The energy system is at the heart of two of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: decreasing CO2 emissions to meet the ambitions of the Paris agreement while fulfilling the growing energy... Show moreThe energy system is at the heart of two of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: decreasing CO2 emissions to meet the ambitions of the Paris agreement while fulfilling the growing energy demand associated with the economic aspirations of a growing world population. The required energy transition has to emerge from the interaction between social actors, the economy, technology and the eco-system of our planet. That is the subject of this dissertation which explores the question how individual drivers and the interactions between actors influence the path and pace of the developing energy transition.To analyse the dynamics of interactions between actors, a relatively new modeling method, agent-based modeling, has been applied, with which actors, agents, as computer entities can be simulated. By simulating realistic actor behavior, the dynamics between individual motives and emergent collective action could be analysed.This has led to new insights; simulating investors in the electricity market for example has shown that a fully liberalized electricity market, even with strong CO2, will not ensure complete decarbonisation of the electricity system.All this has led to recommendations for public and private actors and more general conclusions about the use of models in general. Show less
Current energy-sources in the form of fossil fuels are quickly being depleted, while the demand of energy by society is increasing. In order to sustain this growth in energy demand, alternatives... Show moreCurrent energy-sources in the form of fossil fuels are quickly being depleted, while the demand of energy by society is increasing. In order to sustain this growth in energy demand, alternatives for the production of energy in a usable form are needed. One of such alternatives is to employ photocatalysis in order to use sunlight for the production of chemical fuels such as for example H2 or methanol. For the production of fuels, electrons are required that can be obtained by oxidizing water, as done by nature in a process called photosynthesis. The work in this thesis was inspired by this natural process; photosensitizers and water-oxidation catalysts were bound to lipid bilayers and their ability to photocatalytically oxidize water was studied in different conditions. The anchoring of compounds to a lipid bilayer leads to large differences in reactivity compared to homogeneous systems. In some cases, even the mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction changed upon membrane-anchoring of the constituents. In general, detailed experiments are described that fully characterize photocatalytic systems, because the mechanism of a reaction involving two different catalytic species is not straight-forward, and cannot be described by a single set of turn-over numbers. Show less