This case focuses on energy storage technologies for future net-zero-carbon smart cities. It starts with an overview of the world final energy consumption, together with recent renewable penetration and energy efficiency data to show true challenges from a decarbonisation perspective. Attention is then paid to the most popular emerging energy technologies for smart cities, including electrification of transport, hydrogen economy, carbon capture and storage, and AI and information technologies. These energy processes as currently configured will be shown to be highly energy inefficient, leading to new thermal challenges. Examples of our collaborations with Nanjing and Jiangsu Province related to net-zero-carbon smart cities are then given,?with a particular focus on thermal energy storage for heating, cooling, power and transport. Finally, a high-level summary of future collaboration with Nanjing is proposed.
