New professor in energy economics' focus is on interdisciplinarity to solve the challenges within the energy area.
Ramazan Sari is our new professor of energy economics at Sustainability Division at Department of Technology, Management and Economics (DTU Management) at DTU.
Head of Department Mette Wier says: “Ramazan Sari’s contributions to energy economics are noticeable. He has played a crucial part in putting energy economics on the research map. And alongside his colleague Ugur Soytas he wrote a highly praised textbook on the subject. We are very pleased that Sari have chosen to join us.”
Signe Krarup, Head of Division, agrees: “Being able to house both Sari and Soytas allows us to do frontier research within energy economics and to create a unique interdisciplinary research setting. This allows for a more holistic approach to sustainability research that strengthens our ability to contribute to the realisation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
Sari does not hesitate when asked why DTU can now benefit from his textbook building work on energy economics: "DTU is a high-ranking university and the department works with an interdisciplinarian approach to global challenges such as climate change, energy, food and mass immigration", he points out.
A focus on clean energy and eliminating energy poverty
Sari has a special focus on energy poverty and clean energy.
“Sometimes you do research because it is great to do research – but it is also for the society. Access to energy and especially clean energy will become even bigger social issues in the future,” Sari says. That is also why he wants to work on solving the issues. He highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to find sustainable solutions.
Understanding the social acceptance of technology is key
The interdisciplinary approach is important to Sari. As he sees it, it is the only way to get from insight to sustainable transformation. It requires a well-rounded understanding of society, of policies, of economics – and of people.
“The trash is full of technologies,” Sari says, “Just because you invent a solution it does not mean you have solved the problem. You need to understand social acceptance of technologies. It is necessary knowledge if you want to design and plan regulations to support what we want to do, such as make sure we can have clean energy and fight energy poverty as part of a sustainable transformation.”
Sari looks forward to sharing his knowledge and putting his insights into action at DTU Management. He sees working at a technical university as an opportunity to collaborate and work truly interdisciplinary from the get-go on solving global challenges.