The Energy Consortium at IIT Madras was conceived with the ambition of accelerating technology development and aiding their translation, to effectively enable the global energy transition towards low carbon sources. The aspiration was to become the thriving ecosystem for experts from around the world to collaborate with the demonstrated expertise in the energy domain at IIT Madras, that had been already engaged in conducting ground-breaking research and path defining inventions in energy generation, storage, conversion, distribution and utilization.

Path to Decarbonization is a special issue with invited contributions from consortium affiliated faculty, industry founding members and knowledge partners. It showcases how our researchers are pushing the envelope on the state-of-the-art and devising strategies that will lead towards significant mitigation of green-house gas emissions. And all this, while working in some of the toughest sectors out there, those that have remained stubbornly dauting and economically very challenging for energy transition away from fossil fuels and more towards renewable sources of energy. The deep technological approaches presented in all the articles are very inspiring.
The eleven articles in this special issue have been compiled by 35 authors based in 5 countries and representing over 15 organizations. The mixture of perspectives from academia, industry, government, non-profits, and policy think tanks will be amply appreciated, and it is the breadth offered by approaches – in research, technology, innovation, product development, and policy – that will find a positive resonance with our readers. The opening article on Net Zero buildings sets the context starting with the modern lifestyle that has so far in the developed world, and now more so in the developing world, being essentially driving energy demands. We then have a set of articles exploring how net zero can be incorporated by the hard to abate manufacturing of Cement, Aluminium and Steel industries and the Supply Chains therein. Following this we have articles addressing Future Materials, Future Molecules and the Future that is replete with Electrons and Photons – renewable energy – and power electronics that is increasingly becoming pervasive.

Foreword:
Dr. Bhima Sastri, US Department of Energy
Dr. Vikram Rao, Research Triangle Energy Consortium

Editors:
Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri
Dr. Nikhil Tambe