Mart van der Kam joined the Energy Efficiency group of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva as a postdoc in March 2020. He works on the project Peer-to-Grid, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Mart develops simulation models to explain consumer preferences for clean energy technologies (e.g. PV solar panels, heat pumps, electric vehicles, storage) and strategies to manage PV electricity and demand, and predict the impact of these preferences on the electricity grid. The aim of the models is to identify policies that could stimulate further diffusion of these technologies, while mitigating their impact on the grid as much as possible. The project is a joint effort of the Energy Efficiency group and the Consumer Decision and Sustainable Behaviour Lab (UNIGE).

Mart holds a BSc in Physics and a MSc in Sustainable Development from Utrecht University. He did his PhD at the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, for which he developed simulation models on how the impact of PV solar panels and electric vehicles on the electricity grid can be reduced through smart charging and vehicle-to-grid. In particular, he focused on integrating insights from engineering with theory from innovation science and environmental psychology in these models. Furthermore, he was employed at Eindhoven University of Technology as a researcher on the harmonization of communication protocols for electric vehicle charging.