Giving Heat a Voice: KTH Researcher Drives Heat Decarbonization Dialogue at BASF’s Podcast Interview
KTH Researcher – Silvia Trevisan, from the Energy Technology Department, was recently featured in a BASF podcast interview, where she contributed to a growing public dialogue on the role of heat decarbonization in the energy transition. In the podcast episode, she discusses why industrial heat remains one of the most overlooked domains in decarbonization efforts and highlights how emerging thermal technologies like molten salt systems and other power-to-heat solutions, could help reshape industrial energy use for a more sustainable future.
Hosted by internationally acclaimed science communicator Joe Hansen on BASF’s Our World Substance podcast, and joined by BASF’s Global Marketing and Product Manager, Dr. Nils‑Olof Born, Silvia Trevisan made a compelling case for why heat decarbonization is essential to accelerating the energy transition. According to Silvia,
“…Literally all the steps you can imagine in daily life are surrounded by heat to a great extent and industrial heat deserves far more attention in the energy transition… If we manage to shift at least a big amount of this heat, well we can largely decarbonize half the energy consumption that we have worldwide...”
Going further with the discussion, Silvia emphasized that the technologies needed to decarbonize heat already exist, but awareness and adoption remain far too limited among industry actors and policymakers. Explaining the point in the podcast, she says,
“...I don't the big barrier is technical per se. There are technical solutions. It is maybe just a matter of pushing them a little bit further in terms of development, but there are solutions. I think we are in a transition phase in which the technology is pretty much there. It’s more the surroundings that need to get ready for it…Manufacturers will need to become a new kind of consumer. That shift, together with finance and research, is what will unlock large scale deployment…”
During the podcast, Silvia went on to elaborate on the heat decarbonization technological landscape, highlighting KTH’s research collaboration with Kyoto Group, BASF, and other industrial partners on molten‑salt heat systems and power‑to‑heat integration. She explained how molten salts could store large amounts of thermal energy and release it on demand, enabling industries to shift their heat production towards cleaner and more flexible sources. Upon further corroboration, she also noted that molten‑salt heat systems could be combined with electric boilers and high temperature heat pumps to create resilient, low carbon heat supply chains. Finally, she hinted at a recent collaboration between KTH and Kyoto Group, on a shared lab scale work underway in Stockholm, that would validate components and operational strategies of various molten-salt heat systems before field deployment.
Silvia’s session on the BASF podcast exemplifies KTH’s broader sustainability commitment to remain an institution that conducts high‑quality sustainability‑driven research, while serving as a trusted voice that guides industry, policymakers, and the general public in navigating critical sustainability challenges.
If you would like to listen to the full podcast episode, kindly click here
👉 For more information about KTH’s ongoing work with Kyoto Group, or to explore collaboration opportunities within the broader research activities underway at KTH’s Heat and Power Technology division, kindly contact our team.
