The world energy system is based on fossil fuels, with oil, natural gas and coal providing over 80% of the overall primary energy. The fossil fuel reserves are not homogeneously distributed, but are concentrated in a limited number of countries, in many cases featured by their political and social instability. Although the exact amount of these reserves is difficult to be evaluated, it is forecasted that oil and natural gas reserves will be depleted in the next decades. In addition, the growth in both population and economic development, which are taking place at high rates in several developing countries are leading to strong increases in the energy demand. This picture explains the high increase in the cost of the different energy products that has occurred in recent years. Energy has become a very valuable and expensive resource, which is expected to be even more pronounced in the next decades.

Combustion of fossil fuels is known to cause the emission of a number of atmospheric pollutants: carbon, nitrogen and sulphur oxides, particulate matter, tropospheric ozone, hydrocarbons, etc. The environmental effects of these emissions are well documented. Among them, the most significant environmental problem is the accumulation in the atmosphere of gases responsible for the greenhouse effect. The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has shown during the last decades a linear increasing profile, being proposed as the main cause of the global climate change. The Kyoto Agreement established clear objectives for the reduction of those emissions. However, this initiative does seem to be enough, as some significant countries did not sign the Kyoto Agreement, whereas others have not complied with the reduction goals. This can be in part explained because there is not still a feasible alternative for replacing fossil fuels as a primary energy.

The above comments evidence that our current energy system is not sustainable in regards to economic, political and environmental points of view. The need for a radical change in the primary energy pool is widely acknowledged. There is general consensus that the shift to a sustainable energy system depends largely on promoting the scientific and technological development of renewable and clean energy sources. The ultimate goal will be to achieve that these new energy forms can be applied at a large scale with competitive costs in regards to those of fossil fuels.

Energy and its environmental impact are topics of high relevance for “Comunidad de Madrid” in Spain. This region concentrates over 13% of the Spanish population on an area that accounts just for 1.6% of the Spain extension. Its contribution to the Spanish GDP is 18%, consuming around 11.5% of the energy. These data indicate that “Comunidad de Madrid” is a region with a high population density and strong economic development. It is also very dependent from external sources in primary energy, with 97% of the consumed energy being imported. The average annual growth in the energy demand of this region has been around 5% during the last decade. Over 50% of this energy is consumed in the transport sector. In this context, the Government of “Comunidad de Madrid” has recently created IMDEA Energy that it is expected to become in short a leading research institute on energy themes with international relevance.