How Big Can We Go?
Kiti Suomalainen, Bryan Palmintier, Stephen Connors, Carlos Silva Azores Green Islands: Looking at Demand
Considering Socio-Technical Impacts on Current and Future Electric Load Profiles with Agressive Efficiency Scenarios for São Miguel
Filipa Amorim, Bryan Palmintier, André Pina Net Zero Energy Buildings: Factors, Design Criteria and Influence of Local Conditions
Maria Kapsalaki, Vitor Leal Potential Energy Savings of Various Roof Technologies
Steve Ray A Broad Approach to Energy Demand-Side Management
Gustavo Souza, Vitor Leal A Framework of Energy Sustainability Indicators to Assist Local Energy Planning
Ana Rita Neves, Vitor Leal Material Flow Accounting (Urban Metabolism of Lisbon: ReMAP)
Leonardo Rosado | 
